Instructor: Welcome to Securing External Network Traffic.
When it comes to securing external network traffic in Azure,
it's essential to adopt a defense in-depth approach.
Defense in depth is a layered approach to network security.
The key principles of defense in depth in networking
include perimeter security, network segmentation,
access control, and threat detection and response.
Perimeter security focuses
on protecting the network boundaries
while network segmentation involves dividing the network
into smaller, isolated segments
to limit the impact of potential breaches.
Access control ensures that only authorized users
and resources can access specific network,
segments, and services.
Threat detection and response capabilities help identify
and respond to security incidents in a timely manner.
Implementing defense in depth in Azure
brings several benefits,
such as enhanced security posture, reduced attack surface,
and improved incident response capabilities.
By leveraging Azure's built-in security features
and services,
you can create a comprehensive
and layered security framework for your network.
Traffic filtering and routing play a crucial role
in securing external network traffic in Azure.
By implementing effective traffic filtering
and routing mechanisms,
you can control the flow of traffic
and enforce granular security policies.
There are three core technologies that can
and should be used in this area of network security.
Network security groups, or NSGs, act as a stateful firewall
for inbound and outbound traffic.
NSGs allow you to filter traffic
based on IP addresses, ports, and protocols,
providing a first line of defense
against unauthorized access.
User-defined routes, or UDRs, enable you
to control traffic flow within
and between virtual networks.
By configuring UDRs, you can route traffic
through network virtual appliances, NVAs,
for advanced inspection and filtering,
adding an extra layer of security.
Application security groups, or ASGs, allow you
to group virtual machines based on their application roles
and apply NSG rules based on these groups.
This enables granular control over traffic
between application tiers
and helps enforce the principle of least privilege access.
To effectively secure external network traffic,
it's important to follow the best practices,
such as implementing lease privilege access
using a combination of all three of these technologies,
and regularly reviewing and updating security rules
to ensure they align with your security requirements.
Azure Firewall is a fully-managed cloud native firewall
that provides advanced threat protection
for your Azure virtual networks.
It offers stateful firewall capabilities,
intrusion detection prevention,
and URL filtering to secure your network resources.
There are several scenarios
where using Azure Firewall is beneficial.
It serves as a perimeter security solution
for virtual networks,
allowing you to control inbound
and outbound traffic at the network boundary.
Azure Firewall also provides centralized control
and logging,
which makes it easier to manage
and monitor network security across your Azure environment.
It's particularly useful in hybrid cloud environments
where you need to control traffic
between on-premises networks and Azure.
It also helps to meet compliance requirements
by providing a consistent and auditable security control.
The benefits of Azure Firewall include high availability
and scalability,
native integration with Azure management and security tools,
and granular application and network-level control.
Compared to virtual network appliances, NVAs,
Azure Firewall is fully managed by Microsoft,
reducing the management overhead
and providing seamless integration with other services.
However, NVAs offer more flexibility
and customization options,
especially if you have third-party security solutions
or requirements.
It's important to evaluate your security needs
and consider factors such as manageability, scalability,
and integration when deciding between these two technologies
and also considering the fact that oftentimes
using both technologies for specific scenarios
is usually what your best solution is.
Data residency is a critical consideration
when securing external network traffic in Azure.
Organizations must ensure compliance
with localization regulations
and choose the appropriate Azure regions
to store and process their data.
Azure policy can be used
to enforce data residency requirements
and ensure that data remains
within specified geographic boundaries.
Regulatory requirements often include this type
of data residency requirement.
When exposing services to the internet,
it's important to secure public endpoints.
Azure provides a feature called Service Firewall,
which allows you to control access
to public endpoints at the service level.
Service Firewall integrates with Azure Firewall
and other security services
to provide an additional layer of protection.
Configuration options for service firewall include allowing
or denying traffic based on IP addresses,
defining allowed protocols and ports,
and setting up access control policies.
It's important to implement lease privilege access
for public endpoints,
granting access only to authorized users and services,
and Service Firewall can help to achieve that
along with public endpoints.
To effectively manage data residency
and secure public endpoints,
it's recommended
to regularly assess compliance requirements.
Use Azure policy to enforce your data residency policies
and monitor and audit access to public endpoints.
By following these best practices,
organizations can ensure that their data remains compliant
and their public-facing services are protected
against unauthorized access.
For our real-world scenario, we have Investco Limited,
a global financial services company
that's migrating their applications to Azure.
They handle sensitive customer data
and need to ensure secure external network traffic
while complying with data residency requirements.
Take a moment to look at the various requirements here
as they're listed.
To meet these requirements,
Investco can implement a defense in-depth approach
using a combination of Azure services.
Azure Firewall can be deployed for perimeters, security,
and centralized control.
Network security groups can be used
for subnet-level traffic filtering.
UDRs can be configured to route traffic
through virtual network appliances
so they can do additional inspection and filtering.
And application security groups can be utilized
for granular control between the application tiers,
making sure that only the communication
that's authorized is happening between the applications.
To comply with data residency regulations,
Investco can leverage Azure policy
to enforce data residency requirements
and ensure that data remains within specified regions.
For customer-facing applications,
Service Firewall is Investco's friend.
And finally, integrating Azure Firewall
with Azure Security Center
for centralized management and monitoring.
This is not the only solution for Investco.
There are different ways
and different technologies that could be used.
This is just an example of how we take a real-world scenario
and apply the information that we've learned here
to that problem.
Thanks so much for joining me.
I hope it was helpful, and I'll see you in the next video.