Securely Access Script Secrets in Azure Key Vault

Azure includes several services to help protect secret information for our applications and scripts. Key Vault is designed for secure programmatic access of secret information. However to access this information, we need to authenticate against Azure AD. This is where managed identities can help. And while, Key Vault is built for public accessibility, through the use of a resource firewall and Azure Private Link, we can ensure this communication remains private. In this hands-on lab, we'll configure secure connectivity for a VM to Azure Key Vault using Azure Private Link. We'll also enable managed identity for the VM to provide native Azure AD authentication to the Key Vault service. **Scenario** You've recently been hired as a security engineer and tasked with improving the security of some DevOps tasks that are performed at your company. Your manager has asked you to improve the security of an important automation VM, which is responsible for running several scripts. It has been found that some PowerShell scripts currently executing on the automation VM are using secret information hard-coded into the scripts in plain text. You must secure this solution by configuring Azure Key Vault, Private Link, and managed identities all to ensure the automation scripts can run securely by storing secrets in Key Vault.