In the fast-paced world of technology, securing your digital assets is more important than ever. The habit of recycling static passwords on different platforms invites unnecessary security risks. This article delves into the benefits of Azure Key Vault and the practice of automated password rotation, which together provide a robust defence for your digital environment against looming threats.
Using a single password throughout your environment greatly increases the risk of cyber attacks. This habit not only broadens your attack surface but also makes it easier for cyber attackers to breach your systems.
To begin improving your security with automated password rotation, you’ll need the following Azure components:
Let’s assume you’re already familiar with setting up a virtual machine and skip those details.
Azure Key Vault is essential for managing and securing digital secrets, such as passwords. It centralises secret key management, minimising the risk of unauthorised access and exposure.
Automating password rotation is essential for security, especially for sensitive roles. Here’s a streamlined guide to setting up this process in Azure using Azure Key Vault for secure password management.
Az.Accounts, Az.Compute, and Az.KeyVault modules by going to “Modules” under “Shared Resources” in your Automation Account.Once you’ve set up the key components, it’s vital to assign the correct permissions for a secure and smooth interaction between your Azure services.
With the permissions set, the next step is to create a runbook in your Automation Account. This runbook will drive the automated password rotation, running scripts to keep your environment secure.
The new automated password will be a 16 character alphanumeric password contains numbers, letters, and special characters.
# Authenticate using Managed Identity
Connect-AzAccount -Identity
# Define variables for your environment
$resourceGroupName = "YourResourceGroupName" # Your VM's resource group
$vmName = "YourVMName" # Your VM's name
$vaultName = "YourKeyVaultName" # Your Key Vault's name
$secretName = "YourSecretName" # Your secret's name for storing the VM password
$location = "YourVMLocation" # Your VM's location
$username = "localadmin" # The VM's admin username (change if different)
# Function to generate a new password
function Generate-Password {
param ([int]$length = 16)
$characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*()'
$securePassword = New-Object System.Security.SecureString
1..$length | ForEach-Object {
$char = $characters[(Get-Random -Maximum $characters.Length)]
$securePassword.AppendChar($char)
}
return $securePassword
}
# Generate a new password and convert it to plaintext for VM extension
$securePassword = Generate-Password
$plaintextPassword = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($securePassword))
# Update the VM's local administrator password
try {
$protectedSettings = @{ "username" = $username; "password" = $plaintextPassword }
Set-AzVMExtension -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -VMName $vmName `
-Location $location -Name 'VMAccessAgent' `
-Publisher 'Microsoft.Compute' -ExtensionType 'VMAccessAgent' `
-TypeHandlerVersion '2.4' -ProtectedSettings $protectedSettings
Write-Output "VM Access Extension set successfully."
} catch {
Write-Error "Failed to set VM Access Extension. Error: $_"
}
# Store the new password in Azure Key Vault
try {
$secretValue = ConvertTo-SecureString -String $plaintextPassword -AsPlainText -Force
Set-AzKeyVaultSecret -VaultName $vaultName -Name $secretName -SecretValue $secretValue
Write-Output "Key Vault secret updated successfully."
} catch {
Write-Error "
}
Before running the script, remember to replace the placeholder values with the actual details of your environment. This script automates creating a secure password, updating the VM’s password, and safely storing the new password in Azure Key Vault.
Once your runbook is set up, the following steps involve saving your work, publishing the runbook, and starting the password rotation process. These steps are key to enhancing your system’s security through automation.
Keep an eye on the runbook’s execution status after starting it. A ‘Completed’ status indicates that the password rotation has been successfully executed.
To fully automate and continuously enhance security, you can set the runbook to execute on a regular schedule. This ensures that your virtual machine’s password is consistently updated without needing manual input.
Retrieving Your Updated Password from Azure Key Vault
The Integration of Azure Key Vault with automated password rotation presents a formidable strategy to fortify your security infrastructure. By adopting this approach, you not only make it more challenging for cyber threats to infiltrate but also significantly diminish the risks associated with static passwords. This aligns seamlessly with the best practices for cloud identity and access management, ensuring a robust defence against potential digital threats.
Our Azure Cost Reduction Workshop takes this concept further by empowering organisations to optimise their cloud spending while enhancing operational efficiency and strengthening security and compliance postures. Led by Azure experts, this workshop offers a proactive consultative service that delves into the specifics of Azure pricing, including any concealed costs. It’s an opportunity to gain insights from seasoned professionals on managing cloud expenses effectively, ensuring that your security measures do not come at the expense of financial efficiency.