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Let’s Talk Azure! — Technology
Let’s Talk Azure!

Listen with Alan Armstrong and Sam Foot as we talk about all things Microsoft Azure! We are both technical consultants working with Azure day in, day out. Alan focuses on Identity and Security automation while Sam is a .NET developer deploying PaaS and SaaS solutions on Azure. Each episode we have a topic we cover and we highlight some key news that we are interested in. No fluff, sales or products here, just two technical people having a light hearted chat.

Copyright: © Copyright 2024

Latest Episodes:

S4E19 - Azure DDoS Protection - Add DDoS resilience to your public facing workloads Oct 20, 2023

This week we discussed Azure DDoS protection, a managed service from Microsoft in Azure to mitigate against DDoS attacks. DDoS or distributed-denial-of-service attacks are commonly used to overwhelm internet facing resources in the hope of disrupting their operation. Azure DDoS protection is a simple to use managed service which allows organisations to rapidly apply protection to their resources. Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What are DDoS attacks, and why do we need to mitigate them?
What is Azure DDoS protection
How do you set up Azure DDoS protection
Pricing

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E6 - Introduce Passwordless authentication into your organisation with Microsoft technology Jul 21, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how passwordless authentication can help organisations to improve their authentication health and increase their security posture. Alan explains the concept and the solutions available. Alan also covers the rebrand of Azure AD to Microsoft Entra ID. Some of the areas we cover:

What is passwordless authentication.
What are the benefits of introducing passwordless to your organisation.
What does Microsoft Entra ID provide for passwordless authentication.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E3 - Do the same for less - 15 ways to reduce your costs in Azure Jan 20, 2023

Alan and Sam explain 15 ways that you can save costs in Azure…. ssh…. don’t tell Microsoft! If you have workloads in Azure, we hope that you will find some ideas that will enable you to save some money, who doesn’t love doing the same for less?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E19 - Microsoft updates July - new products and features released Aug 08, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E18 - Securing Access to Your Virtual Machines with Azure Bastion Jul 18, 2025

In this episode, we explore Azure Bastion, Microsoft’s fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution designed to provide secure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) access to Azure virtual machines (VMs). This Q&A-style episode dives deep into how Azure Bastion strengthens cloud security by eliminating the need for public IP addresses on VMs, reducing exposure to external threats like port scanning or protocol exploits. Alan poses critical questions about Azure Bastion’s functionality, architecture, deployment options, and integration with Azure’s security ecosystem, while our consultant delivers actionable insights tailored for IT administrators, security professionals, and cloud architects.

We cover:

Core Functionality: How Azure Bastion enables secure, clientless RDP/SSH access via the Azure portal or native clients, protecting VMs by removing public IP dependencies.
Architecture Breakdown: The role of the dedicated AzureBastionSubnet, private IP connectivity, and TLS-based sessions, including support for zonal deployments for high availability.
SKU Options: A detailed look at Developer, Basic, Standard, and Premium SKUs, highlighting features like session recording, Private Link integration, and host scaling for different organizational needs.
Security Integrations: How Azure Bastion works with Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Entra ID (with MFA and conditional access), Azure Private Link, and Azure Monitor to enforce Zero Trust principles and ensure compliance.
Real-World Use Cases: Practical scenarios, such as secure admin access for global teams, compliance for regulated industries (e.g., healthcare, finance), and streamlined dev/test environments, with examples like Metinvest’s global VM management.
Best Practices: Tips for deployment (e.g., subnet sizing, VNet peering), security (e.g., MFA, NSG configuration), monitoring (e.g., Azure Monitor logs), and cost management (e.g., SKU selection, scaling strategies).
Limitations and Considerations: Key factors like SKU constraints, regional availability for zonal deployments, performance considerations, and cost implications, with guidance on mitigating challenges.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E8 - Azure Key Vault - Securing your Certificates and Secrets Feb 24, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure Key vault can help secure your certificates, keys, and secrets. Alan goes though the types of vaults you can use and how you can secure the access to the secrets. They also cover the various uses for key vault within azure services and application development.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E13 - Security Copilot - Your Security Analyst's Assistant May 16, 2025

Alan and Sam discuss the benefits and use cases of Security Copilot. Alan Dives into how Security Pilot works and what some of the capabilities are. Here are a few things we covered:

What is Generative AI
What is Security Copilot
What are Agents
How much does it cost?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E18 - Managing macOS with Microsoft May 17, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss the management of macOS and how it is a little different to other operating systems. Alan guides through what can be configured and the reasons why. Here are a few things we covered:

How is macOS different to other operating systems to manage?
What Microsoft tooling can you use to manage them
What licences do you need

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S1E2 - Microsoft Build Recap May 29, 2020

In this episode we recap the Microsoft Build virtual conference. Build this year, due to COVID19 was broadcast over 48 hours non stop across the world. Attendees watched virtually as Microsoft announced new products and feature updates for developers across the Microsoft product stack. We recap some of most important news to us, to keep you all informed.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S2E12 - Microsoft Purview Information Protection – Classify and Secure Your data Sep 23, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Purview Information Protection can help label, classify and protect your data in Office 365 . Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how you can easily start labelling document, as well as encrypt them to protect data leaving your organisation.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S5E7 - Vulnerability Management - Reducing risk of compromise in your organisation Feb 23, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss what vulnerability management is, and why it is important to an organisation. Alan dives into how Microsoft security solutions help identify weaknesses and monitor their remediation. Here are a few areas we covered:

What are vulnerabilities?
why should you monitoring, priorities and resolve them?
How can Microsoft Solutions help manage your vulnerabilities?
What Microsoft licenses do you need to get started?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E14 - Monitor Active Directory with Microsoft Defender for Identity Sep 15, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Defender for Identity monitors and detects unusual behavior's and attacks on Active Directory:

Here are a few things we covered:

What is Active Directory
Why do we need to monitor authentication on-premises
What is Microsoft Defender for Identity (MDI)
How is MDI licenced
How do you deploy MDI

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E14 - Azure Private Link (plus some important news!!!) - Secure access to your Azure resources Apr 07, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss the Azure Private Link and how it can secure your services. Alan goes through the functionality available and the benefits of using Azure Private Endpoints to access PaaS.

Alan also announces his new achievement of becoming a Microsoft MVP in Security.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S3E19 - Azure DevOps Services - plan, manage and deploy software more effectively May 12, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss Azure DevOps services and its features. Sam gives us a tour of the features and benefits of Azure DevOps and how it can be integrated into your development process.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S4E18 - Microsoft Entra External ID - Provide access for external identities to your application or tenant Oct 13, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Entra External ID can help organisations collaborate and provide identity to their services. Alan goes through the B2B and B2C options and their scenarios.

Here are a few things we covered:

What are B2B and B2C identities
How are these identities used
What is an Microsoft Entra Multi-tenant organisation
How is Microsoft Entra External ID licenced

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E3 - Azure Functions - Build serverless application in the cloud, just focus on your code, leave the rest to Azure Jun 30, 2023

This week we discuss Azure Functions. Azure Functions allows you to build serverless applications on top of Azure. Serverless functions allow you to bring your code and let Azure handle the hosting and management of infrastructure. Functions typically deal with one business case at a time, allowing for a microservices architecture to be used, potentially improving interoperability and collaboration.

Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What Azure Functions are
The advantages of server less applications
Which languages are supported
Integrations and networking
Hosting options
Costs

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E5 - Azure Confidential Ledger - Use blockchain to create secure, tamper proof data stores Jul 14, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure Confidential Ledger can help organisations to create private tamper proof stores of data. Sam explains the features of the solution and the benefits that it can bring:

Why would an organisation need a tamper proof data store?
What is Azure Confidential Ledger?
How can Microsoft / Azure be kept out of the data store?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E20 - Microsoft Entra ID - A single cloud identity to rule them all. Oct 27, 2023

Alan and Sam the concept discuss cloud identities and how cloud identity providers like Microsoft Entra ID can help manage and secure those identities.

Here are a few things we covered:

What is a cloud Identity?
What capabilities does Microsoft Entra ID have?
Can you bring your on-premises ID up to the cloud?
How can it integrate into SaaS application?
What security features are available?
How is it licensed.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S2E3 - Terraform - Deploy your Infrastructure as Code Jul 22, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Terraform, a popular choice in the Infrastructure as Code space. Sam takes the role of 'Expert' and explains his viewpoint of the product and why we should be utilising Terraform in our organisation and recommending it to our customers.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S2E21 - Season Finale! - End of Season Recap Nov 25, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Season 2 has gone. They discuss their best episodes, the podcast stats and what the plans are for Season 3 in the new year.

We would like to say thank all their listeners of this season and look forward to providing content in the next season.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S2E1 - Aaaaaaaand We're Back! Jul 04, 2022

In this episode, Alan and Sam discuss the Podcast, what's happened and what we are planning over the next season. Also with a big a apology that we have been absent for over a year.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S5E9 - Microsoft updates March - new products and features released Mar 08, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Dark Mode in Defender XDR
Cloud PKI
Improvements in Azure Key Vault
Configuration-as-code customizations in Microsoft Dev Box

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E21 - Azure App Service - You bring your apps, Azure provides the hosting platform Nov 03, 2023

This week we discuss Azure App Service. Azure App Service is a robust, cloud-based platform that streamlines web app and API development. It simplifies deployment, auto-scaling, and management, supporting diverse programming languages and frameworks. Developers benefit from a fully managed, productive environment, enabling rapid development and easy integration with Azure services. With built-in security and compliance features, Azure App Service ensures a reliable and efficient solution for building, deploying, and scaling web applications and APIs, ultimately enhancing productivity and user experience.

Sam takes the lead providing insights such as:

Modern approaches to application hosting
The features and benefits of Azure App Service
How to deploy and manage applications on App Service
How is scaling, performance and billing handled

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E30 - Season 6 Finale! Dec 12, 2025

In this episode, we wrap up the season, where we explore our favorite episodes of the season. We also talk about the what happened in 2025, and how the podcast has grown in terms of listenership and engagement.

As we bid farewell to the season, we also reveal our future plans for the next season, which will start in January 2026. This episode is a great way to end the season and to look forward to the next one. We thank our listeners for their support and feedback, and invite you to stay tuned for more updates and announcements. We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season, and promise to return with more amazing content in the new year.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E25 - Azure Storage Actions - Serverless storage actions across your storage accounts Jul 19, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Storage Actions a serverless framework currently in preview that allows users to perform common data operations on millions of objects across multiple Azure Storage accounts without needing additional compute resources. It involves creating storage tasks with defined conditions, operations, and assignments. Users can monitor and manage these tasks, which run asynchronously, via metrics and reports. Azure Storage Actions is integrated with Azure Event Grid for event handling, and is supported in several regions, here is what we covered:

What is Azure Storage Actions and why are they useful?
How do you create them? What are the configuration options?
How much does it cost?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E7 - Microsoft updates February - new products and features released Mar 14, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E3 - How can CSPM help fortify your defences Jan 31, 2025

Alan and Sam discuss why it is important to have Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) solutions in place. Alan goes through the general benefits of CSPM, enhancements since its release and dives into Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Topics that are covered are:

What is Cloud Security Posture Management and why it is important
What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s approach to CSPM
What is Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark
what are the pricing tiers for CSPM

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E40 - Microsoft updates November - New features and updates from Ignite 2024 Nov 29, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about the Microsoft Ignite event and the announcements that came out of it. Alan dives into the in-person experience in Chicago. They dive into a couple of the announcements that peaked their interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and updates we covered:

M365 Copilot
Purview
Defender XDR
Azure

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E31 - Microsoft Security Exposure Management Aug 30, 2024

Alan and Sam dive into Microsoft's Security Exposure Management platform. Alan takes us through the various components and the benefits on using this platform. Here are a few things we covered:

What is Microsoft Security Exposure Management?
What components make up the platform?
Who benefits from the platform?
What integrations does the platform have?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E26 - Microsoft's Unified Security Operations Platform Jul 26, 2024

Alan and Sam dive into Microsoft's Unified Security Operations Platform and how it can benefit SOC analysts in their day to day. Here are a few things we covered:

What is a Security Operations Centre (SOC)?
What is the new Microsoft Unified Security Operations Platform?
What are the benefits of the new platform?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E21 - Season 3 Finale - including a Microsoft Build 2023 recap! May 26, 2023

It's the Season 3 Finale! Where has the time gone! Alan and Sam discuss the season, what their favorite episode were. They discuss some of the announcements at Microsoft Build 2023 that peaked their interest.

Microsoft Build 2023 Book of News

What did you think of this episode and season? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E9 - Azure Developer CLI - Helping Developers to Deploy and manage their Applications on Azure Mar 03, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how The Azure Developer CLI can be used to help automate and manage key points in the application development lifecycle. Sam discusses what the Azure Developer CLI (azd) is, the functionality and benefits that it brings and examples of how you can use it in your own projects.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S3E7 - Azure Stack - Take Azure with you to the Edge Feb 17, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure Stack solutions can help bring the capabilities of Azure management plane to your on-premises and edge environments. Sam goes through the three solutions, what their capabilities are and example use cases / workloads.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S2E19 - Microsoft Power Platform – Power to the Users Nov 11, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Power Platform and why it is a useful tool have in an organisation. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how you can easily build internal apps, automate process, and present data using the platform.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S2E13 - Architecting Serverless Applications in Azure/O365 Sep 30, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how server applications in Azure can help you to more efficiently build applications for your business in a different way to traditional application development. We both take the role of the 'Expert' and give our experiences using these technologies to build applications for our customers.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E29 - Ignite 2025 Recap - San Fran and what's hot off the press Nov 28, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about last weeks Microsoft Ignite event and the announcements that came out of it. Alan dives into the in-person experience in San Francisco. They dive into a couple of the announcements that peaked their interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and updates we covered:

M365 Copilot
Purview
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Defender XDR
Azure

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E28 - Automate Your Security Baseline with Microsoft’s Open-Source Assessment Tool Nov 14, 2025

In this episode, we dive into Microsoft’s Zero Trust Assessment - an open-source, automated tool that scans hundreds of Entra ID and Intune settings against NIST, CISA, CIS, and Microsoft’s own internal baselines. Discover how it aligns with the Secure Future Initiative, delivers actionable remediation, and turns Zero Trust from theory into measurable reality. Perfect for CISOs, SecOps teams, and anyone tired of spreadsheet audits.

Key Takeaways:

The Pain of Manual Zero Trust Audits
What the Zero Trust Assessment Actually Does
Why automate your security assessments

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E27 - Microsoft updates October- new products and features released Nov 07, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E26 - Classify and protect your data using Purview sensitivity labels Oct 31, 2025

In this episode, Alan and Sam drive into the importance of classifying data in an organisation. Alan goes through the capability in Purview to tag files and encrypt them. Here are a few things we covered in this episode:

Why is it important to classify data in an organisation
How can Purview help with the applying labels to data
How to get started and the process for getting users to adopt the process
How is the Purview capability licensed

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E24 - Microsoft updates September - new products and features released Oct 03, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E22 - Microsoft updates August - new products and features released Sep 12, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E20 - Unified SecOps Platform - Sentinel integration Aug 22, 2025

Alan and Sam discuss the integration of Microsoft Sentinel into the Defender XDR portal. Alan goes through the benefits of the integration and thing to watch out for when starting the migration. Here are a few things we covered:

What is Microsoft’s Unified SecOps Platform?
What are the announcements around Microsoft Sentinel’s interface moving?
What are the benefits of the integration of Microsoft Sentinel?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E6 - Protect your servers with Defender for Server Feb 21, 2025

Alan and Sam dive into Defender for Cloud's Protective workload for server. Alan goes through the different plans available and the features that are available. Here are a few things we covered:

What is the Defender for Server Protective workload
What features does it provide
How easy is it to enable
How much does it cost

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E2 - Securing the API Gateway: A Deep Dive into Microsoft Defender for APIs Jan 24, 2025

In this episode, we explore the critical world of API security through the lens of Microsoft Defender for APIs. Join us as we discuss how this tool can safeguard your APIs in increasingly cloud-centric environments.

Topics Covered:

Introduction to Defender for APIs
- What it is and why it matters in today's cloud landscape.
- Who should care about API security?
Key Features of Defender for APIs
- Inventory management and visibility.
- Security findings and vulnerability assessment.
- Real-time threat detection based on OWASP API Top 10.
- Integration with other Azure and security tools.
Benefits for Businesses
- Enhanced API security posture.
- Compliance with regulatory standards.
- Mitigating risks in API lifecycle management.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E38 - Microsoft updates October - new products and features released Nov 08, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and updates we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E32 - Microsoft updates August- new products and features released Sep 06, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E30 - Azure Container Storage - Native container volume management in Azure Aug 23, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Container Storage which is a volume management service built natively for containers, which enables cost-effective performance scaling and simplified management of volumes for stateful container applications.

What are containers and their storage requirements?
Why Azure Container Storage is useful
How do you create storage? What are the configuration options?
How much does the service cost?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E22 - Data API builder - Rapidly build CRUD APIs Jun 14, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Data API builder. It is a powerful tool designed to streamline the process of creating and deploying APIs for data-driven applications. It facilitates the rapid development of secure, scalable, and high-performance APIs that can seamlessly interact with various data sources, including databases, file systems, and third-party services. By automating much of the setup and configuration, Data API builder reduces the complexity and time required to bring data APIs to production, allowing developers to focus on building features and functionality rather than managing infrastructure. This tool is particularly beneficial for organizations looking to enhance their data accessibility and integration capabilities while ensuring robust security and performance standards.

_What are CRUD APIs? Why are they important?
How do you use it?
What are some of the use cases for the solution?
How much does it cost?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E12 - Microsoft updates April - new products and features released Apr 05, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Copilot for Security and M365
Syslog and CEF AMA connector for Microsoft Sentinel
Lots of Azure changes, new features and retirements!

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E6 - Azure AI Studio - First Look - Build your own copilot with Microsoft's end to end solution Feb 16, 2024

Azure AI Studio is an all-in-one AI platform that simplifies the development, evaluation, and deployment of generative AI solutions and custom copilots1. It provides a unified hub for building, managing, and fine-tuning AI models, making it easier for developers of all skill levels to create and deploy intelligent applications. Whether you’re working on natural language processing, computer vision, or other AI tasks, Azure AI Studio streamlines the process and offers a comprehensive suite of tools and services to support your AI projects.

Sam takes the lead covering:

What is AI and what do organizations use large language models for?
What is Azure AI studio, and what problems is it solving?
Sam's initial impressions of using Azure AI studio for the first time

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S5E1 - Microsoft updates Jan - new products and features released Jan 12, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last couple of months. We dive into a couple of these updates and peeked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Microsoft Entra Internet Access Public Preview
Defender for Cloud Apps - GenAI categories for cloud discovery
Defender for Endpoint Updates (User Contain, Simplified connectivity, WSL plugin)
Fee tier manage SQL instance
New Chaos Studio faults for service bus
DICOM on data lake preview
Azure App Configuration Snapshots

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E22 - Microsoft Training - What’s new in certifications and the new applied skills accreditation Nov 10, 2023

Alan and Sam have a discussion around Microsoft accreditations and how they have recently changes. Here are a few things we covered:

What are Microsoft accreditations?
What has change recently around the exams for certifications?
What are the new applied skills accreditation?
Where do you start your Microsoft skills accreditation journey?

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S4E16 - Intune - Modern Management for Windows Sep 29, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Intune can help manage your Windows 10/11 estate from anywhere that has an internet connection. Alan goes through the capabilities and how it can help organisations.

Here are a few things we covered:

How has Windows endpoints traditionally been managed?
What is Intune?
How can Modern management help an organisation?
What is the process to move to Intune to manage your Windows 10/11 endpoints?
How is Intune licenced?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E15 - Purview Insider Risk Management - Minimise internal risks to data security Sep 22, 2023

This week we discussed Purview Insider Risk Management. Insider Risk Management is a compliance solution that enables organisations to discover, track and manage insider risk. Insider risks can be introduced to an organisation in a multitude of ways, understanding and correlating these activities is complex and needs to be automated, this is where Insider Risk Management shines. Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What are insider risks and why organisations manage these risks
What is insider risk management
Which systems can monitored
How insider risk management allows organisations to take actions on identified risks

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S4E4 - Understand your Cloud Security Posture using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Jul 07, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss why it is important to have a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) solution in place. Alan explains the benefits of CSPM, and dives into Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Topics that we covered are:

What is Cloud Security Posture Management and why it is important
What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s approach to CSPM
What is the Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark
What are the pricing tiers for CSPM

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E18 - Windows 365 - the ultimate managed Cloud PC for all May 05, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss all of the features of Windows 365. Alan goes through the pricing, benefits and how organisations can use this to provide secure access to their environments.

Windows 365 Cloud PC Plans and Pricing | Microsoft

Compare Windows 365 Business and Enterprise | Microsoft Learn

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S3E17 - Azure Load Testing - Load test your APIs and Web Applications with ease Apr 28, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure Load Testing can streamlined you load testing QA process. Bring your JMeter scripts, configure the service and let Azure and Microsoft take care of the rest. Sam runs us through the why load testing is important, what the service can do and how simple it is to configure.

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S3E12 - Microsoft Intune Suite - New SKUs are in town! Mar 24, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss the new Intune licences that have recently been released. Alan goes through the new functionality that is coming to Intune and why they help manage and support your endpoints.

MS Intune Plans and Pricing

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S1E8 - Microsoft Ignite Recap Sep 30, 2020

In this episode Alan and Sam talk recap all the latest news from Ignite! Even though Ignite was virtual this year, Microsoft announced a load of new features and products around Azure/Office 365. You can check the Book of News from Microsoft here: https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2020-book-of-news/

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S1E1 - Hello World! May 19, 2020

Welcome to the first episode of the Let's Talk! Azure podcast. In this episode we introduce ourselves and cover some of the current Azure news.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E1 - Microsoft updates December - new products and features released Jan 17, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E7 - Azure Automation - Deploy automation across Azure and non-Azure environments Jul 28, 2023

This week we discussed Azure Automation. Azure automations allows you develop processes in PowerShell and Python and deploy this content to Azure to manage and orchestrate. Azure automations can run in Azure or other non Azure resources. Highly connected and flexible, Azure automation provides a great amount of value for organisations to use automation to boost productivity and reduce repeatable tasks being carried out manually. Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What automation is and why it’s important for organisations.
How Azure Automation can help.
How it develop and deploy automations.
Integrations and networking
Costs

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S2E15 - Azure Sphere – Securing IoT Devices from Silicon to Cloud Oct 14, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Azure Sphere, it's features and the security and operational value it can bring to your IoT estate. Sam takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains his experience with the Azure Sphere Development Kit.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S4E23 - Ignite 2023 Recap - Seattle and what is hot off the press! Nov 17, 2023

This week talk all things Microsoft Ignite 2023! Microsoft Ignite is an annual conference hosted by Microsoft, centred around technology trends, product innovations, and announcements concerning Microsoft's cloud services, enterprise solutions, and developer tools. The event usually gathers IT professionals, developers, business leaders, and technology enthusiasts in one place.

Alan is out at Ignite in person, we covered:

The latest announcements at Ignite
Alan and Sam’s favourite announcements
The in person Ignite experience
What MVP related activities has Alan been up to?

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S2E4 - Modern Device Management with Microsoft Endpoint Manager Jul 29, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM) can simplify device management whilst making it easy to secure them. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains his viewpoint of the product and why we should adopt MEM in our organisation.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S4E9 - Microsoft Dev Box - Azure hosted development environments Aug 11, 2023

This week we discussed Microsoft Dev Box. Dev Box allows development teams to create development environments for their projects in the cloud. This enables development teams to utilise infrastructure in Azure that scales past their local machines to build effectively. Microsoft provides the infrastructure and management plane, developers and platform engineers can work together to build repeatable environments bespoke to each project to give developers the tool they need. Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What Microsoft Dev Box is and why teams may want to consider it
How Dev Boxes are configured and deployed
How developers can access Dev Boxes
How Dev Boxes are managed and monitored
Costs

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S5E33 - Azure VM Image Builder - A managed Azure service to handle VM image building Sep 13, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure VM Image Builder which is a service that simplifies the creation, customisation, and management of virtual machine images in Azure, automating tasks like software installation, configuration, and patching for consistent deployments. Here is what we covered:

What are Virtual Machine images? And how they are used in Azure.
What are the challenges with image creation?
What is Azure VM builder and how does it help?
How much does the service cost?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E24 - Microsoft updates June - new products and features released Jul 12, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E19 - Azure AI Search - Cloud-based, AI-enhanced search for applications. May 24, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure AI Search. It is a robust, cloud-based search service provided by Microsoft that leverages artificial intelligence to enhance search functionalities within applications. It allows developers to create rich, full-text search experiences with features like natural language processing, semantic search, and cognitive search capabilities, which can extract insights from various data sources. The service is scalable, ensuring efficient handling of large volumes of data and queries, and integrates seamlessly with other Azure services, providing a comprehensive solution for building intelligent and responsive search-driven applications.

What problems is Azure AI search aiming to solve?
What does it integrate with?
What are some of the use cases for the solution?
How much does it cost?

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S6E12 - Microsoft updates April - new products and features released May 02, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E11 - Insights into Microsoft Secure 2025 Apr 25, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have been announced at Microsoft Secure 2025

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Security Copilot Agents
Data Security Investigations
Innovations in Microsoft Entra
Detection and protection for emerging AI threats

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S3E4 - Privileged Identity Management - Secure Azure and Azure AD Jan 27, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft’s Privileged Identity Management (PIM) can be used to improve your identity Security. PIM gives the ability to provide just-in-time access to management roles in Azure AD and Azure. Alan also goes into detail around the user experience and how PIM can be extended outside of the Microsoft Cloud.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E5 - Securing Your Data: Exploring Defender for Databases in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Feb 14, 2025

In this episode, we dive into the world of database security with Microsoft's Defender for Databases. Join us as we explore how this tool within Microsoft Defender for Cloud can transform your approach to safeguarding your data against cyber threats.

Topics Covered:

Introduction to Defender for Databases
Features and Capabilities
Enabling and Configuring Defender for Databases
Responding to Alerts

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S2E2 - Microsoft Entra - First Look Jul 15, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss all things Entra, a 'new' product offering by Microsoft. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains his initial viewpoint of the product and why we should all be excited about this new product family from Microsoft. Entra is very new at the time of recording, and we give our first impressions on the product family and give you a high level overview of it's functionality

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S5E42 - Season 5 Finale! Dec 13, 2024

In this episode, we wrap up the season, where we explore our favourite episode of the season. We also talk about the what happened in 2024, and how the podcast has grown in terms of listenership and engagement.

As we bid farewell to the season, we also reveal our future plans for the next season, which will start on January 2025.

This episode is a great way to end the season and to look forward to the next one. We thank our listeners for their support and feedback, and invite them to stay tuned for more updates and announcements. We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season, and promise to return with more amazing content in the new year.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E5 - Microsoft updates Feb- new products and features released Feb 09, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Microsoft Defender XDR
MDA / MDI / Defender for Cloud
Azure API Center
Azure Containers Apps Multiple Ports
Azure API Management
Azure Gen1 to Gen 2 Migration
Azure Arc Visual Studio Code Extension

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S1E7 - Cloud vs On Premises Sep 16, 2020

In this episode Alan and Sam talk around the move from on premises to the cloud. Why are companies doing this? What are the cost advantages? Is the cloud more reliable? When does on premises make more sense? We also have a quick recap of the latest Azure related news.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S1E5 - Security Center Aug 04, 2020

In this episode we look at Azure Security Center and the features and benefits that it can bring to a range of different teams working with assets in Azure. We highlight some of the vast range of features, how we use it day to day and introduce how you can get started using it right away.

A good place to start is the Security Center Community on GitHub here -> https://github.com/Azure/Azure-Security-Center or on Docs -> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/identify-threats-with-azure-security-center/

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S4E13 - Azure Lighthouse - Large scale multi-tenant management within Azure Sep 08, 2023

This week we discussed Azure Lighthouse. Lighthouse allow organisations and partners access and manage resources and services in multiple tenants at scale. Lighthouse allows management of access, provides a simplified control plane to reduce operation burden allow your organisation to better collaborate internally at scale over multiple tenants or partners to manage and collaborate multiple customers securely and simply.

Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

How multi-tenant management is used
How are organisation using Lighthouse internally
How partners use Lighthouse with their customers

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S1E3 - The Rise of the Citizen Developer Jun 26, 2020

In this episode we discuss the changing nature of who builds applications and systems on Azure/o365.

In recent years, with the proliferation of low/no code platforms, we have seen a rise in people within the business building solutions to their problems without the need for traditional development and project practices.

We cover who these people are, where they have come from and how we, as IT professional can help to promote and support transformation, directly in the teams that need these solutions.

We also recap the news over the past few weeks.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E10 - Microsoft updates March - new products and features released Apr 11, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E13 - Microsoft Cloud PKI - deploy your user and device certificates from the cloud Apr 12, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft's new Cloud PKI service, which enables the management and deployment of device and user certificates through Intune. Below are some key points we addressed:

What are user and device certificates and how are they used
How would you normally manage PKI services
What is Microsoft’s Cloud PKI
How much does it cost?

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S1E6 - Zero Trust Aug 26, 2020

This episode we have a deep dive looking at Zero Trust, the principles, components and tools that enable us to be more secure in the modern workplace. Alan lives and breathes security day to day, so he gives us his insights into how Zero Trust is implemented in Azure/o365 and why you should be aware of this concept, regardless of your role in your workplace.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S6E16 - Monitor and Protect Generative AI services using Microsoft Tooling Jun 20, 2025

Alan and Sam discuss the topic of Generative AI usage and it should be monitored by organisations. Alan talks about some of the Microsoft tooling that can help monitor these services and protect data being consumed.

The importance of monitoring Generative AI usage.
How Microsoft tooling can help monitor and protect Gen AI usage

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S6E4 - Microsoft updates January - new products and features released Feb 07, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E10 - Microsoft Entra - Global Secure Access First Look Aug 18, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Entra ID Global Secure Access. A feature that was announced with the rebrand of Azure AD to Microsoft Entra ID. Here are a few things we covered:

What is Microsoft Entra Internet Access
What is Microsoft Entra Private Access
How do these features help secure access to the internet and to SaaS and internal applications?
Do we know how it is licenced yet?
How to add MFA and conditional access to legacy applications and protocols that are unable to support it.

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S4E8 - Zero-touch deployments with Microsoft Intune Aug 04, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Zero-Touch deployments can help organisation reduce the effort needed to build devices. Alan goes through some of the scenarios and the benefits. Here are a few things we covered:

What are zero-touch deployments
What are the business and it department benefits
What is supported in Microsoft Intune
How easy is it to get started?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

Update: A listener pointed out that you can now manually add iOS devices onto ABM via a Mac and iPhone

https://support.apple.com/sv-se/guide/apple-configurator/welcome/ios

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S6E25 - Securing Azure's Core: Microsoft Defender for Resource Manager, Key Vault, and APIs Oct 24, 2025

In this episode, we dive into three key Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) offerings within Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Defender for Resource Manager, Defender for Key Vault, and Defender for APIs. Our Q&A format explores how these tools safeguard Azure environments against sophisticated threats, from management layer exploits to API vulnerabilities. Key Takeaways:

Defender for Resource Manager monitors and protects against suspicious operations in Azure's management layer.
Defender for Key Vault adds native threat protection to detect anomalous access to secrets and credentials.
Defender for APIs provides full lifecycle security for APIs in Azure API Management, including inventory, posture recommendations, and runtime threat detection.
These plans integrate seamlessly into Defender for Cloud's broader CNAPP framework for multi-cloud and hybrid protection.

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S6E14 - Securing M365 with ScubaGear: A Deep Dive into CISA’s Assessment Tool May 30, 2025

In this episode, we dive deep into ScubaGear, an open-source tool developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as part of the Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA) project. Designed to assess Microsoft 365 (M365) tenant configurations, ScubaGear helps organizations align with CISA’s Secure Configuration Baselines (SCBs) to prevent costly misconfigurations. From setup to real-world applications, we unpack how ScubaGear strengthens M365 security and share practical tips for IT admins and security teams. What You’ll Learn:

Why ScubaGear Matters: Learn how ScubaGear addresses the growing threat of cloud misconfigurations, which accounted for 30% of cloud attacks in early 2024. We discuss its origins in CISA’s SCuBA project, and its value for US federal agencies, private organizations, and critical infrastructure.
How ScubaGear Works: A technical breakdown of ScubaGear’s PowerShell-based workflow, using Microsoft Graph APIs and Open Policy Agent (OPA) to compare tenant settings against SCBs. We cover setup requirements.
Common Misconfigurations: Examples like disabled MFA or weak DLP policies, and how ScubaGear’s HTML, JSON, and CSV reports provide actionable remediation steps.
Best Practices: Tips for integrating ScubaGear into security workflows, including regular scans, policy customization, and combining with tools like Microsoft Secure Score.
Real-World Insights: Sam shares experiences from consulting.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E12 - Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps - Your SSPM and CASB solution Sep 01, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps can help monitor and secure access to your SaaS applications. Here are a few things we covered:

What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
How do we discover shadow IT?
How to monitor activity and files in SaaS Apps
What is App Governance
How can we secure sessions to SaaS applications
How is it licenced.

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S4E11 - Azure Chaos Studio - Use chaos to improve your infrastructure resilience in Azure Aug 25, 2023

This week we discussed Azure Chaos Studio. Chaos Studio allows organisations to run test plans to introduce chaos. Learn how your applications and infrastructure are effected by infrastructure disruption without having to wait for actual disruption.

Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What is Chaos Engineering, and why it may be beneficial to your organisation
What is Azure Chaos studio and
What operations are supported with Chaos Studio
In what scenarios you would use Chaos studio

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S3E10 - Power Platform - Managing your application lifecycle with Solutions Mar 10, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Power Platform solutions can help manage your lo-code/no-code application lifecycle. Alan runs through what a solution can be used for and what can be managed in Power Platform.

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S5E41 - Manage your patching processes using Azure Update Manager and Hotpatch Dec 06, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss the process organisations go through to manage patches. Alan dives into some of the tooling and covers:

Why is patch management important and what are some of the issues you can run into
what tooling can help with patch management for servers
What is Azure update manager
What is hotpatch for Windows servers

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S6E15 - Microsoft updates May - new products and features released Jun 13, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E3 - Azure AI Content Safety - Utilize AI to create a safe environment for your users Jan 26, 2024

This week we cover Azure AI Content Safety provides developers with tools to analyze and moderate user-generated content, utilizing machine learning to detect and filter inappropriate text and images. Customizable rules, scalability, and seamless integration with Azure services empower developers to create applications that maintain a safe and compliant online environment. Sam takes the lead covering:

What is content safety and the scenarios it is used.
What is Azure AI Content Safety.
The products contained within Azure AI Content Safety.
What are the SKUs how much does it cost?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S6E23 - Unified DLP Platform - Monitor, alert and protect data using Purview DLP Sep 19, 2025

Alan and Sam discuss the topic of DLP and how Purview can help audit policy matches and provide preventions. Aland goes though the range of capability and data sources that can be integrated with Purview DLP and some of the preventative actions. Some of the areas we also covered:

What is Data Loss Prevention and why is it important?
What capability does Purview DLP have?
How do you get started with DLP
How is it licensed?

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S5E27 - Microsoft updates July - new products and features released Aug 02, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S4E25 - Microsoft’s Copilot solutions - First look at generative AI at your fingertips Dec 01, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft's Copilot solutions. Alan talks about Generative AI and how it is being used in the world today.

Here are a few things we covered:

What Generative AI?
What are the various versions of Microsoft Copilot?
How can Copilot help users be more productive?
How are they licensed?

Ignite Keynote on Microsoft Copilot

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S6E21 - Protecting Data within Storage Accounts with Microsoft Defender for Storage Aug 29, 2025

In this episode, we dive into Microsoft Defender for Storage, a key component of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. We break down its features for threat detection and malware scanning, discuss real-world benefits, and touch on pricing considerations.

We cover:

Introduction to Defender for Storage: Overview of its role in Microsoft Defender for Cloud and its importance for securing Azure storage workloads.
The Threat Landscape: Discussion of current threats to cloud storage, including malware uploads, unauthorized access, and data breaches.
Core Features of Defender for Storage:
- Activity Monitoring: Analyzing access patterns to detect suspicious activities without performance impact.
- Malware Scanning: Real-time file scanning using Microsoft Defender Antivirus.
- Sensitive Data Threat Detection: Using Microsoft Purview to identify and protect sensitive information.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

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S1E9 - Infrastructure as Code – ARM Templates Nov 01, 2020

In this episode Alan and Sam deep dive into Infrastructure as Code and specifically ARM Templates inside of Azure. We talk about what infrastructure as code is and how it can improve your infrastructure deployment process.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S3E16 - Azure Firewall - Securing your Azure Network Apr 21, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure Firewall can help secure your network environment. Alan discusses how to set it up, and when you should decide to use it over Network Virtual Appliances (NVA). They also discuss the pricing and how it might compare to NVA or on-premises firewalls.

What is Azure Firewall? | Microsoft Learn

Choosing the right Azure Firewall SKU to meet your needs | Microsoft Learn

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S3E6 - Microsoft Defender for Office - Protecting users from phishing attacks and more Feb 10, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Defender for Office (MDO) can be used to protect users from phishing attacks. Alan will go through all the security benefits, as well some of the education training features included in MDO. We will discuss how this tie into the Microsoft 365 Defender portal and XDR.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S3E5 - Confidential Computing in Azure - Apply Zero Trust Principles to your IaaS and PaaS Workloads Feb 03, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Confidential Computing can be used to add additional zero trust principle layers to workloads running in Azure. Confidential Computing gives administrators multiple levels to layers of confidentiality in Azure. Sam takes us through what can be achieved and the impact this can have within your organisation.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S3E2 - Azure Virtual Desktop - Providing access to applications and desktops anywhere. Jan 13, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) can be used provide application and virtual desktops from anywhere. Alan discusses how AVD works, the benefits to organisations, management and the cost. He discuss how you the solution can be deployed via Code and why you should check it out.

What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

S3E1 - Azure MFA - Securing access to your corporate environment Jan 06, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure MFA can be used to improve you security posture. MFA is ubiquitous in 2023, however utilizing MFA in a secure and user first experience can be challenging. In this episode we aim to give you the knowledge and experience we have gained working on many MFA related projects over the years.

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S2E20 - Microsoft XDR – Create a Holistic View of Your Environment Nov 18, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft XDR and why it is now becoming a requirement in organisations. They both take the role of the 'Expert' and explains what XDR is, how it helps reduce security risk.

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S2E18 - Microsoft Defender for IoT – Discover and protect your IoT Devices Nov 04, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Defender for IoT and why it is a useful tool have in an organisation to reduce cyber risk. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how you can easily discover your device exposure risk and start to prioritise the remediation.

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S2E17 - Microsoft Sentinel - Cloud-native SIEM and SOAR capabilities Oct 28, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Sentinel can help organisations have visibility of malicious activity in their environment. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains the capability of Microsoft Sentinel and how it is for any size organisation. Alan dives into the process from log ingestion to automated response to an incident.

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S2E16 - Microsoft Ignite 2022 - The In-Person Experience Oct 21, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Ignite 2022, the announcements and how the in-person experience vs remote was. Sam quizzes Alan on his experience in Seattle and ignite.

Link to the Ignite 2022 Book of News - Here

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S2E14 - Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Oct 07, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft's Threat Vulnerability Management and why it is a useful tool have in an organisation to reduce cyber risk. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how you can easily discover your device exposure risk and start to prioritise remediations.

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S2E11 - Microsoft Purview Data Governance Portal Sep 16, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how the Microsoft Purview – Data Governance Portal can help you to manage and govern your organisations data. Sam takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains the 'Train the Trainer' event that he participated in with Microsoft and gives an overview of the product.

Link to the Microsoft Purview Workshop: https://github.com/tayganr/purviewlab

Many thanks to the team at Microsoft for their time to take us through the workshop and give get guidance to all participants.

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S2E10 - Microsoft Entra – Azure AD – Identity Governance Sep 09, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Identity Governance within Azure AD, part of Microsoft's Entra family of identity products can help with your user lifecycle. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how Entitlement Management, Access Reviews and Privileged Access can secure, review, and give access.

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S2E9 - Microsoft Entra Permission Management - First Look Sep 02, 2022

Alan and Sam take a first look at Microsoft Entra permissions management. Sam takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how the product allows you to discover and remediate permissions creep in your multi-cloud environments.

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S2E8 - Securing Multi-Cloud environments with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Aug 26, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Microsoft Defender for Cloud can help Secure your multi-cloud environments. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains how you can easily gain visibility of your multi-cloud environment and how you secure it using protection workloads.

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S2E7 - Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure Aug 19, 2022

Alan and Sam take a look at The Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure. Sam takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains his experience with the Cloud Adoption framework and highlights the reasoning about considering using the framework.

Get Started with Azure Cloud Adoption Framework

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S2E6 - Microsoft Entra – Securing and Managing Cloud Identities Aug 12, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss how Azure AD, part of the Microsoft Entra family can secure your identity in the cloud. Alan takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains his viewpoint of the product and why we should consider the premium features within Azure AD to secure and manage cloud identity.

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S6E17 - Microsoft updates June - new products and features released Jul 04, 2025

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

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S6E9 - Monitor your OAuth Apps using Defender for Cloud Apps Mar 28, 2025

This episode Alan and Sam dive into the issues around OAuth apps and understanding how they are being used. Alan discusses the issues organisations are facing when any user could consent to application and the cleansing process that needs to take place. He also goes into how App Governance in Defender for Cloud Apps can help. Here are the areas they covered:

What are OAuth Apps?
What is Defender for Cloud Apps?
How can Defender for Cloud Apps help review consented apps?
What policies can you deploy?

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S5E39 - Navigating DevOps Security Challenges with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Nov 15, 2024

In this episode, we tackle the critical challenges of securing DevOps environments in today’s fast-paced, cloud-centric landscape. With cyber threats evolving at an unprecedented rate, safeguarding your DevOps pipelines is more essential than ever. Join us as we explore Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a comprehensive solution designed to address security gaps across the entire DevOps lifecycle. We'll discuss best practices, key features, and practical insights on implementing effective DevOps security strategies. Whether you're an IT pro, DevOps engineer, or security enthusiast, this episode will arm you with the knowledge to protect your cloud-native workflows with confidence.

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S5E37 - Monitor and secure OAuth applications using App Governance Oct 25, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss OAuth applications and their potential risks. Alan goes into how App Governance can give you the visibility of OAuth app and their usage. Here are a few things we covered:

What are OAuth Apps?
What are they typically used for?
why is it important to monitor them
How can App Governance help monitor and protect from OAuth App attacks?

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S5E36 - Mastering Azure Web Jobs: Automating Tasks in the Cloud Oct 11, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Web Jobs which is a feature of Azure App Service that allows developers to run background tasks, scripts, and long-running processes alongside their web applications, enabling automated workflows and task scheduling in the cloud. Here are a few things we covered:

An overview of Azure web jobs and use cases
Types of Web Jobs
Deployment and Integration
Monitoring and Scaling

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S5E35 - Microsoft updates September - new products and features released Oct 04, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Key Microsoft Entra, Intune and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

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S5E34 - Secure Your Tokens: Defend Against Theft and Replay Attacks Sep 20, 2024

In this episode, Sam and Alan dive deep into the world of token theft and token replay attacks. They explore what these threats are and discuss effective countermeasures to reduce the risk of token theft and prevent replay attacks. Here’s a breakdown of what they covered:

Understanding Authentication Tokens: What are they and why are they crucial for secure authentication?
Token Theft and Replay Attacks: An overview of how these attacks work and their potential impact on organisations.
Reducing Token Theft Risks: Practical strategies to minimize the chances of tokens being stolen.
Preventing Token Replay: Measures you can implement to block access when stolen tokens are reused.

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S5E29 - External Attack Surface Management - Identify your digital assets. Aug 16, 2024

Alan and Sam talk about External Attack Surface Management (EASM) and how Microsoft's Defender EASM helps discover and monitor your digital assets. Here are a few things we covered:

What is External Attack Surface Management?
What is Defender EASM and how can it help identify your risks?
How do you setup Defender EASM?
how much does it cost?

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S5E28 - Azure Storage Accounts - Scalable, secure cloud storage for data objects Aug 09, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Storage Accounts which provide scalable, secure, and highly available cloud storage for various data types, including blobs, files, queues, and tables. It serves as a foundational service in Microsoft Azure, enabling applications to store and retrieve data efficiently across multiple redundancy options and access tiers, here is what we covered:

What is Azure Storage accounts and why are they useful?
What types of data do they support?
How do you create them? What are the configuration options?
How much do they cost?

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S5E23 - Managed Identities for Azure Resources - Remove the need for secrets Jun 28, 2024

Alan and Sam talk about the use of Managed Identities for Azure resources. Alan takes us through the methods used for programmatic access to Azure resources and the risks of some of the options. Here are a few things we covered:

What is programmatic access?
What methods are usually used to gain programmatic access?
What are Managed Identities for Azure resources, and how they can be used.

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S5E21 - Microsoft updates May - new products and features released Jun 07, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

Build + RSA Updates
key Microsoft Entra and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features

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S5E20 - MDE Device Discovery - Find those unknown devices May 31, 2024

Alan and Sam talk about why it is important to monitor your network for connected devices. Alan runs us through the benefits of doing it with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Here are a few areas we covered:

Why is it important to monitor your network?
How can you find devices using Microsoft solutions?
What are the benefits of devices being discovered and searchable in the Defender XDR Portal
How is it licensed

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S5E17 - Azure Data Box - move big data to Azure efficiently May 10, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Data Box. It is a ruggedised appliance designed to simplify the process of transferring large volumes of data to Azure cloud storage, offering high-speed data transfer and secure encryption. It enables organisations to overcome bandwidth limitations and easily migrate large datasets, ensuring efficient and reliable data transfer.

What is Azure Data Box?
What can you back up with it?
How does the process work?
How much does it cost?

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S5E16 - Microsoft updates April - new products and features released May 03, 2024

This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.

Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:

FIDO2 authentication & Keypass
Security group provisioning to Active Directory using cloud sync
Unified security operations platform
New API Manager v2
App Service v1 and v2 environments retirement

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S5E15 - Entra Global Secure Access - An Identity-Centric Security Service Edge Apr 26, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access. A identity-centric Security Service Edge (SSE) solution that helps secure user's internet and on-premises access. Here are a few things we covered:

What is a Security Service Edge ?
What is Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access?
How does Entra Internet access for Microsoft 365 help secure and prevent data leakage?
What is Entra Internet Access and Private Access?

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S5E14 - Azure Backup - utilise Azure to manage and store your backups Apr 19, 2024

This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Backup. It is a comprehensive solution offered by Microsoft Azure for safeguarding data across cloud and on-premises environments, providing seamless backup and recovery capabilities. It enables users to protect critical workloads, applications, and files with automated backups and flexible retention policies.

What is Azure backup?
What can you back up with it?
How can you secure your backups?
How much does it cost?

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S5E11 - Azure Keyvault - A managed key, certificate and secret storage solution Mar 29, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss Azure Key Vault, it is a centralized cloud service designed for securely storing and managing cryptographic keys, certificates, and secrets used by cloud applications and services. It offers robust access control, encryption, and auditing capabilities to safeguard sensitive information and streamline key management processes.

What is Azure Key Vault?
What are the common use cases for Azure Key Vault?
What does it integrate with?
How much does it cost?

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S5E10 - Microsoft Customer Connection Programs (CCP) Mar 22, 2024

Alan and Sam talk about the Microsoft Connection Program (CCP). A Community of Technical professional from Customers, to Partners and MVPs that interacts with Microsoft Product groups around new features.. Here are a few things we covered:

What is the Customer Connection Program?
What are the benefits of being in the CCP?
What is my experience being in the various CCPs?
How do you get involved?

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S5E8 - Azure Event Grid - Managed event routing service for event-driven architectures. Mar 01, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss Azure Event Grid. It simplifies event-driven architectures by providing a fully managed service for routing events from various sources to multiple destinations in near real-time, enhancing agility and scalability in cloud-based applications. It enables seamless communication between Azure services, custom applications, and external sources while offering features like event filtering, routing, and dead-lettering for reliable event handling at scale.

What is Azure Event Grid?
What are the common use cases for Azure Event Grid?
How can you get started?
What are the licensing options?

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S5E4 - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint - An integrated AV and EDR solution Feb 02, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss all things Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE). Alan goes through the history of MDE, what its capabilities are, and the platforms it covers. Here are a few other areas we cover:

What capabilities does MDE provide.
How is it different from other AV and EDR solutions.
How is it licensed.

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S5E2 - Microsoft Defender XDR - A unified portal for all your security needs Jan 19, 2024

Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Defender XDR, a unified portal to manage you incidents across your MS Defender suite. Alan dives into the Extended Detect and Response (XDR) concepts and how it's beneficial to have all products in the same system.

Here are few other areas we covered:

What is XDR?
What is Microsoft Defender XDR?
What Microsoft solutions feed into Defender XDR?
How is it licensed?

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S4E26 - Season 4 Finale! Dec 08, 2023

In this episode, we wrap up the season, where we explore our favourite episode of the season. We also talk about the challenges and successes we faced behind the scenes, and how the podcast has grown in terms of listenership and engagement.

As we bid farewell to the season, we also reveal our exciting plans for the next season, which will start on 5th January 2024. We announce that we will move to one season per year, but with at least 48 episodes, covering more topics and look to featuring guests.

This episode is a great way to end the season and to look forward to the next one. We thank our listeners for their support and feedback, and invite them to stay tuned for more updates and announcements. We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season, and promise to return with more amazing content in the new year.

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S4E24 - Azure Container Apps - Fully managed containers in the cloud Nov 24, 2023

This week we cover Azure Container Apps. Container Apps is a serverless container service provided by Microsoft Azure, designed to simplify the deployment and scaling of containerized applications using Kubernetes. It offers a seamless and integrated platform for developers to focus on building applications without the need to manage the underlying infrastructure.

Sam takes the lead covering:

What are containers, and why do organisations use them?
What is Azure container apps? And how do they compare to other services in Azure?
Which types of apps can be deployed and hosted?
What are the SKUs how much does it cost?

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S4E17 - Cosmos DB - a fully managed NoSQL and relational database for modern app development Oct 06, 2023

This week we discussed Cosmos DB, a No SQL and relational database system hosted and managed by Microsoft. Cosmos DB is a cloud first service from Microsoft on Azure. It’s a modern approach to a database management system, built to achieve global scale and high availability. There are many APIs to pick from:

NoSQL MongoDB PostgreSQL Apache Cassandra Apache Gremlin Table Storage

Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What is Cosmos DB and how it’s different to other database management systems
What APIs are supported, and how do you decide?
Operational considerations of Cosmos DB

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S4E2 - Securing Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) using Microsoft Technology Jun 23, 2023

This week we discuss how to manage Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) securely in an organisation. With hybrid working on the rise, more flexibility is needed to reduce costs, but not as the compromise of security.

Alan takes the lead, providing insights such as:

What is BYOD
What the challenges of adopting BYOD
How Microsoft technologies can help secure BYOD
- App Protection Policies
- Session Control
- Conditional Access
The license's needed to use the technologies discussed

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S4E1 - Defender for DevOps - Add protection to your DevOps process with ease Jun 16, 2023

This week we discuss Defender for DevOps. It gives you visibility of your security posture within your CI/CD processes. Improves your threat protection and hardening of your Infrastructure-as-code (IaC) resources. Fully integrated with Defender for Cloud, Defender for DevOps is simple to roll out and provides a wealth of security insight. Sam takes the lead with providing insights such as:

What DevOps is
Why DevSecOps and SecDevOps are important
Which platforms are supported
What security insights can be shown
How to configure Defender for DevOps
How it integrates with your processes
How to monitor it
How much it costs

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S3E20 - Windows 365 vs Azure Virtual Desktop, how do you decide? May 19, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss the difference between Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). Alan goes through what to consider when choosing which technology to use for different scenarios.

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S3E15 - Azure API Management - Manage and Secure your APIs at scale Apr 14, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss Azure API Management. Sam explains the key features and benefits of using API management to manage your APIs at scale.

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S3E13 - Azure Static Web Apps - Rapidly deploy globally hosted static & serverless web applications Mar 31, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss Azure static Web applications. Part of Azure App Service, static web apps allows developers to deploy static web applications in conjunction with serverless function applications with modern development tooling and hosting support. We discuss the key features and benefits that Azure Static Web apps brings.

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S3E11 - Azure Cognitive Services - Efficiently add cognitive functionality into your apps/services Mar 17, 2023

Alan and Sam discuss the functionality provided by Azure Cognitive Services, a group of AI powered cognitive solutions that can rapidly add advanced cognitive functionality to your applications and services, build on top of advanced pre trained models to accelerate your products abilities.

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S2E5 - Managing Compliance with Azure Policy Aug 05, 2022

Alan and Sam discuss all things Azure Policy, a way to manage Azure compliance at scale. Sam takes the role of the 'Expert' and explains his viewpoint of the product/tooling and why it can help organisations to track their compliance level and enforce policies in Azure.

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S1E4 - Learning and Accreditations for Azure/O365 Jul 15, 2020

In this episode we cover many aspects of the learning and accreditation process within the ecosystem of Microsoft. We wanted to give a high level overview of the structure of learning and what you can expect from the exam process, Alan gives us some insight into his own experience of the exams he has taken in the past. If you want to start your learning journey with Microsoft a good place to start is: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/ the Microsoft Learn site has loads of free content to get you started. Also, check out the certification area of the learn site: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/ this website covers all of the various exams and accreditations you can work towards.

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S6E8 - Mapping the Threatscape: Security Explorer & Attack Paths in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Mar 21, 2025

In this episode, we dive into two great features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Security Explorer and Attack Paths. Join us as we unpack how these tools leverage the Cloud Security Graph to help you hunt down risks, map potential attack routes, and prioritize your cloud security efforts like never before. Whether you’re managing Azure, AWS, or a hybrid setup, this episode is packed with insights to level up your defense strategy.

What You’ll Learn:

How the Cloud Security Graph provides a unified view of your multicloud environment.
Using Security Explorer to proactively identify vulnerabilities and misconfigurations with custom queries.
Visualizing Attack Paths to see how attackers could move from an entry point to your critical assets.
Practical tips for prioritizing fixes and boosting your Secure Score.
Real-world examples of these tools in action and how to get started today.

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