Lesson 1Top 5 Azure Policy definitions/initiatives fi enforce (detailed list and rationale)Review five key Azure Policy definitions and initiatives dat should be enforced inna most environments, understand dem rationale, and learn how fi adapt dem to yuh organization’s risk profile and compliance needs, mi fren.
Baseline security initiative selectionCritical identity and access policiesData protection and encryption policiesNetwork and exposure control policiesMonitoring and logging requirementsLesson 2Policy 2: require encryption wid customer-managed keys where mandated — assignment and exclusionsConfigure policies dat require encryption wid customer-managed keys where mandated, choose appropriate scopes, and design exclusions fi services or environments where CMK not feasible or necessary, yuh know.
Services supporting customer-managed keysKey vault design and key rotationPolicies requiring CMK fi resourcesHandling exclusions and legacy systemsMonitoring CMK usage and failuresLesson 3Policy 5: require diagnostic logs and resource locks fi production SQL and storage — assignment and remedial actionsConfigure policies dat require diagnostic logging and resource locks fi production SQL and storage, define production scopes, and design remediation steps dat avoid outages while improving recoverability and auditability, mi bredda.
Identifying production SQL and storagePolicies fi diagnostic settings enablementRequiring resource locks on critical dataAutomated deployment of logging configsReviewing logs and lock effectivenessLesson 4Microsoft Defender fi Cloud: plan selection, pricing tiers, and when fi enable workload protectionsUnderstand Defender fi Cloud plans and pricing tiers, how fi select protections per workload type, and when fi enable advanced plans fi balance security coverage, cost optimization, and regulatory or business requirements, yuh zeet.
Overview of Defender fi Cloud plansFree vs paid tier capabilitiesEnabling plans per subscription or workspaceCost estimation and chargeback modelsOnboarding new workloads securelyLesson 5Policy 4: enforce NSG and subnet restrictions fi workloads and deny public IPs on certain resource typesImplement policies dat enforce NSGs, subnet restrictions, and deny public IPs on sensitive resource types. Learn fi design network guardrails dat reduce exposure while allowing necessary connectivity patterns, yuh hear.
Policies requiring NSGs on subnetsRestricting traffic wid NSG rulesDenying public IPs on protected resourcesAllowing approved public endpoints onlyValidating network posture regularlyLesson 6Automated remediation: deployIfNotExists and managed identities fi remediation tasksUse deployIfNotExists and managed identities fi automate remediation of noncompliant resources, design safe remediation logic, and validate dat changes applied consistently across environments, seen.
How deployIfNotExists works in detailCreating remediation tasks and scopesUsing managed identities fi changesTesting remediation in lower tiersMonitoring remediation job resultsLesson 7Handling policy exceptions: exemption process, temporary exemptions, justifications, and trackingDefine and manage Azure Policy exemptions, including approval workflows, time-bound exceptions, and justification requirements, while maintaining traceability and minimizing long-term risk from accepted deviations, mi fren.
Exemption types and supported scopesDocumenting business justificationsTime-bound and renewable exemptionsReview and approval workflowsReporting on active exemptionsLesson 8Defender fi Cloud setup across management groups and subscriptions: workspace integration and central telemetryPlan Defender fi Cloud deployment across management groups and subscriptions, integrate wid Log Analytics workspaces, and centralize telemetry fi support cross-tenant visibility and security operations, yuh know.
Choosing management group hierarchyConnecting subscriptions to workspacesCentralizing Defender telemetryMulti-tenant and hybrid considerationsAccess control fi security teamsLesson 9Policy assignment strategy: management group vs subscription vs resource group and inheritance implicationsLearn how fi choose di right Azure Policy assignment scope using management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups, understand inheritance behavior, and design a scalable structure dat supports least privilege and clear ownership, mi bredda.
When to assign at management group scopeSubscription-level assignment trade-offsResource group scoping fi exceptionsPolicy inheritance and evaluation orderHandling overlapping and conflicting policiesLesson 10Integration wid Microsoft Sentinel and Defender alerts forwarding best practicesLearn how fi forward Defender fi Cloud alerts to Microsoft Sentinel, design analytic rules, and apply best practices fi alert normalization, deduplication, and incident handling across multiple environments, yuh zeet.
Connecting Defender to Sentinel workspacesConfiguring alert forwarding rulesNormalizing and enriching security alertsCreating Sentinel analytic rulesIncident triage and response workflowsLesson 11Recommended Defender plans: App Service, Storage, SQL, Key Vault, and Virtual Machines – rationale and protective controlsIdentify recommended Defender fi Cloud plans fi App Service, Storage, SQL, Key Vault, and Virtual Machines, and understand di protective controls each provides fi detect threats and harden configurations, yuh hear.
Defender fi App Service protectionsDefender fi Storage threat detectionDefender fi SQL and SQL serversDefender fi Key Vault access monitoringDefender fi Servers and VMsLesson 12Operationalizing posture: risk-based prioritization, alert tuning, and integrating posture findings into sprint backlogTranslate posture findings into operational processes by prioritizing risks, tuning noisy alerts, and integrating remediation tasks into agile sprints, ensuring continuous improvement and measurable risk reduction, seen.
Risk-based prioritization of findingsTuning policies and alert thresholdsCreating remediation backlogs fi teamsEmbedding posture tasks into sprintsMetrics and KPIs fi posture maturityLesson 13Policy 3: restrict resource deployment to approved regions — management group vs subscription assignmentImplement policies dat restrict deployments to approved regions, compare management group versus subscription assignment, and align region strategy wid data residency, latency, and regulatory requirements, mi fren.
Defining di list of allowed regionsAssigning region policies at hierarchyHandling global and regionless servicesManaging exceptions fi special casesAuditing region usage over timeLesson 14Policy 1: enforce HTTPS-only on App Service and storage static websites — assignment scope and remediation modeLearn fi enforce HTTPS-only fi App Service and static websites using Azure Policy, choose di correct assignment scope, and configure remediation tasks fi automatically fix noncompliant resources at scale, yuh know.
Built-in policies fi HTTPS-only enforcementScoping policies to web apps and storageUsing deployIfNotExists fi HTTPS settingsHandling legacy HTTP-only applicationsTesting and validating HTTPS enforcementLesson 15Continuous compliance monitoring: using Azure Policy compliance dashboard, scheduled scans, and alertingExplore how fi use Azure Policy compliance views, scheduled evaluations, and alerting fi maintain continuous compliance, detect drift quickly, and provide evidence fi audits and regulatory reporting across environments, mi bredda.
Using di Azure Policy compliance dashboardScheduling and triggering policy scansConfiguring compliance alerts and emailsExporting compliance data fi auditsTracking drift and remediation progress
