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Azure security baseline for Batch

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This security baseline applies guidance from the Microsoft cloud security benchmark version 1.0 to Batch. The Microsoft cloud security benchmark provides recommendations on how you can secure your cloud solutions on Azure. The content is grouped by the security controls defined by the Microsoft cloud security benchmark and the related guidance applicable to Batch.

You can monitor this security baseline and its recommendations using Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Azure Policy definitions will be listed in the Regulatory Compliance section of the Microsoft Defender for Cloud portal page.

When a feature has relevant Azure Policy Definitions, they are listed in this baseline to help you measure compliance with the Microsoft cloud security benchmark controls and recommendations. Some recommendations may require a paid Microsoft Defender plan to enable certain security scenarios.

Note

Features not applicable to Batch have been excluded. To see how Batch completely maps to the Microsoft cloud security benchmark, see the full Batch security baseline mapping file.

Security profile

The security profile summarizes high-impact behaviors of Batch, which may result in increased security considerations.

Service Behavior Attribute Value
Product Category Compute
Customer can access HOST / OS Read Only
Service can be deployed into customer's virtual network True
Stores customer content at rest False

Network security

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Network security.

NS-1: Establish network segmentation boundaries

Features

Virtual Network Integration

Description: Service supports deployment into customer's private Virtual Network (VNet). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Deploy Azure Batch pools within a virtual network. Consider provisioning the pool without public IP addresses to restrict access to nodes in the private network and to reduce the discoverability of the nodes from the internet.

Reference: Create an Azure Batch pool in a virtual network

Network Security Group Support

Description: Service network traffic respects Network Security Groups rule assignment on its subnets. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Feature notes: By default, Batch adds network security groups (NSGs) at the network interfaces (NIC) level attached to compute nodes.

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

Reference: Create an Azure Batch pool in a virtual network

NS-2: Secure cloud services with network controls

Features

Description: Service native IP filtering capability for filtering network traffic (not to be confused with NSG or Azure Firewall). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Deploy private endpoints for Azure Batch accounts. This restricts access to the Batch accounts to the virtual network where they reside or to any peered virtual network.

Reference: Use private endpoints with Azure Batch accounts

Disable Public Network Access

Description: Service supports disabling public network access either through using service-level IP ACL filtering rule (not NSG or Azure Firewall) or using a 'Disable Public Network Access' toggle switch. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Disable public network access to Batch accounts by setting the 'Public network access' setting to disabled.

Reference: Disable public network access

Identity management

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Identity management.

IM-1: Use centralized identity and authentication system

Features

Azure AD Authentication Required for Data Plane Access

Description: Service supports using Azure AD authentication for data plane access. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Use Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) as the default authentication method to control your data plane access instead of using Shared Keys.

Reference: Authenticate with Azure AD

Local Authentication Methods for Data Plane Access

Description: Local authentications methods supported for data plane access, such as a local username and password. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Avoid the usage of local authentication methods or accounts, these should be disabled wherever possible. Instead use Azure AD to authenticate where possible.

Configuration Guidance: Restrict the use of local authentication methods for data plane access. Instead, use Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) as the default authentication method to control your data plane access.

Reference: Authentication via Shared Key

IM-3: Manage application identities securely and automatically

Features

Managed Identities

Description: Data plane actions support authentication using managed identities. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Shared

Configuration Guidance: Use Azure managed identities instead of service principals when possible, which can authenticate to Azure services and resources that support Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) authentication. Managed identity credentials are fully managed, rotated, and protected by the platform, avoiding hard-coded credentials in source code or configuration files.

Reference: Configure managed identities in Batch pools

Service Principals

Description: Data plane supports authentication using service principals. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Additional Guidance: To authenticate an application that runs unattended, you may use a service principal. After you've registered your application, make the appropriate configurations in the Azure Portal for the service principal, such as requesting a secret for the application and assigning Azure RBAC roles.

Reference: Authenticate Batch service solutions with Azure Active Directory

IM-7: Restrict resource access based on conditions

Features

Conditional Access for Data Plane

Description: Data plane access can be controlled using Azure AD Conditional Access Policies. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

IM-8: Restrict the exposure of credential and secrets

Features

Service Credential and Secrets Support Integration and Storage in Azure Key Vault

Description: Data plane supports native use of Azure Key Vault for credential and secrets store. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Privileged access

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Privileged access.

PA-7: Follow just enough administration (least privilege) principle

Features

Azure RBAC for Data Plane

Description: Azure Role-Based Access Control (Azure RBAC) can be used to managed access to service's data plane actions. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Use Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) to manage Azure resource access through built-in role assignments. Azure Batch supports Azure RBAC for managing access to these resource types: Accounts, Jobs, Tasks, and Pools.

Reference: Assign Azure RBAC to your application

Data protection

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Data protection.

DP-2: Monitor anomalies and threats targeting sensitive data

Features

Data Leakage/Loss Prevention

Description: Service supports DLP solution to monitor sensitive data movement (in customer's content). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

DP-3: Encrypt sensitive data in transit

Features

Data in Transit Encryption

Description: Service supports data in-transit encryption for data plane. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

DP-4: Enable data at rest encryption by default

Features

Data at Rest Encryption Using Platform Keys

Description: Data at-rest encryption using platform keys is supported, any customer content at rest is encrypted with these Microsoft managed keys. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Feature notes: Some of the information specified in Batch APIs, such as account certificates, job and task metadata, and task command lines, are automatically encrypted when stored by the Batch service. By default, this data is encrypted using Azure Batch platform-managed keys unique to each Batch account.

You can also encrypt this data using customer-managed keys. Azure Key Vault is used to generate and store the key, with the key identifier registered with your Batch account.

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

DP-5: Use customer-managed key option in data at rest encryption when required

Features

Data at Rest Encryption Using CMK

Description: Data at-rest encryption using customer-managed keys is supported for customer content stored by the service. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: If required for regulatory compliance, define the use case and service scope where encryption using customer-managed keys are needed. Enable and implement data at rest encryption using customer-managed key for those services.

Reference: Configure customer-managed keys

DP-6: Use a secure key management process

Features

Key Management in Azure Key Vault

Description: The service supports Azure Key Vault integration for any customer keys, secrets, or certificates. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Shared

Configuration Guidance: Use Azure Key Vault to create and control the life cycle of your encryption keys, including key generation, distribution, and storage. Rotate and revoke your keys in Azure Key Vault and your service based on a defined schedule or when there is a key retirement or compromise. When there is a need to use customer-managed key (CMK) in the workload, service, or application level, ensure you follow the best practices for key management: Use a key hierarchy to generate a separate data encryption key (DEK) with your key encryption key (KEK) in your key vault. Ensure keys are registered with Azure Key Vault and referenced via key IDs from the service or application. If you need to bring your own key (BYOK) to the service (such as importing HSM-protected keys from your on-premises HSMs into Azure Key Vault), follow recommended guidelines to perform initial key generation and key transfer.

Note: Customer must opt-in to use customer-managed keys otherwise by default the service will use platform keys managed by Microsoft.

Reference: Configure customer-managed keys for your Azure Batch account with Azure Key Vault and Managed Identity

DP-7: Use a secure certificate management process

Features

Certificate Management in Azure Key Vault

Description: The service supports Azure Key Vault integration for any customer certificates. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Shared

Configuration Guidance: Use Azure Key Vault to create and control the certificate lifecycle, including creation, importing, rotation, revocation, storage, and purging of the certificate. Ensure the certificate generation follows defined standards without using any insecure properties, such as: insufficient key size, overly long validity period, insecure cryptography. Setup automatic rotation of the certificate in Azure Key Vault and the Azure service (if supported) based on a defined schedule or when there is a certificate expiration. If automatic rotation is not supported in the application, ensure they are still rotated using manual methods in Azure Key Vault and the application.

Reference: Use certificates and securely access Azure Key Vault with Batch

Asset management

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Asset management.

AM-2: Use only approved services

Features

Azure Policy Support

Description: Service configurations can be monitored and enforced via Azure Policy. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Use Microsoft Defender for Cloud to configure Azure Policy to audit and enforce configurations of your Azure resources. Use Azure Monitor to create alerts when there is a configuration deviation detected on the resources. Use Azure Policy [deny] and [deploy if not exists] effects to enforce a secure configuration across Azure resources.

For any scenarios where built-in policy definitions don't exist, you can use Azure Policy aliases in the "Microsoft.Batch" namespace to create custom policies.

Reference: Azure Policy built-in definitions for Azure Batch

AM-5: Use only approved applications in virtual machine

Features

Microsoft Defender for Cloud - Adaptive Application Controls

Description: Service can limit what customer applications run on the virtual machine using Adaptive Application Controls in Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Logging and threat detection

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Logging and threat detection.

LT-1: Enable threat detection capabilities

Features

Microsoft Defender for Service / Product Offering

Description: Service has an offering-specific Microsoft Defender solution to monitor and alert on security issues. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

LT-4: Enable logging for security investigation

Features

Azure Resource Logs

Description: Service produces resource logs that can provide enhanced service-specific metrics and logging. The customer can configure these resource logs and send them to their own data sink like a storage account or log analytics workspace. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: Enable Azure resource logs for Azure Batch for the following log types: ServiceLog and AllMetrics.

Reference: Batch metrics, alerts, and logs for diagnostic evaluation and monitoring

Posture and vulnerability management

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Posture and vulnerability management.

PV-3: Define and establish secure configurations for compute resources

Features

Azure Automation State Configuration

Description: Azure Automation State Configuration can be used to maintain the security configuration of the operating system. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Azure Policy Guest Configuration Agent

Description: Azure Policy guest configuration agent can be installed or deployed as an extension to compute resources. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Custom VM Images

Description: Service supports using user-supplied VM images or pre-built images from the marketplace with certain baseline configurations pre-applied. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Shared

Configuration Guidance: When possible, use a pre-configured hardened image from a trusted supplier such as Microsoft or build a desired secure configuration baseline into the VM image template.

Customers may also use custom operating system images for Azure Batch. When using the virtual machine configuration for your Azure Batch, ensure custom images are hardened to your organization's needs. For lifecycle management, the pools store the images in a shared image gallery. You can set up a secure image build process using Azure automation tools, such as Azure Image Builder.

Reference: Use a managed image to create a custom image pool

Custom Containers Images

Description: Service supports using user-supplied container images or pre-built images from the marketplace with certain baseline configurations pre-applied. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Shared

Configuration Guidance: If using Batch pool to run tasks in Docker-compatible containers on the nodes, use pre-configured hardened container images from a trusted supplier such as Microsoft or build the desired secure configuration baseline into the container image template.

Reference: Run container applications on Azure Batch

PV-5: Perform vulnerability assessments

Features

Vulnerability Assessment using Microsoft Defender

Description: Service can be scanned for vulnerability scan using Microsoft Defender for Cloud or other Microsoft Defender services embedded vulnerability assessment capability (including Microsoft Defender for server, container registry, App Service, SQL, and DNS). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

PV-6: Rapidly and automatically remediate vulnerabilities

Features

Azure Automation Update Management

Description: Service can use Azure Automation Update Management to deploy patches and updates automatically. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Endpoint security

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Endpoint security.

ES-1: Use Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Features

EDR Solution

Description: Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) feature such as Azure Defender for servers can be deployed into the endpoint. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

ES-2: Use modern anti-malware software

Features

Anti-Malware Solution

Description: Anti-malware feature such as Microsoft Defender Antivirus, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can be deployed on the endpoint. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

ES-3: Ensure anti-malware software and signatures are updated

Features

Anti-Malware Solution Health Monitoring

Description: Anti-malware solution provides health status monitoring for platform, engine, and automatic signature updates. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Backup and recovery

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Backup and recovery.

BR-1: Ensure regular automated backups

Features

Azure Backup

Description: The service can be backed up by the Azure Backup service. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Service Native Backup Capability

Description: Service supports its own native backup capability (if not using Azure Backup). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

Next steps