Are my data secure in the Azure cloud? That’s the concern of a lot of companies. Your data is your capital. If there’s anything you want to manage securely, it’s your own data and that of your customers. We at Davanti are well aware of this and have identified data security as a top priority. That’s why we’ve chosen to offer our online WMS based on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud environment.

How does Microsoft keep your data secure?

We believe your data is more secure in the public Azure cloud than in your private or managed data center. We will explain why below. First, some facts:

• 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Azure
• Azure hosts 1.4 million SQL databases
• 5 million organizations use the Azure Active Directory
• Over USD 1 billion annual security research and development expenditure
• More than 3,500 cybersecurity experts worldwide
• Microsoft Azure has the highest ISO certifications including ISO 27001 and ISO 27018
• Latest features in AI and automation
• 7,000,000,000,000 cyber threats are repelled by Microsoft every day. From attempts to force passwords from Live accounts to hacking, phishing etc.
• Own choice for cloud location, eg. in Europe. Read more.
• Optimal redundancy: Your data is stored in multiple copies and is always protected from unexpected events, such as network or power outages

There are many more fun and impressive facts, but the message is: it’s all about scale. The Azure cloud is huge and has an unimaginable number of users. The annual budgets seem astronomical, but these amounts are spread over hundreds of millions of users.

The Focus of Microsoft

The above mentioned impressive list doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do anything to protect your data, but it does mean that Microsoft Azure is doing everything possible to live up to its responsibilities – and that Microsoft can probably go a lot further than companies can individually.

Microsoft focuses on:

1. Safer identity
Securing systems, applications, and data starts with identity-based access controls. Features such as one-time sign-in and multiple authentication are built into Microsoft business products and services. They help protect your organizational and personal information from unauthorized access and make it available to legitimate users, whenever and wherever they need it.

2. Safer data
Data is the most valuable and irreplaceable asset of an organization. Microsoft cloud services contain many safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to or leaking data in a multi-tenant cloud environment. These include logical isolation with Azure Active Directory authorization and role-based management, storage-level data isolation mechanisms, and tight physical security.

Encryption is the last and strongest line of defense. Microsoft uses some of the strongest encryption protocols in the industry to protect customer data and help you stay in control of it.

3. More threat protection
The cloud enables Microsoft to use all signals, information, and operational experience to deploy and continuously improve high-quality threat protection. From Microsoft 365 to Azure, the power of the cloud provides built-in protection for all of our products and services. Examples include Exchange Online Protection, a global network of data centers that enable multi-layered, real-time protection email protection, and Microsoft Antimalware, a real-time protection feature for identifying and removing viruses, spyware and other malicious software.

4. Increased visibility and reporting
Monitoring and recording security-related events are key components in an effective data protection strategy. Microsoft business services and products provide configurable security audits and log options that help you identify and address gaps in your security policies and mechanisms to prevent breaches.

Microsoft services provide some (and in some cases all) of the following options: centralized monitoring, logging, and analysis systems for continuous visibility, timely alerts, and reports to help you manage the large volume of information generated by devices and services.

Want to know more? Take a look at https://www.microsoft.com/nl-be/security

What can you do yourself?

Just because your data is in Azure doesn’t mean you can go through life without any worries. You have to contribute to your safety. The resources you use should be as secure as your own environment. But Azure goes to great lengths to keep its platform safe. That’s why they give you all the tools you need to keep your data secure on your side.

A list of advice for you in the warehouse:

• Don’t share passwords
• Use complex unique passwords
• Keep the passwords in a  digital “safe”
• Secure your Wi-Fi network with a good unique key
• Make sure you have a good antivirus application
• Always set up Multi Factor Authentication whenever possible
• Never log in through public computers
• Don’t use public free Wi-Fi networks
• Make sure laptops and mobile phones are always equipped with the latest security updates

Summarized

Are my data secure in the Azure cloud? Our answer is yes. If you implement the right governance and use the tools offered, your data will be more secure in Azure than in your private network.

Azure spends an enormous amount of time on virtual and physical penetration tests, threat detection and elimination, training, and the development of tools that help you secure your data yourself. There are only a handful of companies that can secure their data separately equally thoroughly.

In the above article, we focused on what Microsoft does and what you can do yourself. Of course, Davanti itself does a lot in its software development to ensure data security; read more here.