We will likely use Microsoft Azure Key Vault for secure key management.
System Administrator at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Straightforward documentation, secure, and reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
- "It is a managed service in Azure, you do not have to worry about security other than managing your own identities."
- "I can see that other people are doing the infrastructure as code, they are able to easily manage and cycle their passwords as needed using their own interface they created. It would be nice if Microsoft provided more guidance in that area."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Provide a central, secure repository for keys.
What is most valuable?
It is a managed service in Azure, you do not have to worry about security other than the access. The vaults themselves are inherently secure.
What needs improvement?
It's too early for me to say with certainty, but what I'm seeing thus far is that Key Vault at face value is more of a secure store than it is a password manager. I suspect that we may be able to use logic apps to perform some actions that a password manager would, but a little more focus in this area would be beneficial.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure Key Vault for one day.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 15 users using the solution in my organization.
How was the initial setup?
The setup of my test files has been easy and the documentation is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
I handle the implementation of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution is reasonable for what we are using it for.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not have a great solution in the past. We wanted something better, and everything that I read about Microsoft Azure Key Vault was good. We did evaluate other solutions but we were already using Azure for other things, it made sense to implement Microsoft Azure Key Vault.
What other advice do I have?
Other people's opinions of Microsoft Azure Key Vault seem to be quite good.
I rate Microsoft Azure Key Vault an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CyberSecurity Director of Intelligence at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Straightforward to set up, robust, and helps improve security
Pros and Cons
- "Among the features that have helped improve our security posture are storing secrets in a secure location to create a trusted situation, trusted resources, and incorporating identity access management so that we know who has access to what."
- "One of my previous clients was one of the big banks here in the Netherlands and the EU courts have stated that Microsoft Azure Key Vault is not, according to their perspective, secure due to the fact that Microsoft has access to Key Vault."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for storing secrets for different accounts. If a service account or a storage account or a resource needs access to a resource, and there's a password involved, you would book out a password, and access Key Vault to gain access to the password, and get access to the resource.
How has it helped my organization?
The ability to use identity access management incorporated with RBAC is important for us. It helps us ensure the governance and security posture is secure and logical.
What is most valuable?
Among the features that have helped improve our security posture are storing secrets in a secure location to create a trusted situation, trusted resources, and incorporating identity access management so that we know who has access to what.
In addition, it hasn't affected our end-user experience. It's seamless.
What needs improvement?
One of my previous clients was one of the big banks here in the Netherlands and the EU courts have stated that Microsoft Azure Key Vault is not, according to their perspective, secure due to the fact that Microsoft has access to Key Vault. If you cannot demonstrate that only you, as an organization, have access to your secrets, then you are not in control of your secrets. That is a concern.
Also, a big issue is the configuration. It could be that the people working on the solution, the system engineers, might lack knowledge and not incorporate all the best practices from Microsoft. The way they've implemented it might not be the way Microsoft envisioned it. It's always back to who's implementing what for you as a solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Microsoft Azure Key Vault for two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's robust. It's good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good. It's up to your imagination and how big you want to make your resilience and high availability and so on.
We have plans to increase our usage because we are going to launch new websites for specific regions. There will just be more resources needed.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft has a support team that calls our security team every two weeks to discuss any topics and issues, and to talk about topics of the day or the week. It might be about resilience or expansion or features that are changing and new releases. It's good to have a meeting at least every two weeks that gives us the opportunity to speak to Microsoft account management.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It's already incorporated in Azure, so you can just use it. It took minutes to deploy.
What was our ROI?
The ROI is due to the fact the services keep on growing. It's better, it's more secure, and it grows. It's becoming a better product.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Our customer did not evaluate other products. They mostly want to do things native to Microsoft Azure, so that's their first port of call. And if Azure services cannot provide the functionality that they need, then they will go and look outside.
What other advice do I have?
Other service providers try to lower the prices, but it all depends on your development environment and your core skills. You are a bit more stuck if you are coding in .NET. If you go down that route, you can't easily move out to another service provider. Maybe you can go the route of adding a new team with a different service provider, but then you will need to mash it together. You would need to evaluate if that is a good option.
We have about 70 developers and they are in different teams. They interact with third parties and they have different roles, including front-end and back-end developers. Each one creates services for different websites for different regions, to sell e-vape cigarettes. And we have team leaders who use it as well. There's a security team of five people responsible for the infrastructure of Azure, including creating new resources or whatever is necessary for the dev teams. There are also operations management and product owners who make decisions on schedules, what will be built, and priorities.
Deployment and maintenance are part of the security engineers' work, to manage any issues. Sometimes the dev teams get involved with root cause analysis if something is going wrong with a web application. We have a team for certain maintenance tasks and requests.
The biggest lesson I've learned from using this solution is: "Stay secure."
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Azure Key Vault
December 2024
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Infrastructure Manager\Enterprise Architect - Cloud at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Features tie into the app, secrets, and the passwords and encrypt them
Pros and Cons
- "We only use the basic features and those are the ones that have the ability to tie into the app, the secrets, and the passwords and encrypt them."
- "To make it a ten the setup should be more streamlined."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to store our secrets and passwords for our integrations and applications.
What is most valuable?
We only use the basic features and those are the ones that have the ability to tie into the app, the secrets, and the passwords and encrypt them.
What needs improvement?
So far we've had good luck with it. We haven't had any bad experiences. Once we got it set up and we got it injected into our code, we've had pretty good success.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure Key Vault for around a year and a half.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 225 applications that are using it.
How are customer service and support?
Their technical support was good when we used them.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use a different solution. This is our first time using the services.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was pretty straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I thought the price was reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
My advice would be to definitely leverage your premier support to help you get it going. Once you get going on it, it's fairly simple to use.
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
To make it a ten the setup should be more streamlined.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director of Business Intelligence at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Easy to use, stable, and it enable our clients to manage keys
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are ease of use and enabling our clients to manage keys."
- "The initial setup could be less complex for first-time users."
What is our primary use case?
We use this product to manage our keys for storage, as well as the SQL server.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are ease of use and enabling our clients to manage keys.
What needs improvement?
The initial setup could be less complex for first-time users.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with Microsoft Azure Key Vault for about a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product has been very stable for us.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability does not apply to our use case. I can say that it works well for smaller organizations.
How are customer service and technical support?
Microsoft technical support has been very responsive and good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to the Azure Key Vault, we used a third-party password value. We moved to satisfy our customer requirements.
How was the initial setup?
The first time we implemented this solution it was a little complex but as you use it, the process becomes easier. Installation specifics depend on each organization's needs.
The deployment, initially, was a couple of hours. After that, it took perhaps another hour to work through the setup and documentation.
What about the implementation team?
We have admins who are in charge of using the Key Vault.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Associate Consultant at VXXIV Corp
A high level of security ensures safety of resources
Pros and Cons
- "A high level of security."
- "Inability to access the solution on the phone."
What is our primary use case?
There are currently two people in my team using this solution. I'm an associate consultant.
What is most valuable?
This is a very user friendly solution and the security level is very high.
What needs improvement?
The solution could be improved by making it accessible to more people.
The most significant additional feature I'd like to see would be the ability to access the system on the phone via my Microsoft login and to be able to manage the desktop file folders that way. That's something I look forward to.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I'm satisfied with the technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup took less than 10 minutes.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend this solution and would rate it an eight out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: December 2024
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