Background
A prominent Australian organisation needed to safeguard its public-facing websites from modern cyber threats. With both a main corporate site and member community platform hosted in Azure, they required enterprise-grade security that could inspect encrypted traffic without compromising performance.
The Challenge
The client faced several critical security challenges:
- Limited visibility into encrypted HTTPS traffic, where most modern threats hide
- Risk of zero-day attacks targeting public-facing web applications
- Need for deep packet inspection without degrading user experience
- Compliance requirements for logging and monitoring all web traffic
- Growing sophistication of cyber attacks targeting their sector
Vee Tech's Solution: Cloud-Based Next-Generation Firewall
We implemented a Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewall within their Azure environment, enabling comprehensive security for all inbound web traffic.
Architecture Components
Palo Alto VM-Series Firewall
- Deployed natively in Azure for optimal performance
- SSL/TLS inbound decryption and inspection
- Advanced threat prevention with IPS capabilities
- WildFire malware analysis and sandboxing
- URL filtering and application control
Azure Network Integration
- Azure Virtual Network with user-defined routes
- Traffic funneling through firewall for inspection
- Azure Application Gateway (WAF) for load balancing
- Seamless integration with existing Azure infrastructure
Security Features
- Real-time threat prevention blocking malicious payloads
- Deep packet inspection of all web traffic
- Centralized logging and monitoring
- Automated threat intelligence updates
Implementation Approach
The deployment was carefully orchestrated to maintain service availability:
- Architecture Design: Planned network topology to optimize security and performance
- Firewall Deployment: Provisioned VM-Series firewalls in Azure with high availability
- SSL Certificate Management: Configured secure certificate handling for decryption
- Policy Configuration: Implemented security policies aligned with organisational requirements
- Traffic Migration: Gradually redirected traffic through firewall with validation
- Tuning and Optimization: Fine-tuned rules and performance parameters
Technical Implementation
SSL Decryption Strategy
- Inbound inspection of all HTTPS traffic to web servers
- Certificate management ensuring secure key handling
- Performance optimization maintaining sub-10ms latency
- Privacy controls excluding sensitive traffic categories where appropriate
Threat Prevention
- IPS signatures protecting against known vulnerabilities
- Zero-day protection through behavioral analysis
- Malware sandboxing detonating suspicious files in isolated environment
- Command and control blocking preventing bot communications
Outcomes
The cloud firewall implementation delivered significant security improvements:
- Dramatically lowered risk profile for attacks on Azure-hosted websites
- Proactive threat blocking stopping malicious payloads before reaching servers
- Rich visibility and control over all network traffic
- Simplified compliance through comprehensive logging and reporting
- Unified security management for cloud and on-premises systems
- Enterprise-grade security without compromising performance
- Enhanced customer trust in the security of digital platforms
Client Feedback
The IT team reported high satisfaction with the centralized security controls and detailed visibility into traffic patterns. The solution provided peace of mind that their public-facing services were protected against the latest threats.
Key Takeaways
This project demonstrates modern cloud security best practices:
- SSL Decryption is Essential: Most threats hide in encrypted traffic - inspection is critical
- Cloud-Native Security: Native Azure integration provides better performance than hybrid approaches
- Defense in Depth: Combining multiple security layers (WAF, NGFW, IPS) provides comprehensive protection
- Automation: Automated threat intelligence reduces response time to new threats
- Scalability: Cloud-based firewalls scale with traffic demands without hardware constraints
Need to enhance your cloud security posture? Contact Vee Tech to discuss implementing next-generation firewall protection for your Azure workloads.