Azure Cloud Security empowers organizations to swiftly safeguard data, applications, and infrastructure through integrated security services, featuring advanced security intelligence for promptly detecting emerging threats in their nascent stages. This enables agile responses for timely mitigation.
Azure Security helps organizations to:
- Firstly, apply a layered defense in-depth strategy across identity, data, hosts and networks.
- Secondly, unify security management and enable advanced threat protection across hybrid cloud environments.
Microsoft Azure stands as a prominent player among leading cloud service providers. Recently, Microsoft underwent a transformation in its Cloud certification program, transitioning from the traditional MCP, MCSA, MCSE certifications to Role-based programs. Notably, Microsoft introduced Role-based Cloud Security certifications, placing a significant emphasis on pertinent skills. Within Azure Cloud Security, distinct tracks have emerged within the Azure cloud infrastructure certifications, aligning with specific roles or areas of interest.
Since the inception of Role-based Cloud Security Certifications, there has been a rapid surge in demand for Azure security engineer positions. Attaining the Security Engineer Associate certification necessitates the successful completion of a single exam, AZ-500. In today’s landscape, the specter of security breaches, encompassing data loss, system downtime, and other critical issues, looms over organizations globally. These risks magnify the overall impact of security incidents. Neglecting the security aspects of a cloud infrastructure can lead to unforeseen costs and repercussions for organizations.
These factors have catalyzed an escalating demand for professionals well-versed in Azure cloud security skills and technologies.
What it takes to become an Azure Cloud Security Engineer?
Security Engineers are tasked with the responsibility of proficiently identifying and remedying vulnerabilities, leveraging an array of security tools and a solid foundation in Azure essentials. For candidates aspiring to acquire a comprehensive grasp of fundamental Azure concepts, the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification stands as an ideal resource. Successfully navigating the AZ-900 exam for Microsoft Azure Fundamentals empowers candidates by establishing a strong bedrock of knowledge, thus enhancing their confidence as they embark on pursuing role-based Azure certifications.
Who should take AZ-500 Exam?
The job of Security engineer is ideal for:
- Applicants engaged in deploying security measures, safeguarding data, networks, applications, as well as overseeing identity and access management.
- Candidates possessing the expertise to detect and rectify vulnerabilities through the utilization of security tools.
- Individuals with a proven track record in executing threat protection measures, both within the on-premises environment and system management.
Skills Required to become Azure Security Professional
To begin their preparations for the AZ-500 exam, candidates should always concentrate on the fundamentals of Azure security engineer skills.
The primary skills that are essential to become a security engineer are:
- Comprehension of essential principles in cloud security and infrastructure administration.
- Foundational grasp of implementing security measures.
- Proficiency in maintaining a robust security stance.
- Adeptness in managing identity and access.
- Demonstrated teamwork capabilities are expected from candidates.
- Competence in safeguarding data, applications, and networks.
- Capability to carry out security operations for the Azure infrastructure is required.
These skills will allow the candidates to develop and strengthen their understanding of the essential principles of Azure Cloud Security.
Role-Defined Skills
As Azure Security Engineer is a job role related to the designation of a security engineer, therefore there are certain skills that are similar to that of security engineers and works as important additions among Azure security engineer skills. The role-specific skills that are required to become Azure security engineering professionals are:
- In-depth knowledge of cloud features and services
- Good flow in scripting and automation.
- Complete understanding of Microsoft Azure products and services.
- Acquaintance with operating in cloud and hybrid environments.
- Mastery in virtualization, networking and N-tier architecture.
- Experience with working in end-to-end infrastructure.
How to become Azure Security Engineer?
Take Practice test & Exam :- Start Preparing for AZ-500 Exam Now!
The Microsoft Azure Security Technology exam is well-suited for security experts engaged in implementing security measures, ensuring data, network, application security, managing identity and access, and executing threat protection strategies. Attaining the Azure AZ-500 certification is crucial for individuals aspiring to secure a position as an Azure Security Engineer.
Exam Information:
| Name | AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies |
| Exam Code | AZ-500 |
| Technology | Microsoft Azure |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Number of Questions | 40 to 60 |
| Exam Fees | $165 USD |
| Language | English |
What are the AZ-500 exam prerequisites?
There are basically no prerequisites for AZ-500 Certification Exam. Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certificate proves your knowledge of Azure basics. Still, there are some prerequisites that are necessary to appear for the AZ-500 certification exam.
- Candidates are expected to be skilled in scripting and automation.
- Candidates must have a strong knowledge of N-tier architecture, networking and virtualization.
Microsoft AZ-500 Exam Course Outline
The objectives allow candidates to know the exact topics that will form the foundation of questions in the AZ-500 certification exam. The AZ-500 exam topics include:
Manage identity and access (25–30%)
Manage identities in Microsoft Entra ID
- Secure users in Microsoft Entra ID
- Secure directory groups in Microsoft Entra ID
- Recommend when to use external identities (Microsoft Documentation: External Identities in Azure Active Directory)
- Secure external identities
- Implement Microsoft Entra Identity Protection (Microsoft Documentation: What is Identity Protection)
Manage authentication by using Microsoft Entra ID
- Configure Microsoft Entra Verified ID (Microsoft Documentation: Configure your tenant for Microsoft Entra Verified ID)
- Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) (Microsoft Documentation: Azure AD Multi-Factor Authentication)
- Implement passwordless authentication (Microsoft Documentation: Enable passwordless sign-in with Microsoft Authenticator)
- Implement password protection (Microsoft Documentation: Enforce on-premises Azure AD Password Protection for Active Directory Domain Services)
- Implementing single sign-on (SSO) (Microsoft Documentation: What is single sign-on in Azure Active Directory?)
- Integrate single sign on (SSO) and identity providers
- Recommend and enforce modern authentication protocols (Microsoft Documentation: Block legacy authentication with Azure AD with Conditional Access)
Manage authorization by using Microsoft Entra ID
- Configure Azure role permissions for management groups, subscriptions, resource groups, and resources (Microsoft Documentation: What are Azure management groups)
- Assign built-in roles in Microsoft Entra ID
- Assign built-in roles in Azure
- Create and assign custom roles, including Azure roles and Microsoft Entra roles
- Implement and manage Microsoft Entra Permissions Management (Microsoft Documentation: What’s Permissions Management?)
- Configure Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
- Configure role management and access reviews by using Microsoft Entra (Microsoft Documentation: What are access reviews?)
- Implement Conditional Access policies (Microsoft Documentation: What is Conditional Access?)
Manage application access in Microsoft Entra ID
- Manage access to enterprise applications in Microsoft Entra ID, including OAuth permission grants (Microsoft Documentation: Grant tenant-wide admin consent to an application)
- Manage app registrations in Microsoft Entra ID
- Configure app registration permission scopes (Microsoft Documentation: Introduction to permissions and consent)
- Managing app registration permission consent (Microsoft Documentation: Configure how users consent to applications)
- Manage and use service principals (Microsoft Documentation: Application and service principal objects in Azure Active Directory)
- Manage managed identities for Azure resources (Microsoft Documentation: What are managed identities for Azure resources?)
- Recommend when to use and configure an Microsoft Entra Application Proxy, including authentication
Secure networking (20–25%)
Plan and Implement security for virtual networks
- Plan and implement Network Security Groups (NSGs) and Application Security Groups (ASGs) (Microsoft Documentation: Application security groups, Network security groups)
- Plan and implement user-defined routes (UDRs)
- Planning and implement VNET peering or VPN gateway (Microsoft Documentation: Configure a VNet-to-VNet VPN gateway connection by using the Azure portal)
- Plan and implement Virtual WAN, including a secured virtual hub (Microsoft Documentation: What is a secured virtual hub?)
- Secure VPN connectivity, including point-to-site and site-to-site (Microsoft Documentation: About Point-to-Site VPN, Create a site-to-site VPN connection)
- Implement encryption over ExpressRoute (Microsoft Documentation: ExpressRoute encryption)
- Configure firewall settings on PaaS resources (Microsoft Documentation: Configure Azure Storage firewalls and virtual networks)
- Monitor network security by using Network Watcher, including NSG flow logging (Microsoft Documentation: Introduction to flow logs for network security groups, Log network traffic to and from a virtual machine using the Azure portal)
Plan and implement security for private access to Azure resources
- Plan and implement virtual network Service Endpoints (Microsoft Documentation: Virtual Network service endpoints)
- Planning and implement Private Endpoints (Microsoft Documentation: What is a private endpoint?)
- Plan and implement Private Link services (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Private Link?)
- Plan and implement network integration for Azure App Service and Azure Functions
- Plan and implement network security configurations for an App Service Environment (ASE) (Microsoft Documentation: Networking considerations for App Service Environment, App Service Environment networking)
- Planning and implement network security configurations for an Azure SQL Managed Instance (Microsoft Documentation: Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance security capabilities, Azure SQL Database security features)
Plan and implement security for public access to Azure resources
- Plan and implement Transport Layer Security (TLS) to applications, including Azure App Service and API Management (Microsoft Documentation: Add and manage TLS/SSL certificates in Azure App Service)
- Plan and implement, and manager an Azure Firewall including Azure Firewall Manager and firewall policies (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Firewall Manager?)
- Plan and implement an Azure Application Gateway (Microsoft Documentation: Application Gateway infrastructure configuration)
- Plan and implement an Azure Front Door, including Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Plan and implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Web Application Firewall?)
- Recommend when to use Azure DDoS Protection Standard (Microsoft Documentation: Azure DDoS Protection)
Secure compute, storage, and databases (20–25%)
Plan and implement advanced security for compute
- Plan and implement remote access to public endpoints, including Azure Bastion and just-in-time (JIT) virtual machine (VM) access (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Bastion?, Plan for virtual machine remote access)
- Configure network isolation for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (Microsoft Documentation: Network concepts for applications in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS))
- Secure and monitor AKS (Microsoft Documentation: Monitoring Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with Azure Monitor)
- Configuring authentication for AKS (Microsoft Documentation: Access and identity options for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS))
- Configure security monitoring for Azure Container Instances (ACIs)
- Configure security monitoring for Azure Container Apps (ACAs)
- Manage access to Azure Container Registry (ACR) (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Container Registry roles and permissions)
- Configure disk encryption, including Azure Disk Encryption (ADE), encryption as host, and confidential disk encryption (Microsoft Documentation: Overview of managed disk encryption options, Azure Disk Encryption for Windows VMs)
- Recommend security configurations for Azure API Management (Microsoft Documentation: Azure security baseline for API Management)
Plan and implement security for storage
- Configure access control for storage accounts (Microsoft Documentation: Authorize access to data in Azure Storage)
- Manage life cycle for storage account access keys (Microsoft Documentation: Optimize costs by automatically managing the data lifecycle)
- Selecting and configure an appropriate method for access to Azure Files (Microsoft Documentation: Mount SMB Azure file share on Windows)
- Select and configure an appropriate method for access to Azure Blob Storage (Microsoft Documentation: Authorize access to blobs using Azure Active Directory, Choose how to authorize access to blob data in the Azure portal)
- Select and configure an appropriate method for access to Azure Tables (Microsoft Documentation: Authorize access to tables using Azure Active Directory)
- Selecting and configure an appropriate method for access to Azure Queues (Microsoft Documentation: Get started with Azure Queue Storage using .NET)
- Select and configure appropriate methods for protecting against data security threats, including soft delete, backups, versioning, and immutable storage (Microsoft Documentation: Store business-critical blob data with immutable storage, Data protection overview)
- Configure Bring your own key (BYOK) (Microsoft Documentation: Bring your own key (BYOK) details for Azure Information Protection)
- Enable double encryption at the Azure Storage infrastructure level (Microsoft Documentation: Enable infrastructure encryption for double encryption of data)
Plan and implement security for Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Enable database authentication by using Microsoft Entra ID
- Enable database auditing (Microsoft Documentation: Auditing for Azure SQL Database and Azure Synapse Analytics)
- Identify use cases for the Microsoft Purview governance portal (Microsoft Documentation: What’s available in the Microsoft Purview governance portal?)
- Implement data classification of sensitive information by using the Microsoft Purview governance portal (Microsoft Documentation: Data classification in the Microsoft Purview governance portal)
- Plan and implement dynamic masking (Microsoft Documentation: Dynamic Data Masking)
- Implement Transparent Database Encryption (TDE) (Microsoft Documentation: Transparent data encryption (TDE))
- Recommend when to use Azure SQL Database Always Encrypted (Microsoft Documentation: Always Encrypted)
Manage security operations (25–30%)
Plan, implement, and manage governance for security
- Create, assign, and interpret security policies and initiatives in Azure Policy (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Policy?)
- Configure security settings by using Azure Blueprint (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Blueprints?)
- Deploy secure infrastructures by using a landing zone (Microsoft Documentation: What is an Azure landing zone?)
- Create and configure an Azure Key Vault (Microsoft Documentation: About Azure Key Vault)
- Recommend when to use a dedicated Hardware Security Module (HSM) (Microsoft Documentation: What is Azure Dedicated HSM?)
- Configure access to Key Vault, including vault access policies and Azure Role-Based Access Control (Microsoft Documentation: Provide access to Key Vault keys, certificates, and secrets)
- Manage certificates, secrets, and keys (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Key Vault keys, secrets and certificates overview)
- Configure key rotation (Microsoft Documentation: Configure cryptographic key auto-rotation in Azure Key Vault)
- Configure backup and recovery of certificates, secrets, and keys
Manage security posture by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Identify and remediate security risks by using the Microsoft Defender for Cloud Secure Score and Inventory (Microsoft Documentation: Security posture for Microsoft Defender for Cloud)
- Assess compliance against security frameworks and Microsoft Defender for Cloud (Microsoft Documentation: Improve your regulatory compliance)
- Add industry and regulatory standards to Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Add custom initiatives to Microsoft Defender for Cloud (Microsoft Documentation: Create custom Azure security initiatives and policies)
- Connect hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments to Microsoft Defender for Cloud (Microsoft Documentation: What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud?)
- Identify and monitor external assets by using Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
Configure and manage threat protection by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Enable workload protection services in Microsoft Defender for Cloud, including Microsoft Defender for Storage, Databases, Containers, App Service, Key Vault, Resource Manager, and DNS
- Configure Microsoft Defender for Servers (Microsoft Documentation: Onboard Windows servers to the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint service)
- Configure Microsoft Defender for Azure SQL Database (Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft Defender for SQL)
- Manage and respond to security alerts in Microsoft Defender for Cloud (Microsoft Documentation: Manage and respond to security alerts in Microsoft Defender for Cloud)
- Configure workflow automation by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Evaluate vulnerability scans from Microsoft Defender for Server (Microsoft Documentation: Defender for Cloud’s integrated Qualys vulnerability scanner for Azure and hybrid machines)
Configure and manage security monitoring and automation solutions
- Monitor security events by using Azure Monitor (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Monitor overview)
- Configure data connectors in Microsoft Sentinel (Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft Sentinel data connectors)
- Create and customize analytics rules in Microsoft Sentinel (Microsoft Documentation: Create custom analytics rules to detect threats)
- Evaluate alerts and incidents in Microsoft Sentinel (Microsoft Documentation: Investigate incidents with Microsoft Sentinel)
- Configure automation in Microsoft Sentinel
Numerous reputable online certification training providers offer their expertise to assist candidates in preparing for the Azure Cloud Security Exam. Regardless of your chosen preparation method, engaging in a practice run or two can yield unexpected benefits. In conjunction with ensuring adequate rest and a nutritious breakfast on the exam day, incorporating AZ-500 practice tests into your study regimen serves as a valuable approach to diversify your strategies and optimize your performance for the actual assessment.
