Azure IaaS: Defense in depth built on secure-by-design principles

By Dustin Ward

In this article Defense in depth as a system Secure by design: Engineering security into the platform Hardware and host-level trust Virtual machine-layer trust Secure by default: Protection enabled without friction Secure defaults across networking Encryption and data protection by default Compute protection defaults Secure in operation: Continuous protection at runtime Monitoring, detection, and signal…

Enforcing trust and transparency: Open-sourcing the Azure Integrated HSM

By Dustin Ward

As cloud workloads become more agentic and AI systems increasingly handle mission‑critical data, trust must be engineered into the infrastructure at every layer. At Microsoft, security is designed into the foundation of our cloud infrastructure, from silicon to services. With the Azure Integrated Hardware Security Module (HSM), Microsoft is redefining how cryptographic trust is delivered…

Azure IaaS series: Explore new resources for building a stronger, more efficient infrastructure

By Dustin Ward

Why a modern cloud infrastructure foundation is critical to your business Infrastructure has always been foundational to running business-critical cloud workloads; but today, it has become a strategic driver of innovation, resilience, and growth. As organizations accelerate digital transformation, infrastructure decisions increasingly shape how quickly teams can adopt AI, how reliably applications operate at global…

Azure reliability, resiliency, and recoverability: Build continuity by design

By Dustin Ward

Modern cloud systems are expected to deliver more than uptime. Customers expect consistent performance, the ability to withstand disruption, and confidence that recovery is predictable and intentional. In Azure, these expectations map the three distinct concepts: reliability, resiliency, and recoverability. Explore technical methodologies with Azure Essentials Reliability describes the degree to which a service or workload…

Microsoft strengthens sovereign cloud capabilities with new services

By Dustin Ward

Across Europe and around the world, organizations today face a complex mix of regulatory mandates, heightened expectations for resilience, and relentless technological advancement. Sovereignty has become a core requirement for governments, public institutions, and enterprises seeking to harness the full power of the cloud while retaining control over their data and operations. In June 2025,…