Core

Microsoft Azure Identity Management - CoreGov

Azure is a growing collection of integrated cloud services that developers and IT professionals use to build, deploy and manage applications through Microsoft's global network of data centres. With Azure, you get the freedom to build and deploy wherever you want, using the tools, applications and frameworks of your choice.

Features

• Scale one to thousands of virtual machines instances, almost instantly.
• Benefit from built-in virtual networking and load balancing.
• Drive for hybrid consistency with on-premises systems.
• Support Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint Server.
• Run Oracle, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB and other DBs.
• Consolidate storage infrastructure.
• Integrated health, monitoring and load-balancing.
• Automatic operating system and application patching
• Accelerate disaster recovery and improve compliance.
• Automate data management across the enterprise.

Benefits

• Process and analyse massive amounts of data.
• Present data for real-time analytics
• Consolidate storage infrastructure.
• Enhance IT agility to support core business.
• Build apps that span IaaS and PaaS.
• Improve User Experience
• Provide Single Sign On for increased productivity
• Use Conditional Access to secure platforms
• Implement biometrics to improve security

£2 to £10 a user a month

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at webenquiry@core.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

174468457542176

Contact

Paul Saer
+44 (0) 207 626 0516
webenquiry@core.co.uk

Service scope

• Service constraints: See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/ to determine applicable constraints based on buyers requirements.
• System requirements: See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Response times are dependent on the request raised. For Managed Services tickets, the response times for different request types are listed in the Service Description document.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Core offer 4 levels of support for IaaS. Costs and features are available in the service description. Additionally Core can provide Microsoft Premier Support Services for Azure tenants. See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftservices/support.aspx
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/ plus comprehensive online documentation for various solutions available across the platform. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats: Microsoft Word (.doc)
• End-of-contract data extraction: Customers are able to remove their data at any time through the same means they uploaded. Either over their network (internet or express route) or via the Azure Import/Export services. Also see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/privacy
• End-of-contract process: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/privacy/you-own-your-data. In our Online Services Terms, Microsoft contractually commits to specific processes when a customer leaves a cloud service or the subscription expires. This includes deleting customer data from systems under our control. If you terminate a cloud subscription or it expires (except for free trials), Microsoft will store your customer data in a limited-function account for 90 days (the “retention period”) to give you time to extract the data or renew your subscription. During this period, Microsoft provides multiple notices, so you will be amply forewarned of the upcoming deletion of data. After this 90-day retention period, Microsoft will disable the account and delete the customer data, including any cached or backup copies. For in-scope services, that deletion will occur within 90 days after the end of the retention period. (In-scope services are defined in the Data Processing Terms section of our Online Services Terms.) See http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/Downloader.aspx?DocumentId=11745

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Manage and deploy services via the Azure Portal. See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web interface accessibility testing: See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Users are able to utilise the Azure API Management service to create their own API's for the solutions they deploy on to the platform. Additionally we have the Azure Service Management API which provides programmatic access to much of the functionality available through the Management Portal. Available here https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/ee460799.aspx
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: HTML
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Other
• Using the command line interface: Azure CLI 2.0 is optimized for managing and administering Azure resources from the command line, and for building automation scripts that work against the Azure Resource Manager. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Azure represents a hyper-scale public cloud service
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email
  • SMS

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Network
  • Number of active instances
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Microsoft

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • Please see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/best-practices-availability-paired-regions
  • And https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/global-datacenters
• Backup controls: Please see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-first-look
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: For data in transit, Azure uses industry-standard secure transport protocols, such as TLS/SSL, between user devices and Microsoft datacenters. You can enable encryption for traffic between your own virtual machines (VMs) and your users. With Azure Virtual Networks, you can use the industry-standard IPsec protocol to encrypt traffic between your corporate VPN gateway and Azure as well as between the VMs located on your Virtual Network
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: ACL Based Network Security Groups are also used. See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/network-security-groups

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: See Microsoft's Online Service Terms at http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/Downloader.aspx?DocumentId=11745
• Approach to resilience: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/global-datacenters and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/
• Outage reporting: Please see https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/status/ and https://portal.azure.com/#blade/HubsExtension/ServicesHealthBlade

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Azure Active Directory is Microsoft’s multi-tenant cloud based directory and identity management service. Azure-AD provides an affordable, easy to use solution to give employees and business partners single sign-on (SSO) access to thousands of cloud SaaS Applications like Office365, Salesforce.com, DropBox, and Concur. For application developers, Azure-AD lets you focus on building your application by making it fast and simple to integrate with a world class identity management solution used by millions of organizations. Azure-AD also includes a full suite of identity management capabilities including multi-factor authentication, device registration, self-service password management, self-service group management, privileged account management. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/active-directory-whatis
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Azure-AD can designate separate administrators to serve different functions. These administrators will have access to features in the Azure portal and, depending on their role, will be able to create or edit users, assign administrative roles to others, reset user passwords, manage user-licenses, and manage domains, among other things. A user who is assigned an admin role will have the same permissions across all of the cloud services that your organization has subscribed to, regardless of whether you assign the role in the Office365 portal, or in the Azure classic-portal, or by using the Azure-AD module for Windows PowerShell. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/active-directory-assign-admin-roles
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: Administrators have specific credentials and are required to use MFA and a limited use password from a dedicated password vault to gain management access to our service.
• Devices users manage the service through: Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users receive audit information on a regular basis
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: Lloyds Register
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 15/04/2020
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Not Applicable
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 15/06/2020
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: The CSA Star certification covers Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Services not delivered on these platforms are excluded from CSA Star certification.
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Coalfire Systems Inc
• PCI DSS accreditation date: 29/07/2021
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: PCI DSS Certification is specifically for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure hosted services, including OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online. Services not delivered on these platforms are excluded from PCI DSS certification.
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • FACT
  • NHS IG Toolkit
  • FedRamp
  • NIST 800-171
  • FIPS 140-2
  • CCSL (IRAP)
  • ENISA IAF
  • CDSA
  • ISO 27017 and 27018
  • SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: 14 Cloud Security Principles - See https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/14-Cloud-Security-Controls-670292c1 . Also FACT, NHS IG Toolkit, FedRamp, NIST 800-171, EU Model Clauses
• Information security policies and processes: An Information Security Management Program has been established to enable Microsoft Azure to maintain and improve its management system for information security. Through establishment of the ISMS, Azure plans for and manages protection of its assets to acceptable security levels based on defined risk management processes. In addition, Azure monitors the ISMS and the effectiveness of controls in maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of assets to continuously improve information security. The ISMS framework encompasses industry best-practices for information security and privacy. The ISMS has been documented and communicated in a customer-facing Information Security Policy, which can be made available upon request (customers and prospective customers must have a signed NDA or equivalent in place to receive a copy). Microsoft Azure performs annual ISMS reviews, the results of which are reviewed by management. This involves monitoring ongoing effectiveness and improvement of the ISMS control environment by reviewing security issues, audit results, and monitoring status, and by planning and tracking necessary corrective actions. Also see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/Compliance/ISO-IEC-27001 and The Microsoft Cloud Security Policy is available via the Service Trust Platform aka.ms/stp

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: Azure has developed formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) governing the change management process. These SOPs cover both software development and hardware change and release management, and are consistent with established regulatory guidelines including ISO 27001, SOC 1 / SOC 2, NIST 800-53, and others. Microsoft also uses Operational Security Assurance (OSA), a framework that incorporates the knowledge gained through a variety of capabilities that are unique to Microsoft including the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), the Microsoft Security Response Center program, and deep awareness of the cybersecurity threat landscape. Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/SDL/OperationalSecurityAssurance and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sdl
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: When providing the Antimalware solution for Virtual Machines, Azure is responsible for ensuring the service is highly available, definitions are updated regularly, that configuration through the Azure Management Portal is effective and that the software detects and protects against known types of malicious software. MCIO-managed hosts in the scope boundary are scanned to validate anti-virus clients are installed and current signature-definition files exist. Vulnerability scans are performed on a quarterly basis at a minimum. Microsoft Azure contracts with independent assessors to perform penetration testing of the Microsoft Azure boundary
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Microsoft Azure employs sophisticated software-defined service instrumentation and monitoring that integrates at the component or server level, the datacenter edge, our network backbone, Internet exchange sites, and at the real or simulated user level, providing visibility when a service disruption is occurring and pinpointing its cause. Proactive monitoring continuously measures the performance of key subsystems of the Microsoft Azure services platform against the established boundaries for acceptable service performance and availability. When a threshold is reached or an irregular event occurs, the monitoring system generates warnings so that operations staff can address the threshold or event.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Microsoft has developed robust processes to facilitate a coordinated response to incidents. • Identification – System and security alerts may be harvested, correlated, and analyzed. • Containment – The escalation team evaluates the scope and impact of an incident. • Eradication – The escalation team eradicates any damage caused by the security breach, identifies root cause for why the security issue occurred. • Recovery – During recovery, software or configuration updates are applied to the system and services are returned to a full working capacity. • Lessons Learned – Each security incident is analyzed to protect against future reoccurrence

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: Hyper-V
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/Security/default.aspx

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Core utilizes the Microsoft Cloud for hosting of all services. The Microsoft Cloud adheres to the EU Code of conduct for energy efficient datacenters.

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  All Core solutions are hosted in the Microsoft Cloud platform, which is currently 79-93% more energy efficient than a traditional on premise datacentre. Currently over 60% of energy used in Microsoft Cloud datacentres is renewable, Microsoft have pledged to be carbon negative by 2030. ; ; Core runs no on premises IT infrastructure and all internal services are cloud-based, ensuring that all service compute is done using high efficiency hardware and powered by renewable energy. It reduces the demand for mined precious materials, manufacturing and road transportation impacts associated with acquiring and receiving private infrastructure, as well as overall energy consumption inefficiencies of running infrastructure that may not be being optimally utilised. ; ; Core advocates and supports the adoption of Hybrid Working to reduce unnecessary travel and associated emissions, reduce our corporate office footprint and support flexible working practices for our teams. ; ; All Core staff are issued with modern Energy Star rated laptop devices which typically consume 2/3 less electrical power than desktop computers. 95% of Core staff work remotely on any given day, reducing the overall load on public transport infrastructure, helping to reduce overall emissions.; ; In addition to the above, Core is also taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of our hybrid working operations.; ; In early 2022, we completed an audit of all end user devices in use across the company and calculated the carbon footprint generated as they are used to deliver our business outcomes, and we are currently developing a program to not only offset this in a properly accredited scheme, but to provide offerings to support our customers and partners to be able to easily do the same. ; ; Microsoft, with their commitment to reaching net zero emissions by 2030, will enable Core to become a net zero emissions organisation in the same timeframe.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  Core changed our operational policies to protect our staff during the Covid 19 pandemic, and to help our customers to continue to build and develop services to support a hybrid workforce. ; ; We provide solutions to help customers make the most of remote working, including the ability to support and manage services without having to travel to specific office locations. However, these solutions also seamlessly enable users to work in the office environment too. ; ; This includes full collaboration and communication solutions and employee wellbeing platforms to ensure that staff are supported and included, regardless of their location. ; ; Our solutions will help customers to continue to work with no impact on user productivity in the event of a future wave of Covid-19 causing health concerns or impacting travel or office attendance capability, such as lockdown or if a member of staff tests positive for Covid-19.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  Core is a London Living Wage accredited employer, ensuring that our staff members are able to live and thrive in their life outside of work (Decent work and Economic Growth); We are an inclusive employer, hiring people based on their talents and capabilities, regardless of any other factors (Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities); Core hires new entrants to the employee marketplace where possible, such as graduates, then trains and develops them to start their IT career journey with Core, building skills and experience (Decent work and Economic Growth); Core’s hybrid working policy enables people who may have personal responsibilities such as care for children or other dependants who may not be suited to an environment where they have to attend an office on a daily basis (Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities); Core is continually hiring staff as our business grows and develops. We currently have open roles in both London and Gdansk, and every new contract, such as this one, secures existing employment and presents opportunities for us to continue to grow our team. (Decent work and Economic Growth); Core funds training and development of all staff and encourages involvement in programmes that enable us to continuously develop our technical acumen. (Decent work and Economic Growth); Every employee at Core has a vested stake in our business success, all qualifying post probationary employees participate in an Enterprise Management Incentive where they have an equity stake in the Core business (Decent work and Economic Growth); Core’s employee benefits package includes Life Assurance and Private Healthcare coverage for the employee and the option of their immediate families at no cost to the staff member, other than the income tax liability (Good Health and Wellbeing); Every member of permanent staff is enrolled in the company’s Pension Scheme (Decent work and Economic Growth)
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  We are an inclusive employer, hiring people based on their talents and capabilities, regardless of any other factors (Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities); Core hires new entrants to the employee marketplace where possible, such as graduates, then trains and develops them to start their IT career journey with Core, building skills and experience (Decent work and Economic Growth); Core’s hybrid working policy enables people who may have personal responsibilities such as care for children or other dependants who may not be suited to an environment where they have to attend an office on a daily basis (Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities); Core funds training and development of all staff and encourages involvement in programmes that enable us to continuously develop our technical acumen. (Decent work and Economic Growth); Every employee at Core has a vested stake in our business success, all qualifying post probationary employees participate in an Enterprise Management Incentive where they have an equity stake in the Core business (Decent work and Economic Growth); Core’s employee benefits package includes Life Assurance and Private Healthcare coverage for the employee and the option of their immediate families at no cost to the staff member, other than the income tax liability (Good Health and Wellbeing); Every member of permanent staff is enrolled in the company’s Pension Scheme (Decent work and Economic Growth)
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  All Core permanent staff are entitled to 25 days annual leave per year, plus Public Holidays. ; Core’s hybrid working policy enables people who may have personal responsibilities such as care for children or other dependants who may not be suited to an environment where they have to attend an office on a daily basis (Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities); Core’s employee benefits package includes Life Assurance and Private Healthcare coverage for the employee and the option of their immediate families at no cost to the staff member, other than the income tax liability (Good Health and Wellbeing); Core conducts frequent Employee surveys, collecting feedback from our team on how the business can adapt or improve, internally or externally. We get good engagement from this process and all employee feedback is reviewed, discussed and implemented where appropriate. (Good health and Wellbeing)

Pricing

• Price: £2 to £10 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at webenquiry@core.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.