
Let's Talk Azure!
Listen with Alan Armstrong and Sam Foot as we talk about all things Microsoft Azure!
We are both technical consultants working with Azure day in, day out. Alan focuses on Identity and Security automation while Sam is a .NET developer deploying PaaS and SaaS solutions on Azure.
Each episode we have a topic we cover and we highlight some key news that we are interested in. No fluff, sales or products here, just two technical people having a light hearted chat.
Latest episodes

Aug 16, 2024 • 28min
S5E29 - External Attack Surface Management - Identify your digital assets.
Alan and Sam talk about External Attack Surface Management (EASM) and how Microsoft's Defender EASM helps discover and monitor your digital assets. Here are a few things we covered:
What is External Attack Surface Management?
What is Defender EASM and how can it help identify your risks?
How do you setup Defender EASM?
how much does it cost?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Aug 9, 2024 • 55min
S5E28 - Azure Storage Accounts - Scalable, secure cloud storage for data objects
Discover the ins and outs of Azure Storage Accounts, a crucial component for scalable and secure cloud storage. The hosts dive into various data types these accounts support, from blobs to queues. They cover practical aspects like creation, configuration options, and cost considerations. Security concerns take center stage, addressing recent vulnerabilities and essential protective measures. Get insights into authentication methods and redundancy types, all while looking forward to future discussions on enhancing data protection.

Aug 2, 2024 • 32min
S5E27 - Microsoft updates July - new products and features released
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
Key Microsoft Entra and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Jul 26, 2024 • 42min
S5E26 - Microsoft's Unified Security Operations Platform
Alan and Sam dive into Microsoft's Unified Security Operations Platform and how it can benefit SOC analysts in their day to day. Here are a few things we covered:
What is a Security Operations Centre (SOC)?
What is the new Microsoft Unified Security Operations Platform?
What are the benefits of the new platform?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Jul 19, 2024 • 35min
S5E25 - Azure Storage Actions - Serverless storage actions across your storage accounts
This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Storage Actions a serverless framework currently in preview that allows users to perform common data operations on millions of objects across multiple Azure Storage accounts without needing additional compute resources. It involves creating storage tasks with defined conditions, operations, and assignments. Users can monitor and manage these tasks, which run asynchronously, via metrics and reports. Azure Storage Actions is integrated with Azure Event Grid for event handling, and is supported in several regions, here is what we covered:
What is Azure Storage Actions and why are they useful?
How do you create them? What are the configuration options?
How much does it cost?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Jul 12, 2024 • 29min
S5E24 - Microsoft updates June - new products and features released
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
Key Microsoft Entra and Defender features and updates
Lots of Azure changes and new features
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Jun 28, 2024 • 33min
S5E23 - Managed Identities for Azure Resources - Remove the need for secrets
Alan and Sam talk about the use of Managed Identities for Azure resources. Alan takes us through the methods used for programmatic access to Azure resources and the risks of some of the options. Here are a few things we covered:
What is programmatic access?
What methods are usually used to gain programmatic access?
What are Managed Identities for Azure resources, and how they can be used.
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Jun 14, 2024 • 44min
S5E22 - Data API builder - Rapidly build CRUD APIs
This week Alan and Sam discuss Data API builder. It is a powerful tool designed to streamline the process of creating and deploying APIs for data-driven applications. It facilitates the rapid development of secure, scalable, and high-performance APIs that can seamlessly interact with various data sources, including databases, file systems, and third-party services. By automating much of the setup and configuration, Data API builder reduces the complexity and time required to bring data APIs to production, allowing developers to focus on building features and functionality rather than managing infrastructure. This tool is particularly beneficial for organizations looking to enhance their data accessibility and integration capabilities while ensuring robust security and performance standards.
_What are CRUD APIs? Why are they important?
How do you use it?
What are some of the use cases for the solution?
How much does it cost?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Jun 7, 2024 • 46min
S5E21 - Microsoft updates May - new products and features released
This podcast episode delves into Microsoft's recent updates, highlighting key features in Entra, Defender, and Azure. They discuss Build and RSA conferences, cloud security talk preparation, new Azure services, Intune updates, and enhancements in security tools and Azure ecosystem.

May 31, 2024 • 44min
S5E20 - MDE Device Discovery - Find those unknown devices
Alan and Sam talk about why it is important to monitor your network for connected devices. Alan runs us through the benefits of doing it with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Here are a few areas we covered:
Why is it important to monitor your network?
How can you find devices using Microsoft solutions?
What are the benefits of devices being discovered and searchable in the Defender XDR Portal
How is it licensed
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript