Cloud adoption continues to rise as organizations seek scalability, efficiency, and cost savings. However, the transition to cloud-based infrastructure brings significant security concerns. Enterprises must adapt their defense strategies to cope with increasingly sophisticated threats in these evolving environments. Microsoft’s Azure Security Center emerges as a centralized solution to this problem, offering integrated tools for strengthening security across hybrid and multi-cloud systems.
The Evolution of Security in Hybrid Cloud Environments
In traditional IT environments, security responsibilities often lie within the control of internal IT teams. However, the cloud has redistributed these responsibilities. While cloud service providers maintain security for the underlying infrastructure, customers are responsible for protecting their data, access permissions, and application configurations.
Hybrid environments, combining on-premises infrastructure with public cloud services, introduce additional complexity. It becomes difficult to gain full visibility into the security posture of assets scattered across multiple locations. Azure Security Center addresses these challenges by centralizing security management and automating protection mechanisms.
What Azure Security Center Offers
Azure Security Center serves as a comprehensive security platform that supports continuous assessment, threat detection, and compliance management across various types of environments. It is designed to secure not just virtual machines and Azure services but also non-Azure workloads, including those hosted on-premises or in other cloud providers.
Its key roles include:
- Providing visibility into the current security state of your resources
- Recommending best practices to improve security configurations
- Detecting unusual behaviors and alerting administrators in real time
- Offering automated threat response options and integrations
Addressing Common Security Challenges
Cloud security is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Organizations face multiple challenges that Azure Security Center is specifically engineered to overcome:
Managing Constantly Changing Workloads
One major challenge in cloud environments is the ephemeral nature of workloads. Instances can be created, resized, or deleted in real time. Azure Security Center constantly monitors these changes and adapts security assessments accordingly, ensuring that new or altered resources are not overlooked.
Combating Advanced Threats
Today’s cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated. Attackers use automation, social engineering, and zero-day exploits to bypass traditional defenses. Azure Security Center leverages Microsoft’s global intelligence network and machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies, block known threats, and provide proactive alerts.
Navigating the Security Skills Shortage
The cybersecurity talent gap continues to widen. For many organizations, hiring skilled security professionals is neither feasible nor affordable. Azure Security Center simplifies security operations through automation, intuitive dashboards, and auto-provisioning, reducing the dependency on manual oversight.
Pricing Tiers for Different Needs
Azure Security Center offers two distinct pricing levels, each with its own features and capabilities.
Free Tier
This level includes core security services at no cost, such as:
- Basic security posture assessments
- Secure score recommendations
- Continuous evaluation of Azure resources
- Integration with Azure Advisor for improvement tips
This tier is ideal for organizations that need a foundational understanding of their security landscape without incurring additional charges.
Standard Tier
The standard offering is a paid upgrade that unlocks advanced capabilities, including:
- Threat protection for IaaS, PaaS, and hybrid workloads
- Just-in-time VM access control
- Adaptive application controls
- File integrity monitoring
- Network mapping and analysis
This tier is better suited for larger organizations or those with complex workloads that require deeper visibility and active threat mitigation.
Azure Defender, which extends protection to various workloads such as VMs, databases, and containers, is bundled with the standard tier. Charges typically start at a few cents per hour, depending on the type of resource and the level of protection needed.
Core Features of Azure Security Center
Understanding what Azure Security Center offers begins with its core functionality. Each component plays a critical role in maintaining an organization’s overall security posture.
Centralized Security Management
This feature enables users to oversee the security state of all cloud and on-premises resources through a single console. Security Center aggregates security recommendations and provides insights tailored to the user’s environment.
Continuous Security Assessment
The system automatically scans resources for vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. These assessments form the basis for security recommendations, helping administrators prioritize and implement fixes before breaches occur.
Threat Detection and Response
By analyzing behavior patterns, Azure Security Center can identify potential threats and raise alerts. Threat intelligence is drawn from Microsoft’s vast telemetry across millions of endpoints worldwide.
Compliance Monitoring
Security Center helps organizations adhere to compliance standards such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and Azure-specific benchmarks. It provides visual tools to track compliance status and actionable steps to resolve issues.
Adaptive Application Controls
Administrators can configure whitelists to restrict applications that can run on virtual machines. This minimizes exposure to malware and unauthorized software.
Network Security Management
Security Center supports the deployment of just-in-time access policies, which limit remote access to virtual machines to specific time windows and IP ranges. It also offers recommendations for securing open ports and configuring firewalls.
Architectural Design and Workflow
Understanding how Azure Security Center is architected reveals how it integrates across diverse environments.
Native Integration
As a built-in Azure service, it does not require separate deployment within the Azure environment. It automatically monitors Azure-native services such as storage accounts, web applications, and databases.
Agent-Based Protection
To extend protection to on-premises systems or non-Azure cloud resources, users can install a monitoring agent known as the Log Analytics agent. This supports both Windows and Linux operating systems and collects data to feed into the analytics engine.
Security Analytics Engine
At the heart of the system is a powerful analytics engine. It processes telemetry from agents and Azure services, then correlates events to detect potential threats. Based on this analysis, it generates prioritized alerts and remediation suggestions.
Policy Integration
Azure Security Center leverages the built-in policy enforcement capabilities of Azure Policy. When Security Center is enabled, it automatically applies a set of policies across resources to ensure compliance and security alignment.
Security Initiatives
An initiative in Azure Policy represents a collection of security-related policies. These are assigned to subscriptions or management groups to automate governance and compliance enforcement across a wide footprint.
Getting Started with Azure Security Center
Setting up and using Azure Security Center is a straightforward process that requires minimal configuration, especially for Azure-native resources.
Activation Process
For Azure resources, simply enabling Security Center activates its functionality. Azure VMs automatically receive a monitoring agent. For non-Azure assets, such as on-premises machines, the agent must be manually installed.
Initial Assessment
Once activated, Security Center immediately begins scanning resources. It assesses operating systems, networks, and application configurations, then generates a secure score that reflects the environment’s overall security posture.
Alert Management
Security Center categorizes alerts by severity and impact. These are displayed in a centralized dashboard, allowing users to triage and respond accordingly. Administrators can also configure automated responses through workflow integrations.
Using External Tools
Azure Security Center integrates with other Azure-native and third-party tools:
- Integration with Azure Monitor for real-time insights
- Connection to Azure Sentinel for advanced SIEM capabilities
- Use of REST APIs and PowerShell for custom scripting and automation
Strengths and Benefits
Azure Security Center is more than just a monitoring tool; it represents a holistic approach to cloud defense. Key benefits include:
- Cost-Effectiveness: Utilizing built-in tools reduces the need for external security solutions.
- Improved Visibility: A single console provides comprehensive insights across all environments.
- Scalability: Whether protecting a handful of virtual machines or a sprawling global infrastructure, the system scales seamlessly.
- Rapid Threat Response: Real-time alerts and automation enable faster incident handling.
- Regulatory Compliance: Built-in compliance tracking helps organizations meet both internal and external standards.
- Proactive Risk Management: Continuous recommendations ensure vulnerabilities are addressed before they are exploited.
Best Practices for Optimal Usage
To make the most of Azure Security Center, organizations should adopt the following practices:
- Enable disk encryption on all virtual machines to prevent unauthorized access.
- Set up email notifications for security alerts and incidents.
- Configure endpoint protection and antivirus solutions for each VM.
- Monitor IP forwarding and routing behaviors for suspicious patterns.
- Establish next-generation firewall policies.
- Regularly review and update security policies and initiatives.
- Enable monitoring of configuration changes and access controls.
Real-World Use Case Example
Consider a mid-sized financial company transitioning to a hybrid cloud model. The company needs to comply with stringent data regulations while protecting customer records. Azure Security Center enables them to:
- Automatically assess and monitor new resources
- Block unauthorized applications from running on sensitive systems
- Receive alerts for suspicious login attempts
- Generate audit reports for compliance inspections
By leveraging built-in intelligence and simplified management, the company enhances its security posture without a large in-house team of cybersecurity specialists.
As threats continue to evolve, cloud security solutions must remain dynamic and intelligent. Azure Security Center is positioned to grow with these demands, continually integrating newer threat models, analytics capabilities, and compliance frameworks.
In this series, we will explore how organizations can deploy and integrate Azure Security Center with custom configurations, automate responses, and align with security operation centers (SOCs) for enhanced monitoring.
Deploying and Integrating Azure Security Center into Your Cloud Ecosystem
Azure Security Center is not just a passive monitoring tool—it is a highly adaptable platform that can be woven into the fabric of your security operations. Beyond basic security recommendations, it supports sophisticated integrations and deployments to meet the evolving needs of modern organizations. This section delves deeper into the deployment process, advanced configurations, and integration with both native and third-party services.
Preparing for Deployment in Diverse Environments
Before deploying Azure Security Center, it is essential to evaluate your current infrastructure. Whether your environment includes Azure-only services, hybrid systems, or multi-cloud deployments, preparation ensures seamless integration.
Begin by identifying:
- Which subscriptions and resource groups require protection
- The types of resources (virtual machines, databases, containers, etc.)
- Regulatory standards or internal compliance frameworks
- The operational model (centralized IT team or distributed across departments)
This assessment allows administrators to tailor Security Center’s policies and monitoring scope from the beginning.
Enabling Azure Security Center Across Subscriptions
Azure Security Center operates at the subscription level but can be extended across multiple subscriptions and management groups. To activate it:
- Navigate to the Azure portal.
- Open Security Center from the dashboard.
- Select the appropriate subscription.
- Choose the tier (free or standard).
- Enable auto-provisioning for agents if using virtual machines.
For organizations using multiple subscriptions, the security team can utilize Azure Lighthouse or management groups to streamline visibility and policy enforcement across the enterprise.
Setting Up the Log Analytics Agent
In hybrid environments, the Log Analytics agent acts as a bridge between on-premises or third-party cloud systems and Azure Security Center. It collects telemetry data and transmits it securely for analysis.
The steps for installing the agent are:
- Download the appropriate installer for Windows or Linux systems.
- Connect the agent to your Log Analytics workspace.
- Verify that data is being ingested via the Azure portal.
This process allows administrators to bring non-Azure assets under the same security monitoring umbrella, ensuring comprehensive coverage.
Customizing Security Policies for Workload Types
Azure Security Center includes a set of built-in policies aligned with general best practices. However, organizations often require specific controls depending on industry standards or application needs.
Policies can be customized at various scopes:
- Management group
- Subscription
- Resource group
Examples of customizations include:
- Requiring disk encryption on all storage accounts
- Blocking public access to storage containers
- Enforcing secure communication protocols on application services
- Flagging untagged resources for better classification
The policy engine also supports initiative definitions, allowing multiple rules to be grouped into a single assignment for streamlined management.
Automating Responses Using Workflow Integrations
In high-scale environments, manual responses to every security incident are impractical. Azure Security Center enables automation through workflow integrations that trigger predefined actions when specific conditions are met.
Typical automation scenarios include:
- Sending email or SMS alerts when a high-severity issue arises
- Triggering remediation scripts using Azure Logic Apps
- Quarantining compromised virtual machines
- Integrating with ITSM platforms for ticket generation
To create an automated response:
- Open the Security Center settings panel.
- Select Automation & Orchestration.
- Define a trigger condition.
- Link it to an action group or logic app.
This capability significantly reduces the time to respond to threats and helps maintain security posture without constant manual oversight.
Integration with Azure Sentinel for Extended SIEM Capabilities
Azure Security Center works seamlessly with Azure Sentinel, a cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) system. While Security Center focuses on proactive recommendations and security posture, Sentinel offers deep threat intelligence, investigation, and hunting capabilities.
Benefits of this integration include:
- Unified dashboards for real-time incident monitoring
- Advanced analytics and correlation using Kusto Query Language (KQL)
- Threat detection from custom or third-party data sources
- Integration with Microsoft and non-Microsoft security tools
Connecting Security Center to Sentinel provides a powerful synergy, especially for organizations operating security operation centers (SOCs).
Leveraging APIs and PowerShell for Custom Use Cases
Security Center exposes a robust set of REST APIs that allow users to query data, update configurations, or automate operations programmatically. Similarly, PowerShell modules can be used for scripting deployments, updating security policies, or generating reports.
Examples of API-based use cases include:
- Retrieving secure score data across multiple subscriptions
- Exporting security recommendations for audit purposes
- Automatically assigning policies based on resource tagging
PowerShell also supports bulk agent installation and real-time policy evaluations, offering significant efficiency for large-scale environments.
Creating Secure Score Dashboards for Executive Visibility
One of the key benefits of Azure Security Center is the secure score—a numerical representation of your environment’s security state based on compliance with best practices.
To make this data actionable:
- Export secure score metrics regularly
- Use Power BI or Azure Monitor Workbooks to visualize trends
- Share dashboards with stakeholders to track improvements
- Compare scores across departments or business units
This kind of visibility helps leadership understand the impact of security investments and can guide strategic decisions.
Managing Regulatory Compliance and Governance
Organizations in regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, or government must demonstrate adherence to strict compliance requirements. Azure Security Center assists by providing:
- Pre-built compliance templates (e.g., NIST, CIS, ISO 27001)
- Mapped controls and evidence collection
- Continuous compliance monitoring
- Role-based access to sensitive compliance reports
The Compliance dashboard gives a high-level overview while allowing drill-down into specific violations. Remediation steps are often included, enabling faster alignment with standards.
Best Practices for Policy Design and Enforcement
When designing and deploying security policies, consider the following principles:
- Start with a pilot in a limited scope before organization-wide rollouts.
- Avoid overly aggressive rules that may break application functionality.
- Tag resources by environment (dev, test, prod) for conditional policy application.
- Review and update policies regularly to adapt to changing environments and threats.
- Use initiative definitions to group related policies and manage them as a single unit.
Balancing security enforcement with operational flexibility is crucial for long-term success.
Training Teams to Use Azure Security Center Effectively
Technology alone cannot secure an organization—people and processes must align. Training IT and security teams ensures that Azure Security Center is used to its fullest potential.
Suggested training focus areas:
- Navigating the Azure Security Center dashboard
- Interpreting alerts and secure scores
- Implementing policy-driven security
- Responding to incidents using automation
- Using PowerShell or APIs for customization
Microsoft offers certification paths and learning modules that help teams deepen their skills in cloud security management.
Monitoring Identity and Access Management
Security Center does not just focus on workloads—it also examines how access is granted and managed within your environment.
Key focus areas include:
- Role-based access control (RBAC) audits
- Detection of users with excessive permissions
- Monitoring of external users with write access
- Alerts for risky sign-ins and failed login attempts
Proper identity governance, alongside conditional access and multifactor authentication, strengthens the overall security model.
Detecting and Responding to Real-Time Threats
Azure Security Center uses behavioral analytics and threat intelligence to detect live threats. Examples include:
- Suspicious remote desktop access
- Brute-force login attempts
- Unauthorized network scanning
- Malware-injected files
Once detected, these threats trigger alerts categorized by severity. Admins can investigate directly from the dashboard or through connected tools like Sentinel.
For each incident, the alert page provides:
- Description of the threat
- Affected resources
- Recommended response actions
- Correlation with similar incidents
Response teams can prioritize and address high-severity threats immediately while documenting and resolving lower-severity findings over time.
Proactive Resource Hardening
In addition to reactive measures, Azure Security Center encourages proactive hardening of resources. It provides recommendations such as:
- Disabling outdated TLS versions
- Blocking insecure ports
- Enabling backup and recovery for key resources
- Enforcing network security group (NSG) rules
- Configuring encryption at rest and in transit
Following these suggestions reduces your attack surface and prepares your environment for future threats.
Developing a Security Baseline Strategy
A security baseline defines the minimum security standards each resource must meet. Azure Security Center assists with:
- Creating baselines for each resource type
- Applying policies to enforce baselines automatically
- Alerting when deviations occur
- Tracking remediation progress over time
Having clear baselines helps unify security expectations across teams and avoids inconsistent configurations.
Regular Auditing and Continuous Improvement
Security is an ongoing journey. Azure Security Center supports continuous improvement through:
- Regular secure score evaluations
- Compliance tracking dashboards
- Historical comparison of security posture
- Exportable audit logs for external reviews
Set quarterly or monthly security reviews using these features to maintain alignment with goals and standards.
In this section, we explored how Azure Security Center is deployed, integrated, and managed in enterprise environments. By using native agents, configuring custom policies, automating threat response, and integrating with tools like Azure Sentinel, organizations can significantly enhance their security maturity.
Security Center’s rich set of APIs and automation options ensures that it fits seamlessly into DevSecOps workflows. When combined with training and governance, it becomes a cornerstone for building a secure, resilient cloud infrastructure.
Real-World Implementations and Advanced Capabilities of Azure Security Center
Organizations across industries are adopting Azure Security Center as a core component of their cloud security architecture. With real-time threat detection, security posture assessments, and compliance support, it delivers both strategic insight and operational defense. In this section, the focus shifts to real-world applications, advanced analytical features, integration into modern security frameworks, and predictions for its future evolution.
Practical Applications Across Industries
From healthcare and finance to manufacturing and government, Azure Security Center is adaptable to a variety of enterprise needs. Each sector has unique data protection requirements and compliance demands, and the platform’s flexibility allows it to meet those challenges.
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Organizations handling sensitive patient data must adhere to stringent data privacy laws. Azure Security Center enables:
- Continuous evaluation of HIPAA compliance
- Alerting on unauthorized access attempts to protected health information
- Integration with data loss prevention systems
- Enforcing policies on encryption, secure communication, and endpoint protection
Medical research institutions also benefit from secure management of high-performance computing clusters used in genomic analysis.
Financial Services
Financial institutions often operate under tight regulations, including PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001. Azure Security Center helps by:
- Monitoring for unusual transactions or login anomalies
- Applying network segmentation to prevent lateral movement of threats
- Establishing access control to critical financial applications
- Generating audit-ready compliance reports
Many banks and insurance firms use it as a part of their fraud detection frameworks.
Manufacturing and Industrial
The industrial sector, which increasingly adopts IoT and digital twins, has expanded its threat surface. Azure Security Center:
- Secures IoT Hub and edge devices
- Detects unauthorized firmware modifications
- Assesses configuration risks across smart manufacturing platforms
- Monitors OT network communication for anomalies
With built-in support for industrial security, it aligns with manufacturing protocols and operational reliability standards.
Government and Public Sector
Governments deal with classified data, public safety systems, and critical infrastructure. Security Center helps public entities:
- Enforce identity verification measures
- Monitor access to confidential records
- Align with national cybersecurity frameworks
- Deploy hybrid protection across data centers and cloud systems
Data residency and sovereignty controls can also be enforced using region-based policies.
Advanced Security Analytics with Machine Learning
Azure Security Center uses machine learning and behavior analytics to analyze vast streams of data collected from agents, logs, and Microsoft’s global threat intelligence network. These advanced analytics enable several high-value outcomes.
Behavioral Baseline Analysis
The system learns typical behavior patterns of users and systems to establish baselines. Deviations from these norms trigger alerts. For instance:
- A user logging in from two different geographic locations within minutes
- A spike in outbound traffic from a normally quiet virtual machine
- New administrative privileges being granted without proper justification
This behavior-based detection model is particularly effective against insider threats and advanced persistent threats (APTs).
Fusion Correlation Engine
This engine correlates signals from various data sources to uncover complex attack chains. Rather than raising isolated alerts, it groups related events to offer a broader view of an ongoing attack, such as:
- Initial phishing attempt
- Credential compromise
- Lateral movement inside the network
- Data exfiltration activities
This holistic view supports faster and more accurate incident response.
Threat Intelligence Integration
Azure Security Center taps into Microsoft’s threat intelligence gathered from billions of signals daily. This includes data from email filtering, endpoint telemetry, DNS, and cloud applications.
Threat intelligence adds context to security events, such as:
- Known malicious IP addresses or domains
- Indicators of compromise (IOCs)
- Emerging malware strains or ransomware campaigns
Using this data, administrators receive actionable recommendations rather than generic alerts.
Support for Zero Trust Architectures
Modern security frameworks increasingly follow the zero trust principle—never trust, always verify. Azure Security Center plays a key role in building a zero trust environment by supporting its core tenets:
Identity Verification
Only verified identities should access enterprise systems. Security Center assists by:
- Monitoring and flagging excessive access rights
- Detecting anomalies in user behavior
- Recommending stronger authentication protocols
Least Privilege Access
Users and systems should only have access to the resources they need. Security Center supports:
- Role-based access control auditing
- Recommendations for permission reduction
- Identification of unused roles and access assignments
Micro-Segmentation
Workloads should be isolated to limit lateral movement. With Security Center:
- Network topology is visualized to identify high-risk pathways
- Access control lists and firewall configurations are evaluated
- Just-in-time access is enforced on VMs and services
Continuous Verification
Security doesn’t stop at login. Azure Security Center continuously evaluates resource configurations, access patterns, and network flows to validate ongoing trustworthiness.
Integration with DevSecOps Practices
Security must be embedded early in the development lifecycle. Azure Security Center provides several tools and integrations to support DevSecOps.
Secure Code and Deployment Pipelines
By integrating with Azure DevOps and GitHub workflows, security scans can be triggered automatically during code builds or releases. Misconfigurations such as:
- Open ports
- Insecure secrets
- Public storage buckets
are flagged before they ever reach production.
Policy as Code
Security policies can be defined and version-controlled like code. Developers and DevOps engineers can:
- Use ARM templates or Bicep files to codify policies
- Deploy them using CI/CD tools
- Track changes and rollback configurations when needed
This aligns security governance with infrastructure as code (IaC) principles.
Container and Kubernetes Security
Security Center provides insights into containerized environments as well, including:
- Kubernetes cluster configurations
- Container image vulnerability assessments
- Network exposure analysis for container workloads
This support is especially useful for cloud-native applications operating in high-velocity development environments.
Managing Security Across Multi-Cloud Platforms
Many organizations operate in multi-cloud ecosystems, leveraging services from Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud simultaneously. Azure Security Center extends its protective reach beyond Azure through:
- Azure Arc for onboarding non-Azure machines
- Agents that collect telemetry from external clouds
- Integration with multi-cloud SIEMs for unified visibility
This approach helps organizations consolidate their security monitoring while respecting the operational differences across platforms.
Audit, Compliance, and Reporting for Governance Teams
Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) teams often require detailed reports and audit logs. Azure Security Center provides built-in compliance tracking for frameworks such as:
- NIST 800-53
- ISO/IEC 27001
- SOC 1 and SOC 2
- PCI-DSS
The Compliance dashboard maps security controls to these standards, highlights gaps, and provides remediation steps. Reports can be:
- Exported as PDF or Excel files
- Shared with auditors
- Used to demonstrate progress over time
Additionally, audit logs can be ingested into Azure Monitor Logs or exported to external SIEM systems for extended retention.
Future Outlook: AI-Driven Defense and Adaptive Security
The future of Azure Security Center lies in deeper automation, predictive capabilities, and ecosystem-wide integration.
AI-Driven Threat Prediction
As machine learning models evolve, Security Center is expected to offer:
- Preemptive threat alerts based on predictive analytics
- Suggested configuration changes before a breach occurs
- Identification of emerging risks using clustering algorithms
This will reduce response times even further, potentially preventing incidents before they fully materialize.
Adaptive Risk Scoring
Security Center will likely enhance its secure score to include:
- Risk scoring per asset and per user
- Weights based on resource criticality
- Historical tracking for trending analysis
This provides more nuanced insights into where attention is most urgently needed.
Extended Ecosystem Connectivity
Expect deeper integration with tools like:
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions
- Identity Protection systems like Entra ID
These integrations will deliver a unified front across identity, endpoint, application, and network layers.
Autonomous Remediation
Security Center may soon support autonomous remediation for low-risk incidents. This includes:
- Auto-applying patches to non-critical systems
- Revoking access tokens after anomalous behavior
- Enforcing encryption settings on new storage resources
Such automation minimizes human workload and reduces the opportunity for missteps.
Summary
Azure Security Center has emerged as a central pillar in the enterprise security strategy of many cloud-forward organizations. From monitoring virtual machines to detecting lateral movement in hybrid environments, its value spans across technical and strategic domains.
Key takeaways include:
- Deployment and integration are seamless across varied infrastructures
- Built-in analytics enhance visibility and threat detection
- Support for zero trust and DevSecOps promotes modern security models
- Compliance dashboards help manage risk and meet regulatory demands
- Future developments promise deeper automation and predictive power
By leveraging the full capabilities of Azure Security Center, businesses can confidently navigate the complexities of cloud security, protect critical workloads, and maintain governance across their digital landscape.