From Risk to Resilience: Building a Secure Azure SQL Environment
Proposed session for SQLBits 2026TL; DR
Learn how to secure Azure SQL Database using a multilayered, defense-in-depth approach that protects your environment from every angle. This session provides practical guidance on network security, access control, data protection, monitoring, threat detection and encryption, giving you the confidence to safeguard your workloads during and after cloud migration.
Session Details
You're ready to move your databases to the cloud, but one concern keeps resurfacing: How do we ensure our data stays fully protected? With security threats growing more sophisticated, relying on a single safeguard is no longer enough. Whether your data lives on-premises or in Azure, you need a layered strategy that secures every point of vulnerability.
This demo-focused session will show how a defense-in-depth model can protect Azure SQL Database from multiple angles. You’ll see how network, identity, data, monitoring, and encryption works together to minimize risk, restrict exposure, and strengthen resilience.
Key topics include:
1. Network security and access control best practices
2. Enforcing least privilege with Azure RBAC
3. Applying Row-Level Security to protect sensitive data
4. Implementing auditing to track activity and support compliance
5. Using Advanced Threat Protection for real-time threat detection
6. Understanding and applying encryption layers such as TDE and Always Encrypted
This session is ideal for database administrators, cloud engineers, architects and anyone responsible for securing data platforms. Attendees will gain the practical knowledge and confidence needed to secure Azure SQL workloads and make informed decisions during cloud migrations.
This demo-focused session will show how a defense-in-depth model can protect Azure SQL Database from multiple angles. You’ll see how network, identity, data, monitoring, and encryption works together to minimize risk, restrict exposure, and strengthen resilience.
Key topics include:
1. Network security and access control best practices
2. Enforcing least privilege with Azure RBAC
3. Applying Row-Level Security to protect sensitive data
4. Implementing auditing to track activity and support compliance
5. Using Advanced Threat Protection for real-time threat detection
6. Understanding and applying encryption layers such as TDE and Always Encrypted
This session is ideal for database administrators, cloud engineers, architects and anyone responsible for securing data platforms. Attendees will gain the practical knowledge and confidence needed to secure Azure SQL workloads and make informed decisions during cloud migrations.
3 things you'll get out of this session
1. Understand how to apply a defense in depth strategy to secure Azure SQL Database effectively.
2. Learn practical techniques for protecting access, data visibility, monitoring and threat response.
3. Gain confidence to make informed security decisions when migrating or managing cloud workloads.
Speakers
Deepthi Goguri's other proposed sessions for 2026
EmpowerHER Tech: How Allies Drive Real Change - 2026
From Confusion to Clarity: Understanding Fabric Capacity Like a Pro - 2026
Performance Tuning: How Query Store Saves Your Server (and Your Sleep) - 2026
The First Step: Empowering New Tech Speakers - 2026
When Good Queries Go Bad: Fixing Performance with Query Store - 2026
Deepthi Goguri's previous sessions
A to Z Azure SQL Security Concepts
Planning to move your databases to the cloud but seriously doubt if your data is 100% secure? No matter if you are on-prem or in the cloud, making sure your data is protected in every angle possible is the most crucial and important step in building a secure data tier of an application. Let's dedicate this session to knowing the different multi-layer defense-in-depth security techniques and strategies available to armor your Azure SQL database. let's dive deep into each of these layers starting with the network security, Azure role-based access control (RBAC), data security at the row level, auditing, advanced threat protection, different layers of encryption, monitoring, and more. By the end of this session, you will have the knowledge to make the right security decisions for your environments and implement these techniques in securing your data.
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