Azure security baseline for Data Factory

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This security baseline applies guidance from the Microsoft cloud security benchmark version 1.0 to Data Factory. The Microsoft cloud security benchmark provides recommendations on how you can secure your cloud solutions on Azure. The content is grouped by the security controls defined by the Microsoft cloud security benchmark and the related guidance applicable to Data Factory.

You can monitor this security baseline and its recommendations using Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Azure Policy definitions will be listed in the Regulatory Compliance section of the Microsoft Defender for Cloud portal page.

When a feature has relevant Azure Policy Definitions, they are listed in this baseline to help you measure compliance with the Microsoft cloud security benchmark controls and recommendations. Some recommendations may require a paid Microsoft Defender plan to enable certain security scenarios.

Note

Features not applicable to Data Factory have been excluded. To see how Data Factory completely maps to the Microsoft cloud security benchmark, see the full Data Factory security baseline mapping file.

Security profile

The security profile summarizes high-impact behaviors of Data Factory, which may result in increased security considerations.

Service Behavior Attribute Value
Product Category Analytics, Integration
Customer can access HOST / OS No Access
Service can be deployed into customer's virtual network True
Stores customer content at rest True

Network security

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Network security.

NS-1: Establish network segmentation boundaries

Features

Virtual Network Integration

Description: Service supports deployment into customer's private Virtual Network (VNet). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Azure-SSIS Integration runtime supports virtual network injection on the customer's virtual network. When creating an Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime (IR), you can join it with a virtual network. It will allow Azure Data Factory to create certain network resources, like an NSG and a load balancer. You can also provide your own static public IP address or have Azure Data Factory create one for you. Self-hosted integration runtime (IR) can be set up on IaaS VM within the customer's virtual network. The network traffic is also governed by the customer's NSG and firewall settings.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Join Azure-SSIS integration runtime to a virtual network

Network Security Group Support

Description: Service network traffic respects Network Security Groups rule assignment on its subnets. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Azure-SSIS Integration runtime supports virtual network injection on the customer's virtual network. It abides by all NSG and firewall rules set by the customer in their virtual network. When creating an Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime (IR), you can join it with a virtual network. It will allow Azure Data Factory to create certain network resources, like an NSG and a load balancer. You can also provide your own static public IP address or have Azure Data Factory create one for you. On the NSG that is automatically created by Azure Data Factory, Port 3389 is open to all traffic by default. Lock the port down to make sure that only your administrators have access.

Self-hosted integration runtime (IR) can be set up on IaaS VM within the customer's virtual network. The network traffic is also governed by the customer's NSG and firewall settings.

Based on your applications and enterprise segmentation strategy, restrict or allow traffic between internal resources based on your NSG rules. For specific, well-defined applications like a three-tier app, it can be a highly secure deny-by-default.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Join Azure-SSIS integration runtime to a virtual network

NS-2: Secure cloud services with network controls

Features

Description: Service native IP filtering capability for filtering network traffic (not to be confused with NSG or Azure Firewall). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Additional Guidance: You can configure private endpoints in the Azure Data Factory Managed Virtual Network to connect to data stores privately.

Data Factory doesn't provide the capability to configure Virtual Network service endpoints.

When you create an Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime (IR), you can join it with a virtual network. It allows Azure Data Factory to create certain network resources, like an NSG and a load balancer. You can also provide your own static public IP address or have Azure Data Factory create one for you. On the NSG that is automatically created by Azure Data Factory, Port 3389 is open to all traffic by default. Lock the port down to ensure that only your administrators have access. You can deploy Self-Hosted IRs on an on-premises machine or Azure VM inside a virtual network. Make sure that your virtual network subnet deployment has an NSG configured to allow only administrative access. Azure-SSIS IR disallows port 3389 outbound by default at the Windows Firewall Rule on each IR node for protection. You can secure your virtual network-configured resources by associating an NSG with the subnet and setting strict rules.

Reference: Azure Private Link for Azure Data Factory

Disable Public Network Access

Description: Service supports disabling public network access either through using service-level IP ACL filtering rule (not NSG or Azure Firewall) or using a 'Disable Public Network Access' toggle switch. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Disabling public network access is applicable only to Self-Hosted Integration Runtime (SHIR) and not Azure IR or SSIS IR. With SHIR, enabling private link data factory doesn’t explicitly block the public access but customer can block public access manually.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Azure Private Link for Azure Data Factory

Identity management

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Identity management.

IM-1: Use centralized identity and authentication system

Features

Azure AD Authentication Required for Data Plane Access

Description: Service supports using Azure AD authentication for data plane access. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Data Factory can natively authenticate to the Azure services and resources that support Azure AD authentication.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Managed identity for Azure Data Factory

Local Authentication Methods for Data Plane Access

Description: Local authentications methods supported for data plane access, such as a local username and password. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: You can use Windows authentication to access data sources from SSIS packages running on Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime (IR). Your data stores can be on premises, hosted on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), or running in Azure as managed services. However, we recommend avoiding the usage of local authentication and using Azure AD wherever possible. Avoid the usage of local authentication methods or accounts, these should be disabled wherever possible. Instead use Azure AD to authenticate where possible.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Access data stores and file shares with Windows authentication from SSIS packages in Azure

IM-3: Manage application identities securely and automatically

Features

Managed Identities

Description: Data plane actions support authentication using managed identities. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: By default, when creating data factory through Azure portal or PowerShell, managed identity will be created automatically. Using SDK or REST API, managed identity will be created only if user specifies “identity” keyword explicitly.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Managed identity for Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse

Service Principals

Description: Data plane supports authentication using service principals. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Data Factory allows you to use Managed identities, Service Principles to authenticate against data stores and compute that support AAD authentication.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Copy and transform data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using Azure Data Factory or Azure Synapse Analytics

IM-7: Restrict resource access based on conditions

Features

Conditional Access for Data Plane

Description: Data plane access can be controlled using Azure AD Conditional Access Policies. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Conditional Access: Cloud apps, actions, and authentication context

IM-8: Restrict the exposure of credential and secrets

Features

Service Credential and Secrets Support Integration and Storage in Azure Key Vault

Description: Data plane supports native use of Azure Key Vault for credential and secrets store. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: You can store credentials for data stores and computes in an Azure Key Vault. Azure Data Factory retrieves the credentials when executing an activity that uses the data store/compute.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Store credentials in Azure Key Vault

Privileged access

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Privileged access.

PA-1: Separate and limit highly privileged/administrative users

Features

Local Admin Accounts

Description: Service has the concept of a local administrative account. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

PA-7: Follow just enough administration (least privilege) principle

Features

Azure RBAC for Data Plane

Description: Azure Role-Based Access Control (Azure RBAC) can be used to managed access to service's data plane actions. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Feature notes: Data Factory integrates with Azure RBAC to manage its resources. With RBAC, you manage Azure resource access through role assignments. You can assign roles to users, groups, service principals, and managed identities. Certain resources have pre-defined, built-in roles. You can inventory or query these roles through tools like Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or the Azure portal.

Limit the privileges you assign to resources through Azure RBAC to what the roles require. This practice complements the just-in-time (JIT) approach of Azure AD PIM. Review roles and assignments periodically.

Use built-in roles to give permissions. Only create custom roles when required.

You can create a custom role in Azure AD with more restrictive access to Data Factory.

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

Reference: Roles and permissions for Azure Data Factory

PA-8: Determine access process for cloud provider support

Features

Customer Lockbox

Description: Customer Lockbox can be used for Microsoft support access. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Customer Lockbox for Microsoft Azure

Data protection

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Data protection.

DP-1: Discover, classify, and label sensitive data

Features

Sensitive Data Discovery and Classification

Description: Tools (such as Azure Purview or Azure Information Protection) can be used for data discovery and classification in the service. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Connect Data Factory to Microsoft Purview

DP-2: Monitor anomalies and threats targeting sensitive data

Features

Data Leakage/Loss Prevention

Description: Service supports DLP solution to monitor sensitive data movement (in customer's content). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

DP-3: Encrypt sensitive data in transit

Features

Data in Transit Encryption

Description: Service supports data in-transit encryption for data plane. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

Reference: Security considerations for data movement in Azure Data Factory

DP-4: Enable data at rest encryption by default

Features

Data at Rest Encryption Using Platform Keys

Description: Data at-rest encryption using platform keys is supported, any customer content at rest is encrypted with these Microsoft managed keys. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

Reference: Encrypt Azure Data Factory with customer-managed keys

DP-5: Use customer-managed key option in data at rest encryption when required

Features

Data at Rest Encryption Using CMK

Description: Data at-rest encryption using customer-managed keys is supported for customer content stored by the service. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Encrypt Azure Data Factory with customer-managed keys

DP-6: Use a secure key management process

Features

Key Management in Azure Key Vault

Description: The service supports Azure Key Vault integration for any customer keys, secrets, or certificates. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Store credentials in Azure Key Vault

DP-7: Use a secure certificate management process

Features

Certificate Management in Azure Key Vault

Description: The service supports Azure Key Vault integration for any customer certificates. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Store credentials in Azure Key Vault

Asset management

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Asset management.

AM-2: Use only approved services

Features

Azure Policy Support

Description: Service configurations can be monitored and enforced via Azure Policy. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: Use Azure Policy to audit and restrict which services users can provision in your environment. Use Azure Resource Graph to query for and discover resources within subscriptions. You can also use Azure Monitor to create rules to trigger alerts when they detect an unapproved service.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Azure Policy built-in definitions for Data Factory

Logging and threat detection

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Logging and threat detection.

LT-1: Enable threat detection capabilities

Features

Microsoft Defender for Service / Product Offering

Description: Service has an offering-specific Microsoft Defender solution to monitor and alert on security issues. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
False Not Applicable Not Applicable

Feature notes: Self-hosted IR (SHIR) running on Azure VMs and containers, uses Defender for establishing the secure configuration.

Configuration Guidance: This feature is not supported to secure this service.

LT-4: Enable logging for security investigation

Features

Azure Resource Logs

Description: Service produces resource logs that can provide enhanced service-specific metrics and logging. The customer can configure these resource logs and send them to their own data sink like a storage account or log analytics workspace. Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True True Microsoft

Feature notes: Activity logs are available automatically. You can use activity logs to find errors when troubleshooting, or to monitor how users in your organization modified resources.

Use Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Azure Policy to enable resource logs and log data collecting.

Configuration Guidance: No additional configurations are required as this is enabled on a default deployment.

Reference: Diagnostic settings in Azure Monitor

Backup and recovery

For more information, see the Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Backup and recovery.

BR-1: Ensure regular automated backups

Features

Service Native Backup Capability

Description: Service supports its own native backup capability (if not using Azure Backup). Learn more.

Supported Enabled By Default Configuration Responsibility
True False Customer

Feature notes: To back up all code on Azure Data Factory, use source control functionality in Data Factory.

Configuration Guidance: There is no current Microsoft guidance for this feature configuration. Please review and determine if your organization wants to configure this security feature.

Reference: Source control in Azure Data Factory

Next steps