Microsoft has been pushing Azure Government pretty hard recently. If it wasn’t enough that we’ve been seeing plenty of testimonials from Azure Government users, there are a range of new features being added to the service as well. Most recently Azure Government has added in the Virtual Cloud Defense feature, which is meant to help you keep your data safe and encrypted.
Key Features of Virtual Cloud Defense
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Encryption of Data at Rest: with native Azure and third-party solutions that offer encryption of cloud storage, data is protected from unintentional disclosure and malicious activity
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Network Traffic Inspection and Protection: in-line packet inspection and passive SSL decryption of traffic into and out of Azure Government, as well as between Azure virtual machines and virtual networks, detects and blocks intrusions and other malicious traffic
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Log Aggregation, Dashboards, and Analytics: the collection and analysis of security events and configurations range from network appliances, cloud infrastructure, operating systems, and applications to support security operations, auditing, and executive reporting
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Identity and Authentication Services: integration of these services with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) supports Common Access Card (CAC) and multi-factor authentication for hosted applications and management functions
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Network Tiering: a framework for restricting traffic between zones, based on user-defined criteria, VCD’s network tiering provides logical network segregation of security zones, user planes, data planes, and management planes
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Deployment Automation: Azure Resource Manager expedites initial setup and configuration
The feature just went into general availability, so those using Azure Government will be able to start implementing it immediately. As always, the Azure Government team welcomes feedback to keep on improving its service for future customers.
