Monitor security by using logging and auditing

Logging and auditing are crucial aspects of monitoring the security of native applications built using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB. By implementing a robust logging and auditing strategy, developers can gain valuable insights into the activities and events occurring within their applications, enhancing security and enabling effective troubleshooting. In this article, we’ll explore how to design and implement logging and auditing for native applications using Azure Cosmos DB.

Logging for Azure Cosmos DB

Logging refers to the practice of recording events, transactions, and activities within an application. It helps in understanding how the application is behaving and facilitates diagnosis of issues and detection of potential security threats. Azure Cosmos DB provides various mechanisms for logging, including diagnostic logging and Azure Monitor.

To enable diagnostic logging for Azure Cosmos DB, you can use the Azure portal or PowerShell cmdlets. With diagnostic logging, you can capture events such as database operations, request execution times, and exceptions. These logs can be stored in Azure Storage, sent to Event Hubs, or streamed to Log Analytics for further analysis. The choice of log destination depends on your specific requirements and compliance needs.

Let’s take a look at an example of how to enable diagnostic logging for a Cosmos DB account using PowerShell:

# Connect to Azure Cosmos DB account
Connect-AzAccount
Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionName "YourSubscriptionName"

# Enable diagnostic logging for the Cosmos DB account
Set-AzDiagnosticSetting -ResourceId "/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.DocumentDB/databaseAccounts/{accountName}" `
-StorageAccountId "/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/{storageAccountName}" `
-Enabled $true

In this example, replace the placeholders with your actual subscription, resource group, Cosmos DB account, and storage account names. By executing this PowerShell script, you can enable diagnostic logging for your Cosmos DB account and specify the storage account where the logs will be stored.

Auditing with Azure Monitor

Apart from diagnostic logging, Azure Monitor provides additional capabilities for monitoring and auditing native applications. Azure Monitor collects data from various Azure services, including Azure Cosmos DB, and provides a centralized platform for analyzing and visualizing this data. It offers features like log queries, alerts, and dashboards that enable you to gain insights into the operational and security aspects of your application.

To leverage Azure Monitor with Azure Cosmos DB, you need to configure diagnostic settings for the relevant resources. You can enable log collection for Cosmos DB accounts, data planes (API operations), control planes (management operations), and virtual networks. Once the data is collected, you can use log queries in Azure Monitor to retrieve and analyze specific log records.

Here’s an example of a log query for retrieving diagnostic logs related to Azure Cosmos DB:

AzureDiagnostics
| where Category == "CosmosDBSqlApiRequests"
| where ResourceType == "DOCUMENTDB"
| where CollectionName == "YourCollectionName"
| summarize count() by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h)

In this example, replace “CosmosDBSqlApiRequests” with the desired log category and “YourCollectionName” with the actual Cosmos DB collection name you want to monitor. By executing this query, you can retrieve the count of requests made to the specified Cosmos DB collection, aggregated by each hour.

Furthermore, Azure Monitor allows you to set up alerts based on specific log records or metrics. You can define alert rules to trigger notifications or automated actions when certain conditions are met. This helps in proactively monitoring the security of your application and rapidly responding to potential threats.

Conclusion

In summary, logging and auditing are crucial for monitoring the security of native applications built using Azure Cosmos DB. By implementing diagnostic logging and leveraging Azure Monitor, developers can gain valuable insights into the behavior of their applications, detect security threats, and troubleshoot issues effectively. Utilize the power of Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Monitor to enhance the security posture of your native applications.