Security Recommendations for Azure SQL Database

In this article, we will cover the security recommendations that you should follow for establishing a secure baseline configuration for Microsoft Azure SQL Services on your Azure Subscription.

Image Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/security-overview

1. Enable auditing on SQL Servers & SQL databases:

The Azure platform allows you to create a SQL server as a service. Enabling auditing at the server level ensures that all existing and newly created databases on the SQL server instance are audited.

Auditing tracks database events and writes them to an audit log in your Azure storage account. It also helps you to maintain regulatory compliance, understand database activity, and gain insight into discrepancies and anomalies that could indicate business concerns or suspected security violations.

Steps:

For Azure SQL Server:

1. Go to Azure SQL Server and click on Auditing.

2. Enable Azure SQL Auditing and select your Storage account. You can also select either Log analytics or Event Hub.

For Azure SQL Database:

1. Go to Azure SQL Server and click on Auditing.

2. Enable Azure SQL Auditing and select your Storage account. You can also select either Log analytics or Event Hub.

2. Enable threat detection on SQL Servers & SQL databases:

SQL Threat Detection provides a new layer of security, which enables customers to detect and respond to potential threats as they occur by providing security alerts on anomalous activities. Users will receive an alert upon suspicious database activities, potential vulnerabilities, and SQL injection attacks, as well as anomalous database access patterns. SQL Threat Detection alerts provide details of suspicious activity and recommend action on how to investigate and mitigate the threat.

Steps:

1. Go to Azure SQL server and click on Security Center.

2. Enable AZURE DEFENDER FOR SQL.

3. Select your storage account.

4. Enable Periodic recurring scans & enter your email account where you can receive scan reports. Also select to send email notifications to admins & subscription owners.

5. Enter your email account to which alerts will be sent for the detection of anomalous activities as illustrated in below image. Providing the email address to receive alerts ensures that any detection of anomalous activities is reported as soon as possible, making it more likely to mitigate any potential risk sooner. Always enable service and co-administrators to receive security alerts from SQL Server.

6. Set Threat Detection types to All. Enabling all threat detection types will help you to protect against SQL injection, database vulnerabilities and any other anomalous activities.

You can enable Azure Defender at SQL database level as well but it is recommended to enable Azure Defender at SQL Server level unless you want to generate alerts for the SQL database.

3. Configure Retention policy greater than 90 days.

Ensure that SQL Server & SQL database Audit Retention & Threat Detection Retention should be configured to be greater than 90 days. Audit Logs can be used to check for anomalies and give insight into suspected breaches or misuse of information and access.

Threat Detection Logs can be used to check for suspected attack attempts and breaches on a SQL server with known attack signatures.

4. Use Azure Active Directory Authentication for authentication with SQL Database

Azure Active Directory authentication is a mechanism of connecting to Microsoft Azure SQL Database and SQL Data Warehouse by using identities in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). With Azure AD authentication, you can centrally manage the identities of database users and other Microsoft services in one central location. Central ID management provides a single place to manage database users and simplifies permission management.

• It provides an alternative to SQL Server authentication.

• Helps stop the proliferation of user identities across database servers.

• Allows password rotation in a single place

• Customers can manage database permissions using external (AAD) groups.

• It can eliminate storing passwords by enabling integrated Windows authentication and other forms of authentication supported by Azure Active Directory.

• Azure AD authentication uses contained database users to authenticate identities at the database level.

• Azure AD supports token-based authentication for applications connecting to SQL Database.

• Azure AD authentication supports ADFS (domain federation) or native user/password authentication for a local Azure Active Directory without domain synchronization.

• Azure AD supports connections from SQL Server Management Studio that use Active Directory Universal Authentication, which includes Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). MFA includes strong authentication with a range of easy verification options — phone call, text message, smart cards with pin, or mobile app notification.

5. Enable Data encryption on SQL database

Azure SQL Database transparent data encryption helps protect against the threat of malicious activity by performing real-time encryption and decryption of the database, associated backups, and transaction log files at rest without requiring changes to the application.

Steps:

1. Go to Azure SQL Database & select Transparent Data Encryption.

2. Set Data encryption to ON.

References:

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-threat- detection
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-auditing
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational- databases/security/encryption/transparent-data-encryption-with-azure-sql- database
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-auditing