AZ-500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies Exam

Implement and manage enforcement of cloud governance policies

Governance policies in Azure help teams set and enforce a standard way to manage resources. Governance policies are rules defined with Azure Policy that assess and control resource settings. These rules can be grouped into initiatives to simplify management across multiple policies. By using policies, organizations can ensure compliance and reduce drift from best practices.

When you assign a policy or initiative, you choose a scope—for example, a management group, subscription, or resource group. Azure Policy checks every resource within that scope and reports noncompliant items in the compliance dashboard. You can use policy effects such as:

• Deny to block resource creation that violates rules
• Audit to flag existing noncompliant resources
• Append to add required settings during deployment

To remediate noncompliant resources, Azure Policy offers remediation tasks that deploy templates or run scripts. These tasks can automatically configure existing resources to meet policy requirements. You can also set up policy as code by storing policy definitions in a Git repository and using CI/CD pipelines for review and deployment.

Monitoring compliance is an ongoing process. The policy compliance dashboard provides an overview of compliance states, showing which resources are healthy or out of policy. You can filter compliance results by policy, resource type, or subscription to focus on critical issues. Setting up alerts for compliance threats helps teams respond quickly to policy violations.

Manage security posture by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud

A strong security posture means understanding and improving your protection level across all Azure resources. Microsoft Defender for Cloud (formerly Azure Security Center) offers a unified view of your security status. It computes a secure score by evaluating resources against security best practices and standards. A higher secure score indicates better alignment with recommended controls.

Defender for Cloud provides two tiers: Free and Standard. The Free tier delivers basic assessments and recommendations, while the Standard tier adds threat detection and advanced analytics. Key features include:

• Continuous assessment of resource configurations
• Regulatory compliance checks against benchmarks like ISO or NIST
• Recommendations to strengthen network, identity, and data defenses

Security recommendations are prioritized by impact and effort, guiding teams to focus on high-risk issues first. Each recommendation includes remediation steps, links to documentation, and sample scripts. By following these recommendations, you can systematically reduce vulnerabilities in your environment.

You can customize security policies to match organizational needs. Defender for Cloud lets you enable or disable specific recommendations and set automated responses. Integration with Azure Policy ensures that security settings stay consistent across subscriptions. This holistic approach improves visibility and control over your security posture.

Configure and manage threat protection by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Threat protection in Azure helps detect, investigate, and respond to attacks in real time. Defender for Cloud uses built-in sensors and analytics to identify suspicious activities across your workloads. It integrates with threat intelligence feeds and machine learning to spot anomalous behavior early.

To enable threat protection, you turn on Defender plans for different resource types. Common plans include:

• Servers for virtual machines
• App Services for web apps
• SQL for databases and managed instances
• Kubernetes for AKS clusters

Once enabled, Defender for Cloud starts generating security alerts when it detects potential threats. Alerts include a detailed description, severity level, and recommended remediation steps. You can group related alerts into incidents for efficient investigation.

Additional features like Just-In-Time VM access and Adaptive Application Controls further reduce attack surfaces. Just-In-Time limits inbound traffic to VMs based on approved ports and time windows. Adaptive controls learn allowed application behavior on VMs and block unknown processes. Together, these tools strengthen defenses and cut down on unwanted exposures.

Configure and manage security monitoring and automation solutions

Security monitoring and automation combine to provide continuous oversight and rapid response. Microsoft Sentinel is Azure’s cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) solution. Sentinel collects data from multiple sources, analyzes it with built-in AI, and orchestrates automated workflows.

To get started with Sentinel, you connect data sources using data connectors for Azure services, security solutions, and on-premises systems. Collected logs and events are stored in a Log Analytics workspace. You can write Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries to detect threats and build custom analytics rules.

Automation in Sentinel relies on playbooks—reusable runbooks based on Azure Logic Apps. Playbooks can:

• Send notifications to security teams
• Block malicious IPs in Azure Firewall
• Create tickets in IT service systems

By combining continuous monitoring, alerting, and automated playbooks, Sentinel helps security teams stay ahead of threats and reduce response times.

Conclusion

This section covered how to secure Azure using Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Sentinel by focusing on four key areas. We started with governance policies to enforce consistent configurations at scale. Next, we examined how Defender for Cloud measures and improves your security posture with assessments, standards, and recommendations. We then looked at threat protection capabilities, including real-time alerts and just-in-time access. Finally, we explored security monitoring and automation with Microsoft Sentinel’s SIEM and SOAR tools. Together, these solutions help organizations detect early, respond quickly, and maintain robust security across their Azure environments.