Azure security baseline for Azure Monitor
This security baseline applies guidance from the Microsoft cloud security benchmark version 1.0 to Azure Monitor. 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 Azure Monitor.
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 Azure Monitor have been excluded. To see how Azure Monitor completely maps to the Microsoft cloud security benchmark, see the full Azure Monitor security baseline mapping file.
Security profile
The security profile summarizes high-impact behaviors of Azure Monitor, which may result in increased security considerations.
| Service Behavior Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Product Category | DevOps, Security |
| Customer can access HOST / OS | No Access |
| Service can be deployed into customer's virtual network | False |
| Stores customer content at rest | True |
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 the service into a virtual network. Assign private IPs to the resource (where applicable) unless there is a strong reason to assign public IPs directly to the resource.
Reference: Use Azure Private Link to connect networks to Azure Monitor
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 | False | Customer |
Configuration Guidance: Use network security groups (NSG) to restrict or monitor traffic by port, protocol, source IP address, or destination IP address. Create NSG rules to restrict your service's open ports (such as preventing management ports from being accessed from untrusted networks). Be aware that by default, NSGs deny all inbound traffic but allow traffic from virtual network and Azure Load Balancers.
Reference: IP addresses used by Azure Monitor
NS-2: Secure cloud services with network controls
Features
Azure Private Link
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: With Azure Private Link, you can securely link Azure platform as a service (PaaS) resources to your virtual network by using private endpoints. Azure Monitor is a constellation of different interconnected services that work together to monitor your workloads. An Azure Monitor Private Link connects a private endpoint to a set of Azure Monitor resources, defining the boundaries of your monitoring network. That set is called an Azure Monitor Private Link Scope (AMPLS).
Reference: Use Azure Private Link to connect networks to Azure Monitor
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 either using the service-level IP ACL filtering rule or a toggling switch for public network access. See additional information here: Use Azure Monitor Private Link Scope (AMPLS)
Reference: Use Azure Private Link to connect networks to Azure Monitor
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 | True | Microsoft |
Feature notes: The Azure Monitor Agent uses MSI\AAD by default and is documented here: Azure Log Analytics Agent Configuration
Application Insights needs to be configured to enforce AAD and is documented here Application Insights AAD Authentication
Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.
Reference: Azure AD authentication for Application Insights
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 |
|---|---|---|
| False | Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.
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 | Customer |
Feature notes: Managed identity must be enabled on Azure virtual machines prior to installing Azure Monitor Agent. Azure Monitor Agent Prerequisites
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: Azure AD authentication for Application Insights
Service Principals
Description: Data plane supports authentication using service principals. Learn more.
| Supported | Enabled By Default | Configuration Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| True | False | Customer |
Feature notes: This is applicable only to Secure WebHooks.
Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.
Reference: Create and manage action groups in the Azure portal
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 |
|---|---|---|
| True | False | Customer |
Configuration Guidance: Define the applicable conditions and criteria for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) conditional access in the workload. Consider common use cases such as blocking or granting access from specific locations, blocking risky sign-in behavior, or requiring organization-managed devices for specific applications.
Reference: Azure Monitor Log Analytics API Overview
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 | True | Microsoft |
Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.
Reference: Roles, permissions, and security in Azure Monitor
PA-8: Determine access process for cloud provider support
Features
Customer Lockbox
Description: Customer Lockbox can be used for Microsoft support access. Learn more.
| Supported | Enabled By Default | Configuration Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| True | False | Customer |
Feature notes: Only available when Azure Monitor Log Analytics is configured with a dedicated cluster.
Configuration Guidance: In support scenarios where Microsoft needs to access your data, use Customer Lockbox to review, then approve or reject each of Microsoft's data access requests. This only applies to Log data in dedicated clusters.
Reference: Customer Lockbox (preview)
Data protection
For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Data protection.
DP-1: Discover, classify, and label sensitive data
Features
Sensitive Data Discovery and Classification
Description: Tools (such as Azure Purview or Azure Information Protection) can be used for data discovery and classification in the 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.
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 | False | Customer |
Feature notes: All configured by default, except Data ingestion.
For Log Analytics
Configuration Guidance: Enable secure transfer in services where there is a native data in transit encryption feature built in. Enforce HTTPS on any web applications and services and ensure TLS v1.2 or later is used. Legacy versions such as SSL 3.0, TLS v1.0 should be disabled. For remote management of Virtual Machines, use SSH (for Linux) or RDP/TLS (for Windows) instead of an unencrypted protocol.
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 |
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 |
Feature notes: Azure Monitor data is data about the health of services and is not protected by Customer Lockbox by default. Only Logs can be protected by Lockbox, and only for dedicated clusters.
Configuration Guidance: Azure Monitor data is intended for service health data only, and only Log Data stored in dedicated clusters allows the use of Customer Managed Keys for Data at Rest Encryption. 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: Azure Monitor customer-managed key
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 secure configuration across Azure resources.
Reference: Create diagnostic settings at scale using Azure Policy
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 | True | Microsoft |
Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.
Reference: Diagnostic settings in Azure Monitor
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
- See the Microsoft cloud security benchmark overview
- Learn more about Azure security baselines