Category Archives: Events

Talk: Running #Azure Securely – Granite State Code Camp #GSCC – Are all these security features for me?

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak at the Granite State Code Camp (#gscc) in Burlington, MA. As part of my series of talks on Running Azure Securely, my talk today was around defense in depth and was called Running Azure Securely – which of these Azure security features are for me?. The session was interactive, engaging a third-of-a-dozen folks in the audience in a discussion of how to defend various workloads using the (fictitious) page of photos app as a foil.

Slide deck attached.

Also perhaps of interest – a similar talk from the other Burlington – at the recent VT Code Camp – which has a few add’l resources listed: https://blog.codingoutloud.com/2019/09/28/talk-running-azure-securely-are-all-these-security-features-for-me/

Talk: Running #Azure Securely – Are all these security features for me?

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Today I had the opportunity to speak at VT Code Camp #11 in Burlington, VT. As part of my series of talks on Running Azure Securely, my talk today was around defense in depth and was called Running Azure Securely – which of these Azure security features are for me?. The session was interactive, engaging a half-dozen folks in the audience in a discussion of how to defend various workloads using the (fictitious) page of photos app as a foil.

Some Resources Mentioned

The deck

VermontCodeCamp-BillWilder-2019-Sep-28.AllTheseSecurityFeatures

Talk description

Azure offers thousands of security features. Some of them are easy to use and others are complicated. Some are free to use and some look really, really expensive. Which ones should I be using for my applications?

In this talk we’ll look at some ways to reason about which security controls you might want to apply and why. We’ll consider groups of Azure security features through a pragmatic lens of security best practices and defense-in-depth/breadth, but tempered by the reality that “more security” is not always the answer, but rather “what is the right security” for a situation. By the end of this talk you should have a better idea of the security feature set offered by Azure, why/when they might or might not be needed, and have discussed some ways to reason about how which are relevant you by helping you think about how to assess appropriately for multiple situations.

Do you have specific questions about the applicability of Azure security features already? Feel free to tweet your questions at Bill in advance to @codingoutloud and he’ll try to work answers to any questions into the talk in advance.

Action Photo

(if I can find one)

 

Talk: Running SQL Azure Securely — SQL Saturday #877 — 14-Sep-2019

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Today I had the opportunity to speak at SQL Saturday #877 in Burlington, MA. As part of my series of talks on Running Azure Securely, my talk today was Running Azure SQL Database Securely and applied to Azure SQL DB and Azure SQL DB Managed Instances.

Some Resources Mentioned

The deck

Running Azure SQL DBs Securely – Bill Wilder – SQL Saturday #877 – 14-Sep-2019

Talk description

If you know your way around SQL Server, then you will find Azure SQL Database to be familiar territory. But some aspects are more familiar than others, which is especially true for security-related differences.

In this session we review the key differences around identity management and authentication (including multi-factor authentication), managing server credentials (or, even better, not needing to in some cases), how to audit logins (probably not what you expect), an overview of encryption and data masking options, and the supporting role of Azure Key Vault. We will also touch on compliance and disaster recovery to give the complete picture of powerful features you’ll definitely want to know about to protect your data.

This talk will cover relevant capabilities for both traditional Azure SQL Databases and the newer Azure SQL Managed Instances.

This talk assumes you are already familiar with SQL Server or another enterprise database.

Action Photo

(Credit Taiob Ali @SqlWorldWide)

Talk: Are all these #Azure security features for me?

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On Tuesday July, 30, 2019 I had the opportunity to speak at North Boston Azure. The talk was part of a series on Running Azure Securely and was called Are all these Azure security features for me? and was not really a “talk” in that it was highly interactive. For those who attended, you will recall we filled in some slides collaboratively. Thus, they may not appear so polished for those of you who did not join live. Either way, please find the slides (“collaborative” and all) below.

highres_483599366

This was an experimental approach for me and the feedback from the audience tells me it worked pretty well. The group at North Boston Azure was already knowledgeable and engaged, so hopefully made for a interesting experience for all involved (was certainly fun for me).

Azure-DefenseInDepth-BillWilder-2019-July-30

You can follow me on Twitter (@codingoutloud).

You can also follow Boston Azure on Twitter (@bostonazure).

 

Event: Boston #Azure / MIT edition of Global Azure Bootcamp

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We had a great event at MIT on Saturday 27-April-2019 — the Boston Azure edition of the Global Azure Bootcamp hosted at MIT. There were lots of great session contributions – making this a true community effort.

ORGANIZERS

Big thank you to local organizers Olimpia (@olimpiaestela), Veronika (@breakpointv16), Gladis, and Maura (@squdgy). We all worked closely with Jason (@haleyjason) who ran the Burlington MA event. And don’t forget those folks at the Global Azure Bootcamp level providing a platform making this possible for a coordinated day of #Global Azure cloudiness (https://global.azurebootcamp.net/).

SPONSORS

The thanks continue with sponsors: MIT Women in Technology, Insight (formerly Blue Metal – https://www.insight.com/en_US/solve/digital-innovation.html), Finomial, and the Global Sponsors (https://global.azurebootcamp.net/sponsors/).

SPEAKERS

And a big thank you to the speakers – all who gave up a chunk of weekend to join us on a Saturday to share their knowledge (in order of appearance):

Attached are my slides:

The above graphic is from here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-grid/overview#event-sources

Here are some more links of interest:

  1. Some collected links (some repeated below): https://github.com/codingoutloud/bostonazurebootcamp2019/blob/master/README.md
  2. C# Script is real – not a hoax! 🙂 – https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/mt614271.aspx
  3. Azure Functions support C# Script (.csx files) – but also regular compiled C# (.cs on .NET Core)
  4. Example Azure Function written in regular compiled C#: https://github.com/codingoutloud/opstoolbox (especially https://github.com/codingoutloud/opstoolbox/blob/master/SslCertificateExpirationChecker.cs)
  5. Here are some example uses of the above:
  6. Event Grid:
    1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-grid/event-sources
    2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-bindings-event-grid
    3. https://madeofstrings.com/2018/06/29/azure-event-grid-filters-with-logic-apps/
    4. “Slide” I showed is below – it is from here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-grid/media/overview/functional-model.png
  7. Combine Azure Logic Apps with Azure Functions – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/logic-apps/logic-apps-azure-functions#add-function-logic-app
  8. Similar to “follow-along lab” that tied together Subscription changes to an Azure Function using EventGrid
  9. Azure Function in JavaScript that fails 75% of the time. Useful for testing retries and seeing how errors are handled: https://gist.github.com/codingoutloud/151976063b1e9367369f1505f6cca66e
  10. Azure Blockchain Workbench:
    1. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/features/blockchain-workbench/
    2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/workbench/
    3. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/workbench/architecture
    4. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/workbench/use

 

Talk: Running Azure Securely — PART I — Boston Azure 18-Oct-2018

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At most recent Boston Azure meeting I give (what turns out to be…) the first part of a multi-part talk on Running Azure Securely. Even though I did not cover all this content, I’ve attached the whole powerpoint deck below.

BostonAzure-RunningAzureSecurely-BillWilder-2018-Oct-18

Please watch for a Part II to be scheduled.

Talk: Running Securely On Azure

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On Tuesday evening 27-Mar-2018 I had the pleasure of speaking to the Nashville Azure group about keeping workloads safe in the Azure cloud. Was a great group with a lot of interesting questions and dialog. They even helped to answer each others’ questions when I didn’t have answers, which is the best outcome of all.

For those interested in the deck I used, please find it below.

NashvilleAzure-RunningAzureSecurely-BillWilder-2018-Mar-27-Published

Talk: SQL Saturday 694 – Azure SQL Database – not just a cloud version of SQL Server

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Spoke today to a small crowd of hardy soles who braved the snow to make it to SQL Saturday 694 – Providence – held at nearby Bryant University in Smithfield.

My slides are included below.

Azure SQL DB – Not Just A Cloud Version of SQL Server – SQL Saturday RI – 09-Dec-2017

Talk: SharePoint Saturday Burlington – Gentle Introduction to Azure

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We first looked at how we might solve a random StackOverflow question using Azure Logic Apps, Azure Function Apps, the nifty PhantomJsCloud.com service, and a look at how a little Cognitive Service action could be woven in. A random walk around other Azure features followed. Some reactions were memorable – my favorite, because I completely agree: Why would I ever want to run my own SharePoint instance when the Office 365 service is available? And a bunch of other good questions.

Slides: