Microsoft – Page 5 – Get Practical

Microsoft Announces Mandatory MFA for All Azure Users

Microsoft has recently announced a significant change that will impact all Azure users: the mandatory implementation of Multifactor Authentication (MFA). This update aims to enhance security across the Azure platform by requiring additional verification for users accessing various Azure services.

Official Announcement: Read Microsoft’s MFA Requirement for Azure Users

Understanding the Changes

This update will affect all users interacting with the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell Modules, and Terraform when deploying to Azure. This includes guest accounts, service accounts, and break glass accounts.

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How to Create a Secure SFTP Service Using Azure Storage Account and Make It Publicly Accessible

Creating a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) service using an Azure Storage Account offers a cost-effective, scalable, and highly available solution for transferring files. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up an SFTP service on Azure Storage and configuring it to be publicly accessible while focusing on the most secure options.

Step 1: Create an Azure Storage Account

1.1 Sign in to Azure Portal

Go to the Azure Portal and sign in with your Azure account.

1.2 Create a New Storage Account

In the Azure portal, select Create a resource > Storage > Storage account.
In the "Basics" tab, configure the storage account:
- Subscription: Select your subscription.
- Resource group: Create a new resource group or select an existing one.
- Storage account name: Enter a unique name for your storage account.
- Region: Select the region closest to you.
- Performance: Choose Standard.
- Redundancy: Choose the redundancy option that fits your needs (e.g., Locally-redundant storage (LRS)).
In the "Advanced" tab, configure the storage account:

Hierarchical Namespace: Enable hierarchical namespace.
Access Protocols: Enable SFTP.

Click Review + create and then Create.

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Migrating Risk Policies to Conditional Access: A Strategic Guide for Enhanced Security

Azure AD Conditional Access Best Practices

As the digital security landscape continues to evolve, organizations utilizing Microsoft Azure are encouraged to migrate their Identity Protection risk policies to Conditional Access. With Microsoft’s announcement that legacy risk policies in Microsoft Entra ID Protection will be retired on October 1, 2026, now is the crucial time to plan and execute this transition. This guide not only walks you through the migration process but also incorporates Microsoft’s recommended practices for configuring risk policies to protect your organization effectively.

Understanding the Importance of Migration

The retirement of the old risk policies necessitates a shift to a more robust and integrated system. Conditional Access provides a more dynamic framework that allows for real-time assessments and adaptive responses to identity-based threats, making it a superior choice for managing security risks in Azure.

Preparing for Migration

Begin by auditing your existing risk policies in Microsoft Entra ID Protection. Identify which configurations are active and understand their implications to ensure that all critical aspects of your security setup are transitioned without loss of coverage.

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Deploying Your Own Agents (VMs) in Azure for Azure DevOps CI/CD Pipelines

Introduction

In the world of software development, Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) practices are crucial for automating the testing and deployment of code. Azure DevOps provides a powerful platform for implementing CI/CD pipelines. While Azure DevOps offers hosted agents for running pipelines, there are scenarios where you might need to deploy your own agents in Azure. These scenarios can range from requiring a specific environment setup to needing to run pipelines on-premises or in a private network. This blog post guides you through the process of deploying your own agents in Azure to work with Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines.

Why Deploy Your Own Agents?

Customization: You can customize your agents to have any software and configuration you need.
Performance: You can choose the size and performance characteristics of the VMs that host your agents.
Control: You have more control over the environment and can implement stricter security measures.

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How to Automate Azure Virtual Machine Power On Using Logic Apps

In today’s rapidly evolving IT landscape, automation is key to managing complex environments efficiently. Azure Logic Apps offers a powerful, low-code solution for automating workflows across a variety of services. One practical use case for Azure Logic Apps is automating the power management of Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), such as scheduling a VM to power on at a specific time. This can be particularly useful for managing development or testing environments, reducing costs by ensuring that VMs are not running when not needed. Here’s how you can automate the power-on process for an Azure VM using Logic Apps.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the steps, ensure you have the following:

An Azure subscription.
An Azure Virtual Machine you want to automate.
Basic understanding of Azure Logic Apps.

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