10 Azure Policies Best Practices

Azure Policies are a powerful tool for managing and enforcing compliance in your Azure environment. They allow you to define rules and restrictions for your resources, and ensure that they are always in compliance with your organization’s standards.

In this article, we’ll discuss 10 best practices for using Azure Policies to ensure that your environment is secure and compliant. We’ll cover topics such as creating effective policies, managing policy assignments, and more.

1. Use a naming convention for your policies

Having a consistent naming convention for your policies makes it easier to identify and manage them. It also helps you keep track of which policies are applied to which resources, making it simpler to troubleshoot any issues that arise.

A good naming convention should include the policy type (e.g., “deny” or “audit”), the resource type (e.g., “storage account” or “virtual machine”) and the purpose of the policy (e.g., “no public access”). This will help ensure that all of your policies are easily identifiable and organized.

2. Set up an Azure Policy to block the creation of public IP addresses

Public IP addresses are a security risk because they can be used to access your resources from the internet. By blocking their creation, you can ensure that only authorized users have access to your resources.

To set up an Azure Policy to block public IP address creation, first create a policy definition in the Azure portal. Then, specify the parameters for the policy, such as which resource types should be blocked and what action should be taken when the policy is triggered. Finally, assign the policy to the appropriate scope (subscription or resource group). This will ensure that any attempts to create public IP addresses within the specified scope will be blocked.

3. Block NSGs from being applied to subnets

NSGs are used to control inbound and outbound traffic for a given subnet. If an NSG is applied to a subnet, it can potentially block access to critical services or resources that the subnet needs to function properly.

To prevent this from happening, you should create a policy that blocks any attempt to apply an NSG to a subnet. This will ensure that all of your subnets remain accessible and secure. Additionally, if someone does try to apply an NSG to a subnet, they’ll be blocked by the policy and alerted so that they can take corrective action.

4. Enforce tagging standards

Tags are a great way to organize and manage your Azure resources. They allow you to categorize, filter, and report on your resources in an organized manner.

Enforcing tagging standards ensures that all of your resources have the same tags applied consistently across your environment. This makes it easier to find specific resources when needed, as well as track costs associated with those resources. It also helps ensure compliance with any regulatory requirements related to resource management.

To enforce tagging standards, create a policy that requires all resources to be tagged according to your organization’s standards. You can also set up alerts to notify you if any resources don’t have the required tags applied.

5. Audit and remediate unused network interfaces, disks, or VMs

Unused resources can be a security risk, as they may contain sensitive data or have open ports that could be exploited. Additionally, unused resources are often forgotten and left running, resulting in unnecessary costs.

To audit and remediate these resources, you should first create an Azure policy to detect any unused network interfaces, disks, or VMs. Then, set up alerts for when the policy is triggered so you can take action quickly. Finally, use automation tools such as Azure Automation to automatically shut down or delete any unused resources. This will help ensure your environment is secure and cost-effective.

6. Monitor changes to critical resources

Azure policies are designed to help you maintain control over your cloud environment. They can be used to enforce compliance, ensure security, and optimize costs. However, if changes are made to critical resources without proper oversight, it could lead to unexpected results or even a breach of security.

To prevent this from happening, it’s important to monitor changes to critical resources in Azure. This includes monitoring for unauthorized access, suspicious activity, and any other changes that may have an impact on the security or performance of your cloud environment. By doing so, you’ll be able to quickly identify and address any issues before they become a problem.

7. Implement Just-in-Time (JIT) access with Azure Security Center

JIT access allows you to control the amount of time a user has access to your Azure resources. This means that if an attacker were to gain access to one of your users’ accounts, they would only have limited access to your resources and wouldn’t be able to do any long-term damage.

JIT access also helps reduce the risk of insider threats by limiting the amount of time a user can access sensitive data or systems. By setting up JIT access with Azure Security Center, you can ensure that all users are granted access on an as-needed basis and for no longer than necessary.

8. Restrict users from creating storage accounts in resource groups that contain production workloads

Storage accounts are a critical component of any cloud infrastructure, and they can be used to store sensitive data. If users have unrestricted access to create storage accounts in resource groups that contain production workloads, it increases the risk of unauthorized access or malicious activity. By restricting users from creating storage accounts in these resource groups, you can ensure that only authorized personnel have access to the data stored in them. Additionally, this policy helps maintain an organized structure for your Azure environment by ensuring that all storage accounts are created in the appropriate resource group.

9. Deploy virtual machines using ARM templates

ARM templates are a great way to ensure that all of your virtual machines are deployed with the same configuration. This helps you maintain consistency across your environment and makes it easier to troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

ARM templates also allow you to deploy multiple virtual machines at once, which can save time and effort when setting up new environments or scaling existing ones. Additionally, ARM templates provide an audit trail so you can easily track changes over time. Finally, they make it easy to roll back any changes if needed.

10. Prevent deployment of unsupported VM sizes

Unsupported VM sizes can lead to unexpected costs, as they may not be covered by the Azure Reserved Instances or other discounts. Additionally, unsupported VMs are more likely to experience performance issues due to lack of optimization for that particular size.

To prevent this from happening, you should create an Azure policy that blocks the deployment of any unsupported VM sizes. This will ensure that all deployments adhere to your organization’s standards and help keep costs down.