Introduction

The Security pillar in the Azure Well-Architected Framework helps ensure that your workload is as secure as you need it to be.

A Well-Architected workload must be built with a Zero Trust approach. A secure workload can withstand attacks and follows the security principles of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, also known as the CIA Triad, while meeting business goals. Even small problems can cause major damage to the brand and reputation of the workload or organization.

To measure how secure your overall strategy is, start with these questions:

• Do your defenses make it hard and costly for attackers to compromise your system?

• Are your security measures effective in limiting the impact of an incident?

• Do you understand how valuable your system is to an attacker and the impact if it's compromised?

• Can the workload and operations quickly detect, respond to, and recover from disruptions?

Incorporating the Microsoft Zero Trust model helps guide your system design and reduce security risks.

The concepts described in this module aren't all-inclusive of security in a workload, but they represent the core principles and some of their key approaches. For a complete overview of the Well-Architected Framework pillars, check out the Azure Well-Architected Framework as you start planning and designing your architecture.

Each unit in this module dives into one design principle and three approaches for that principle. You can find examples of the approaches in each unit to see how they can be applied to real-world scenarios. The examples are all based on fictional companies.