The Azure Security Podcast

A twice-monthly podcast dedicated to Security, Privacy, Compliance, Governance and Reliability on the Microsoft Cloud Platform. Hosted by Microsoft security experts Michael Howard, Sarah Young, Gladys Rodriguez and Mark Simos. Meet the team.

Episode 78 - June 2nd, 2023 - [Entra Permissions Management]

In this episode Michael and Gladys talk with guests Marcelo di lorio ( ) and Neil Walker ( ) about all the latest news in Microsoft Entra Permissions Management.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Microsoft Build, Confidential Computing, Key Vault, SQL MI, and Azure Content Safety.

Episode 77 - May 19th, 2023 - [Securing Infrastructure as Code (IaC)]

In this episode Michael, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Anthony Shaw ( ) about what he looks for when reviewing Infrastructure as Code files, and some of the best practices he has learned over the years. He also made a fantastic comment:
"Security pops up a lot when you stick things on the Internet"
Sarah is away in Singapore, presenting at Blackhat Asia 2023!
We also discuss Azure Security news about DDoS, Cosmos DB, Microsoft Defender for APIs, Load Balancer, Zero Trust and discovering Internet-facing devices.

Episode 76 - May 3rd, 2023 - [Microsoft Security Research]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, and Mark talk with guest Negar Shabab ( ) about her work in Microsoft's Security Research group.
We also discuss Azure Security news about new Confidential Computing VMs, SQL Server, T-SQL Parsing, Auditing in Azure SQL DB, Sentinel and more.

Episode 75 - April 13th, 2023 - [Latest Microsoft Defender for Cloud News]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with a good friend of the Podcast, Yuri Diogenes ( ) about the latest Microsoft Defender for Cloud news.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Trusted VM Launch, Chaos Studio, Azure SQL DB, DDoS protection, Confidential Containers, Firewall and more.

Episode 74 - April 7th, 2023 - [What's New in Azure Policy]

In this episode Michael and Mark talk with guest Kemley Nieva ( ) about the latest news in Azure Policy.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Microsoft Security Copilot, Azure Cache for Redis, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure Monitor, API Management, Azure Maps, Azure Functions, Azure Backup and VMs.

Episode 73 - March 17th 2023 - [Microsoft Defender for Cloud as Code]

In this episode Michael and Gladys talk with guests Sean Wesonga ( ) and Bojan Magusic ( ) about using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
We also discuss Azure Security news about new Azure SQL Database migration abilities for authentication and Transparent Data Encryption (TDE).

Episode 72 - February 28th, 2023 - [The team reflects after almost three years]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark interview each other!

The Podcast is almost three years old, and things have changed for each of us, so we thought we'd re-introduce ourselves, reflect, give career advice, and talk about what's top of mind for each of us!
We also discuss Azure Security news about SQL Server and Azure SQL DB, MFA and AAD, AAD and IPv6, new SC-100 study guide and more.

Episode 71 - February 15th, 2023 - [ANNOUNCEMENT: Azure SQL DB, Always Encrypted with VBS Secure Enclaves ]

In this episode Michael talks with guest Pieter Vanhove ( ) about a new addition to the Always Encrypted family: Always Encrypted with Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) Enclaves. This new feature is available today in Public Preview.

Episode 70 - February 9th, 2023 - [Microsoft Purview]

In this episode Michael and Sarah talk with guests Beau Faull ( ) and Lou Mercuri ( ) about Microsoft Purview. Beau and Lou are also co-hosts of the Coast2Coast Podcast.

We also discuss Azure Security news about Trusted Boot VMs, Sentinel and Defender for Cloud.

Episode 69 - January 29th, 2022 - [Secure Software Supply Chain and SBOM]

In this episode Michael and Mark talk with guest Adrian Diglio ( ) about Secure Software Supply Chain and Software Bill of Materials or SBOM.
We also discuss Azure Security news about SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Application Secure Groups in Private Endpoints. Mark goes over MCRA, Immutable Laws of Cybersecurity and Security Architecture Design.

Episode 68 - December 7nd, 2022 - [SQL Server 2022]

In this episode Michael sits down with Ajay Jagannathan ( ) to talk about the recent release of SQL Server 2022 especially some of the new security features and hooks into Azure.
We also discuss other SQL database security news.

Episode 67 - November 24th, 2022 - [Privileged Access]

In this episode Michael and Sarah talk with guest Bronwyn Mercer ( ) about Privilegd Access.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Defender for DevOps, ARM, Application Gateway, and Managed HSM.

'Designing and Developing Secure Azure Solutions' from Microsoft Press is now available!

Episode 66 - November 11th, 2022 - [Workload Identities]

In this episode Michael, Sarah and Mark talk with guest Joey Snow ( ) about Workload Identities.
We also discuss Azure Security news about: Azure Front Door, Log Analytics, Web Application Firewall and AKS SSH keys.

Episode 65 - November 4th, 2022 - [Microsoft Defender for Threat Intelligence]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guests Rijuta Kapoor ( ) and Brandon Dixon ( ) about Microsoft Defender for Threat Intelligence.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Azure Service Bus, PostgreSQL, VMs, SQL Server and Confidential VMs, Azure SQL DB, Workload Identities, Microsoft Entra and other security news from Ignite.

Episode 64 - October 14th, 2022 - [SQL Server Permission Model]

In this episode Michael talks with guest Andreas Wolter ( ) about SQL Server and Azure SQL Database permissions. If you have never gotten your head around SQL Server permissions, you came to right place! Andreas and Michael are colleagues in the Azure Data Platform.

Episode 63 - Oct 7th, 2022 - [Entra Permissions Management]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Nick Wryter ( ) about Entra Permissions Management.
We also discuss Azure Security news about

Episode 62 - September 28th, 2022 - [Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Tamper Protection]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Josh Bregman ( ) who is a Principal Product Manager at Microsoft about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and a feature that makes it harder for bad actors to change sensitive security-related settings that could disable security software.
We also cover the latest security news about Synapse SQL, Service Bus, Storage, Redis, Azure SQL, MySQL, AKS, Managed Disks and Microsoft Defender.

Episode 61 - August 26th, 2022 - [Operational Technology (OT) Security]

In this episode Michael, Sarah and Mark talk with guest Elizabeth Stephens ( ) about securing operational technology - OT. This is the first episode to use the phrase, "things that are not supposed to blow up!"
We also discuss Azure Security news about Windows authentication and AAD for SQL Managed Instance, Private Endpoints, Load Testing, TLS 1.3 support, Confidential VM support for AKS pools, Azure Firewall and AKS Key Management.

Episode 60 - August 23th, 2022 - [Defender for Cloud]

In this episode Michael, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Safeena Begum ( ) about current Microsoft Defender for Cloud news as well as using it to monitor AWS and GCP.
We also discuss Azure Security news about changes to Certificate Authority root certificates in Azure, Microsoft Entra and threat intelligence.

Episode 59 - August 9th, 2022 - [CISO Workshop]

In this episode Michael and Sarah talk to Mark about the updated Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Workshop.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Gateway Load Balancer, Azure Database for MySQL, Confidential Ledger and Trusted Launch.

Episode 58 - July 22nd, 2022 - [Latest Innovations in Azure Confidential Computing]

In this episode Michael geeks out with guests Vikas Bhatia () and Run Cai () about some of the recent announcements about Azure Confidential Computing. Most importantly, the recent release of Azure Confidential Computing VMs from AMD.

Episode 57 - July 12th, 2022 - [Microsoft Sentinel Content Hub]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Roey Ben Chaim ( ) about the plethor of material available as part of the Microsoft Sentinel Content Hub.
We also discuss Azure Security news about: Microsoft Entra Permissions Management, MSTICPy 2.0, Microsoft Purview, Azure Monitor Agent, Azure Backup, App Insights and the table of contents from Designing and Developing Secure Azure Solutions :)

Episode 56 - July 8th, 2022 - [Microsoft Defender Advanced Hunting]

In this episode Michael talks with guest Michael Melone ( ) a Principal Product Manager in the Microsoft 365 Defender team about tips tricks and tools available to help hunt adversaries using Microsoft 365 Defender.
We also discuss Azure Security news about MySQL, AKS, Comsos DB, and API Management.

Episode 55 - June 28th, 2022 - [Practical Zero Trust]

In this episode Michael and Sarahtalk with guest Matt Soseman ( ) about Practical Zero Trust. Michael goes off the deep-end about Zero Trust and Assume Breach!
We also discuss Azure Security news about: Azure SQL SD, SQL Server, Sentinel, Bastion and Microsoft Entra.

Episode 54 - June 14th, 2022 - [Azure SQL MI Windows Authentication]

In this episode Michael talks with guest Sravani Saluru ( ) about Windows authentication support for Azure SQL Managed Instance. This is an importat feature in Public Preview that allows for seamless Kerberos authentication of on-premise accounts with SQL MI in Azure. This makes it significantly easier to 'lift and shift' on-premise SQL Server workloads, and unblocks many scenarios.

Episode 53 - May 24th, 2022 - [Azure SQL Database Ledger]

In this special episode Michael and Sarah talk with guest Pieter Vanhove ( ) about Azure SQL DB Ledger functionality that was released today at the Microsoft BUILD Conference.

Episode 52 - May 18th 2022 - [Microsoft Defender for Containers]

In this episode Michael, Sarah and Mark talk with guest Shay Amar ( ) about Microsoft Defender for Containers.
Azure Security news is a little light because the RSA and Microsoft Build conferences are around the corner. However, there's some news about Confidentual Compute VMs, Microsoft Sentinel and Azure Arc. Mark also reinforces some best practice about protecting against the current scourge of the Internet, ransomware.

Episode 51 - April 18th, 2022 - [Updated CosmosDB Security]

In this episode Michael, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Thomas Weiss ( ) about some of the new security capabilities in CosmosDB.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Confidential Compute and AI, Azure Data Explorer, Stream Analytics, Load Balancer, DNS Reservations, ZLoader Malware, Azure Monitor, MSTICPy, NIST SP 800-40 and Microsoft 365 Defender.

Episode 50 - April 4th, 2022 - [Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architectures (MCRA)]

This special episode is a little different; Michael, Sarah, and Gladys talk to Mark about the Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architectures (MCRA) and the Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and how they relate to Zero Trust and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and more. We also get a little side-tracked at times and discuss other security topics such as developer tools for non-developers, and how IT-folks need to learn the basics of the software development toolchain to support Infrastructure as Code (IaaC).
We purposefully had no news this week because we wanted to leave as much time as possible for Mark, but one item of great importance to Michael so he covered it anyway: Always Encrypted in CosmosDB is now Generally Available (GA).

Episode 49 - March 23rd, 2022 - [RiskIQ]

In this episode Michael and Gladys talk with guest Jason Zann ( ) the Vice President, Head of Platform at RiskIQ, a Microsoft subsidiary, about the role of RiskIQ within Microsoft products. Quotes of the month from Jason, "Security isn't a problem you solve, it's a game you play." and "Am I a targeted chance or a targeted choice?"
We also discuss Azure Security news about: API Management, Azure Monitor, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Identity Protection and Microsoft 365 Sensitivity labels.

Episode 48 - March 11th, 2022 - [Microsoft Compliance Manager and Security Score]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Al Eardley ( ) about Secure Score and Micrsoft Compliance Manager.
We also discuss Azure Security news about: Zero Trust, Microsoft Sentinel, CosmosDB, Azure Active Directory, CodeQL, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Azure Load Testing. Also there's a new blog from Microsoft Cyber Architect about building Sybersecurity Strategies and programs.

Episode 47 - February 22nd, 2022 - [Microsoft Defender for IoT]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Chris Hallum ( ) who is a Senior Product Managed in the Microsoft Defender for IoT team, about everything you didn't know about the product. Chris also mentions some of the new features coming later in the year.
We also discuss Azure Security news about: Sentinel, Azure Learning resources, Azure Active Directory, Azure SQL DB, Azure Monitor and Payment HSM. Stick around for a disussion about network-based printers and the problems of networking sniffing, chatter and latency.

Episode 46 - February 11th, 2022 - [Azure Sentinel Extensions]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Matt Egen ( ) about Azure Sentinel Extensions inlcuding the new Codeless Connectors that are in preview. Matt and Mark also discuss some interesting views on Geo-fencing using IP addresses.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Azure DevOps and Key Vault.

Episode 45 - January 26th, 2022 - [Zero Trust and the SOC]

In this episode Michael, Sarah and Mark talk with guest Kristin Burke ( ) about supporting Zero Trust in the Security Operations Center (SOC).
We also discuss Azure Security news about: Azure Cache for Redis, API Management, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), PostgreSQL, Azure Sentinel, KQL resources and Confidential Compute VM cost reductions.

Episode 44 - January 12th, 2022 - [Security - The Boring Bits]

In this episode Michael, Sarah, Gladys and Mark talk with guest Jess Dodson ( ) about some of the basic and most fundamental practices organizations should take to secure their Azure and on-prem solutions. There's no glitz and glamor or shiny tools necessary, just good, honest practices.
We also discuss Azure Security news about Log4j, Key Rotation in Key Vault, Azore Storage and ABAC, updates to Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure AD custom security attributes and security training.

Links

Older episodes