Platform integrity and security overview

The Azure fleet is composed of millions of servers (hosts) with thousands more added daily. Thousands of hosts also undergo maintenance daily through reboots, operating system refreshes, or repairs. Before a host can join the fleet and begin accepting customer workloads, Microsoft verifies that the host is in a secure and trustworthy state. This verification process ensures that malicious or inadvertent changes didn't occur on boot sequence components during the supply chain or maintenance workflows.

Securing Azure hardware and firmware

This series of articles describes how Microsoft ensures the integrity and security of hosts through various stages in their lifecycle, from manufacturing to retirement. The articles address:

• Firmware security
• Platform code integrity
• UEFI Secure Boot
• Measured boot and host attestation
• Project Cerberus
• Encryption at rest
• Hypervisor security

Next steps

• Learn how Microsoft actively partners within the cloud hardware ecosystem to drive continuous firmware security improvements.

• Understand your shared responsibility in the cloud.