Enterprise Security Framework with Azure Arc based Compliance for an Insurance Provider

The customer is a leading insurance provider in the United States. The client needed an infrastructure that was HITRUST and PCI compliant, while securing their applications hosted on Azure and on-premises. Their challenges included:

SNP Technologies proposed an Enterprise Security Framework with Azure Arc-based Compliance to help the client centralize, automate, and strengthen compliance management across their hybrid environment.

• By introducing Azure Sentinel and integrating all services for SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response), SNP Technologies provided the client with a powerful solution for centralized security monitoring and automated incident response across their infrastructure and applications. This setup enables real-time threat detection, swift response actions, and comprehensive visibility, enhancing the client’s security posture significantly.
• By enabling Azure Arc for the client’s application servers and Kubernetes environment, SNP Technologies provided a unified management solution that extends Azure’s powerful capabilities to these resources, regardless of whether they’re on-premises, in Azure, or in a multi-cloud setup. This deployment enhances the client’s control, visibility, and consistency across their hybrid environment.
• By applying the HITRUST and PCI blueprints to the client’s infrastructure, SNP Technologies ensured that their resources adhered to stringent security and regulatory standards. These compliance frameworks establish robust security measures, enhancing data protection and reducing risk exposure for the client.
• SNP Technologies took proactive steps by identifying and remediating non-compliant workloads within the client’s infrastructure, ensuring that all resources met required compliance standards such as HITRUST and PCI. This process enhanced the client’s security posture, reduced risk, and maintained adherence to regulatory guidelines.

After the successful delivery of the engagement, the following benefits were achieved for the client:

• Unified Control and Visibility: With Azure Arc, the client gained centralized management and visibility of their hybrid infrastructure, including on-premises and cloud-based resources. This allowed them to monitor and manage compliance in a unified manner across all workloads.
• Simplified Governance: The integration of Azure Policy and automated compliance checks ensured that the client could enforce governance policies consistently across all environments, improving compliance and reducing risk.
• Enhanced Threat Detection and Response: Through the implementation of Azure Sentinel with SOAR capabilities, the client benefited from automated threat detection, investigation, and remediation. This significantly improved their ability to respond to security incidents in real-time and reduce response times.
• Compliance-Driven Security Controls: The application of HITRUST and PCI blueprints ensured that the client’s infrastructure adhered to industry-leading security standards, enhancing data protection and reducing the risk of breaches.
• Proactive Remediation: SNP identified and applied remediations to non-compliant workloads, addressing gaps in security configurations, patch management, and access controls. This ensured that all resources were compliant with regulatory frameworks like HITRUST and PCI.
• Ongoing Monitoring: Automated monitoring and alerts provided continuous compliance tracking, ensuring that any deviations from compliance standards were quickly addressed.
• Reduced Manual Effort: By automating patch management, compliance checks, and security monitoring, the client significantly reduced Saved 500-man hours effort required to maintain compliance and manage security, freeing up resources for other strategic initiatives.
• Streamlined Incident Response: The integration of Azure Sentinel with automated playbooks enabled quick, consistent responses to security incidents, reducing the time spent on manual intervention and ensuring a more efficient security operations process.
• Simplified Auditing Process: With automated compliance reporting and continuous monitoring, the client is now better prepared for audits, with clear and easily accessible reports on compliance status and actions taken.
• Documented Compliance State: SNP provided detailed reports documenting the compliance state of all workloads, including the actions taken to ensure compliance. This not only aids in audits but also strengthens the client’s regulatory readiness.
• Scalable Management: By leveraging Azure Arc, the client now has a solution that can scale with their infrastructure growth, providing seamless management of resources across cloud and on-premises environments.
• Long-Term Compliance Strategy: The client has established a long-term compliance and security framework, empowering their internal team to maintain continuous compliance and security with minimal oversight.
• Knowledge Transfer and Training: SNP’s training sessions and documentation empowered the client’s team with the skills and knowledge needed to manage their security and compliance independently in the future.
• Reduced Dependence on External Support: The internal IT team is now more capable of handling compliance and security tasks, reducing reliance on external support while maintaining a strong security posture.

• The absence of a centralized system to manage operations and hybrid workloads led to inefficiencies, lack of visibility, and difficulty maintaining consistency across environments.
• The lack of visibility into server workloads with potential security and compliance risks exposed the client to threats and hinder their ability to maintain regulatory compliance. Implementing a solution that provides comprehensive visibility and proactive risk management was essential.
• The absence of a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool in the client’s current infrastructure leaves them vulnerable to undetected security incidents, compliance issues, and delayed threat responses. Implementing a SIEM solution is critical for enhancing visibility, centralizing security event management, and enabling proactive threat detection and response across their environment.
• Given the client's tech team’s limited experience with the Azure security tool set, SNP Technologies offered guidance and support to ensure a smooth transition and effective adoption of Azure Sentinel and other security tools.

Through a comprehensive approach that integrated Azure Arc, Azure Sentinel, HITRUST & PCI compliance blueprints, and SOAR automation, SNP Technologies helped the client achieve enhanced security, compliance, and operational efficiency. The client now enjoys a streamlined, scalable, and proactive compliance and security management process, positioning them for continued success and growth in a secure, compliant environment.