Security Baseline tools in Azure

The Security Baseline discipline is one of the Five Disciplines of Cloud Governance. This discipline focuses on ways of establishing policies that protect the network, assets, and most importantly the data that will reside on a cloud provider's solution. Within the Five Disciplines of Cloud Governance, the Security Baseline discipline involves classification of the digital estate and data. It also involves documentation of risks, business tolerance, and mitigation strategies associated with the security of data, assets, and networks. From a technical perspective, this discipline also includes involvement in decisions regarding encryption, network requirements, hybrid identity strategies, and tools to automate enforcement of security policies across resource groups.

The following list of Azure tools can help mature the policies and processes that support this discipline.

Tool	Azure portal and Azure Resource Manager	Azure Key Vault	Azure AD	Azure Policy	Microsoft Defender for Cloud	Azure Monitor
Apply access controls to resources and resource creation	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Secure virtual networks	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Encrypt virtual drives	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Encrypt PaaS storage and databases	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Manage hybrid identity services	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Restrict allowed types of resource	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Enforce geo-regional restrictions	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Monitor security health of networks and resources	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Detect malicious activity	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Preemptively detect vulnerabilities	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Configure backup and disaster recovery	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

For a complete list of Azure security tools and services, see Security services and technologies available on Azure.

Customers commonly use third-party tools to enable Security Baseline discipline activities. For more information, see the article integrate security solutions in Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

In addition to security tools, Compliance Management in Microsoft 365 provides extensive guidance, reports, and related documentation that can help you perform risk assessments as part of your migration planning process.