Integration

Integration Security Baselines

Integration services expose and manage APIs across organizational boundaries. API Management is the gateway that controls authentication, rate limiting, and observability for all API traffic — making it a critical security control point in modern architectures.

Services

Controls

Customer-Owned

Manual Controls

1/1

Private Endpoint

1/1

Defender Coverage

API Management Security Architecture diagram

graph TB subgraph External["External Consumers"] Client[API Clients] Partner[Partner Apps] end subgraph Edge["Edge Protection"] FD[Front Door + WAF] end subgraph Gateway["API Gateway"] APIM[API Management
Internal VNet Mode] end subgraph Backend["Backend Services"] ACA[Container Apps] FUNC[Functions] AKS[AKS Cluster] end Client --> FD Partner --> FD FD --> APIM APIM -->|MI Auth| ACA APIM -->|MI Auth| FUNC APIM -->|MI Auth| AKS style External stroke:#f59e0b,stroke-width:2px style Edge stroke:#ec4899,stroke-width:2px style Gateway stroke:#a855f7,stroke-width:2px style Backend stroke:#22d3ee,stroke-width:2px

API Management

Full-lifecycle API gateway with built-in developer portal, OAuth 2.0 flow management, rate limiting, and policy-based request/response transformation. APIM should be deployed in Internal VNet mode for production — fronted by Application Gateway or Front Door with WAF for external access.

Property	Value
Defender Plan	Defender for APIs
Azure Policy Built-in	Yes — VNet deployment, TLS version, private endpoint, named values
Recommended Tier	Premium (VNet integration, multi-region, private endpoints)
Key Feature	Internal VNet mode with validate-jwt policy for Entra ID token enforcement

Baseline Controls

Domain	Feature	Supported	Default	Responsibility
NS	Internal VNet Mode	✓	Manual	Customer
NS	Private Endpoint	✓	Manual	Customer
IM	OAuth 2.0 + JWT Validation	✓	Manual	Customer
IM	Managed Identity	✓	Manual	Customer
DP	TLS 1.2+ Enforcement	✓	Manual	Customer
LT	Defender for APIs	✓	Manual	Customer
LT	Diagnostic Logging	✓	Manual	Customer

NS ✓ Supported

Internal VNet Mode

○ Manual Customer

NS ✓ Supported

Private Endpoint

○ Manual Customer

IM ✓ Supported

OAuth 2.0 + JWT Validation

○ Manual Customer

IM ✓ Supported

Managed Identity

○ Manual Customer

DP ✓ Supported

TLS 1.2+ Enforcement

○ Manual Customer

LT ✓ Supported

Defender for APIs

○ Manual Customer

LT ✓ Supported

Diagnostic Logging

○ Manual Customer

Azure Portal Instructions

API Management Baseline Configuration Workflow

Navigate to your API Management service resource in the Azure Portal.
Under Deployment + infrastructure, select Virtual network and deploy APIM in Internal mode if backend APIs are private.
Under Security, select Managed identities and enable system-assigned managed identity.
Under Security, select Protocols + ciphers and disable TLS 1.0/1.1. Keep only TLS 1.2+ ciphers.
Under APIs, configure OAuth 2.0 + JWT validation policies to require Entra ID tokens.
Under Monitoring, enable diagnostic settings for GatewayLogs, WebSocketConnectionLogs, and AllMetrics.

Terraform: Secure API Management (Internal VNet)

hcl

resource "azurerm_api_management" "main" {
  name                = "apim-prod"
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.integration.name
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.integration.location
  publisher_name      = "Contoso Security"
  publisher_email     = "apim-admin@contoso.com"
  sku_name            = "Premium_1"

  # NS-1: Internal VNet mode
  virtual_network_type = "Internal"

  virtual_network_configuration {
    subnet_id = azurerm_subnet.apim.id
  }

  # IM-3: System-assigned managed identity
  identity {
    type = "SystemAssigned"
  }

  # DP-3: TLS 1.2+ enforcement
  protocols {
    enable_http2 = true
  }

  security {
    enable_backend_ssl30  = false
    enable_backend_tls10  = false
    enable_backend_tls11  = false
    enable_frontend_ssl30 = false
    enable_frontend_tls10 = false
    enable_frontend_tls11 = false
  }
}

# IM-1: Global JWT validation policy
resource "azurerm_api_management_policy" "global" {
  api_management_id = azurerm_api_management.main.id

  xml_content = <<XML
<policies>
  <inbound>
    <validate-jwt header-name="Authorization" failed-validation-httpcode="401"
      failed-validation-error-message="Unauthorized. Access token required.">
      <openid-config url="https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant-id}/v2.0/.well-known/openid-configuration" />
      <audiences>
        <audience>api://{api-app-id}</audience>
      </audiences>
      <issuers>
        <issuer>https://sts.windows.net/{tenant-id}/</issuer>
      </issuers>
    </validate-jwt>
    <rate-limit calls="100" renewal-period="60" />
  </inbound>
</policies>
XML
}

# LT-3: Diagnostic Logging
resource "azurerm_monitor_diagnostic_setting" "apim" {
  name                       = "diag-apim-prod"
  target_resource_id         = azurerm_api_management.main.id
  log_analytics_workspace_id = azurerm_log_analytics_workspace.main.id

  enabled_log { category = "GatewayLogs" }
  enabled_log { category = "WebSocketConnectionLogs" }
  metric { category = "AllMetrics" }
}

resource "azurerm_api_management" "main" {
  name                = "apim-prod"
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.integration.name
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.integration.location
  publisher_name      = "Contoso Security"
  publisher_email     = "apim-admin@contoso.com"
  sku_name            = "Premium_1"

  # NS-1: Internal VNet mode
  virtual_network_type = "Internal"

  virtual_network_configuration {
    subnet_id = azurerm_subnet.apim.id
  }

  # IM-3: System-assigned managed identity
  identity {
    type = "SystemAssigned"
  }

  # DP-3: TLS 1.2+ enforcement
  protocols {
    enable_http2 = true
  }

  security {
    enable_backend_ssl30  = false
    enable_backend_tls10  = false
    enable_backend_tls11  = false
    enable_frontend_ssl30 = false
    enable_frontend_tls10 = false
    enable_frontend_tls11 = false
  }
}

# IM-1: Global JWT validation policy
resource "azurerm_api_management_policy" "global" {
  api_management_id = azurerm_api_management.main.id

  xml_content = <<XML
<policies>
  <inbound>
    <validate-jwt header-name="Authorization" failed-validation-httpcode="401"
      failed-validation-error-message="Unauthorized. Access token required.">
      <openid-config url="https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant-id}/v2.0/.well-known/openid-configuration" />
      <audiences>
        <audience>api://{api-app-id}</audience>
      </audiences>
      <issuers>
        <issuer>https://sts.windows.net/{tenant-id}/</issuer>
      </issuers>
    </validate-jwt>
    <rate-limit calls="100" renewal-period="60" />
  </inbound>
</policies>
XML
}

# LT-3: Diagnostic Logging
resource "azurerm_monitor_diagnostic_setting" "apim" {
  name                       = "diag-apim-prod"
  target_resource_id         = azurerm_api_management.main.id
  log_analytics_workspace_id = azurerm_log_analytics_workspace.main.id

  enabled_log { category = "GatewayLogs" }
  enabled_log { category = "WebSocketConnectionLogs" }
  metric { category = "AllMetrics" }
}

Azure Portal Instructions

Step-by-step instructions for configuring each API Management control through the Azure Portal.

NS-1 — Internal VNet Mode

Navigate to your API Management resource in the Azure Portal
In the left menu under Deployment + infrastructure, select Virtual network
Change the VNet type to Internal
Select the VNet and subnet for APIM deployment
Click Apply and then Save (this may take 30-45 minutes)
Deploy Application Gateway or Front Door in front of APIM for external access with WAF

IM-1 — OAuth 2.0 + JWT Validation

In the Azure Portal, open API Management > APIs
Select an API and click the Inbound processing policy editor
Add the validate-jwt policy with your Entra ID tenant issuer URL
Set the required audience to match your API app registration
Optionally add required-claims to enforce specific roles or scopes
Apply the policy at the All APIs level for global enforcement
Test by sending a request without a valid token — it should return 401

IM-3 — Managed Identity

Navigate to your API Management resource in the Azure Portal
In the left menu under Security, select Managed identities
On the System assigned tab, set Status to On and click Save
Use the managed identity in policies: <authentication-managed-identity resource="https://target.service.url" />
Grant the managed identity access to Key Vault for TLS certificate retrieval
Assign appropriate RBAC roles on backend services

DP-3 — TLS 1.2+ Enforcement

Navigate to your API Management resource in the Azure Portal
In the left menu under Security, select Protocols + ciphers
Under Protocols, disable TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 for both client and backend
Under Ciphers, disable weak ciphers (RC4, triple DES, etc.)
Keep only strong TLS 1.2+ cipher suites
Click Save

LT-1 — Defender for APIs

Navigate to Microsoft Defender for Cloud in the Azure Portal
In the left menu, select Environment settings
Select your subscription
Under Cloud Workload Protection (CWP), find the APIs row
Toggle the plan to On
Click Save — API Management APIs will be inventoried and monitored for threats

LT-3 — Diagnostic Logging

Navigate to your API Management resource in the Azure Portal
In the left menu under Monitoring, select Diagnostic settings
Click + Add diagnostic setting
Select log categories: GatewayLogs, WebSocketConnectionLogs
Select AllMetrics under Metrics
Select the destination: Send to Log Analytics workspace
Select your Log Analytics workspace
Click Save

APIM + Application Gateway Pattern

The most common production pattern is APIM in Internal VNet mode behind Application Gateway WAF v2. App Gateway handles TLS termination, WAF rules, and public-facing traffic, while APIM handles authentication, rate limiting, and API routing — creating a defense-in-depth API security architecture.