Azure API Keys & Secrets Detection

Learn how to detect API keys, secrets, and tokens in Azure environments. Follow step-by-step guidance for PCI-DSS compliance.

insecure APIs

PCI-DSS

azure

Why It Matters

The core goal is to identify every location where API keys, secrets, and tokens are stored within your Azure environment, so you can remediate unintended exposures before they become security breaches. Scanning for credentials in Azure is a priority for organizations subject to PCI-DSS, as it helps you prove you've discovered and secured all authentication assets—mitigating the risk of insecure APIs and unauthorized access.

Primary Risk: Insecure APIs and unauthorized access to sensitive systems

Relevant Regulation: PCI-DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

A thorough scan delivers immediate visibility into credential exposure across virtual machines, storage accounts, and code repositories, laying the foundation for automated policy enforcement and ongoing compliance.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

  • Azure Contributor or Security Admin role
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud enabled
  • Reader permissions on target subscriptions

External Tools

  • Azure CLI or PowerShell
  • Cyera DSPM account
  • Service principal credentials

Prior Setup

  • Azure subscription provisioned
  • Key Vault instances identified
  • Resource groups organized
  • Network security groups configured

Introducing Cyera

Cyera is a modern Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform that discovers, classifies, and continuously monitors your sensitive data across cloud services. By leveraging advanced AI and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, Cyera can automatically detect API keys, secrets, and tokens embedded in code, configuration files, and storage locations within Azure. Its machine learning models recognize credential patterns and context, ensuring you stay ahead of potential security breaches and meet PCI-DSS audit requirements in real time.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Configure Azure access and permissions

Create a service principal with appropriate permissions to scan your Azure resources. Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud if not already active.

az ad sp create-for-rbac --name cyera-scanner --role Reader

2
Enable agentless secrets scanning

In the Cyera portal, navigate to Integrations → Cloud Security → Add Azure. Provide your subscription details, service principal credentials, and define the scan scope including VMs, storage accounts, and Key Vaults.

3
Configure code repository scanning

Connect Azure DevOps repositories to scan for hardcoded secrets in source code. Set up webhooks to trigger scans on code commits and pull requests.

4
Validate results and prioritize remediation

Review the initial detection report, prioritize findings by risk score and exposure level, and establish remediation workflows. Configure alerts for newly discovered secrets and schedule recurring scans.

Architecture & Workflow

Azure Resource Manager

Source of metadata for VMs, storage, and services

Cyera Connector

Agentless scanning of files and configurations

AI Detection Engine

NLP models identify credential patterns and context

Security Operations

Alerts, dashboards, and remediation workflows

Data Flow Summary

Enumerate Resources → Scan Content → Apply AI Detection → Route Alerts

Best Practices & Tips

Performance Considerations

  • Start with high-risk resource groups
  • Use incremental scanning for large deployments
  • Schedule scans during low-usage periods

Tuning Detection Rules

  • Maintain allowlists for test environments
  • Adjust sensitivity for different secret types
  • Configure custom patterns for proprietary APIs

Common Pitfalls

  • Missing secrets in ARM templates and scripts
  • Overlooking container registries and images
  • Forgetting to scan Azure Functions code

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🔧 Fix: Remediate exposed API keys and secrets 🛡️ Prevent: Implement secrets management policies