Azure Policy built-in definitions for Azure Synapse Analytics
This page is an index of Azure Policy built-in policy definitions for Azure Synapse. For additional Azure Policy built-ins for other services, see Azure Policy built-in definitions.
The name of each built-in policy definition links to the policy definition in the Azure portal. Use the link in the Version column to view the source on the Azure Policy GitHub repo.
Azure Synapse
| Name (Azure portal) |
Description | Effect(s) | Version (GitHub) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auditing on Synapse workspace should be enabled | Auditing on your Synapse workspace should be enabled to track database activities across all databases on the dedicated SQL pools and save them in an audit log. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Azure Synapse Workspace SQL Server should be running TLS version 1.2 or newer | Setting TLS version to 1.2 or newer improves security by ensuring your Azure Synapse workspace SQL server can only be accessed from clients using TLS 1.2 or newer. Using versions of TLS less than 1.2 is not recommended since they have well documented security vulnerabilities. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.1.0 |
| Azure Synapse workspaces should allow outbound data traffic only to approved targets | Increase security of your Synapse workspace by allowing outbound data traffic only to approved targets. This helps prevention against data exfiltration by validating the target before sending data. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.0.0 |
| Azure Synapse workspaces should disable public network access | Disabling public network access improves security by ensuring that the Synapse workspace isn't exposed on the public internet. Creating private endpoints can limit exposure of your Synapse workspaces. Learn more at: https://docs.azure.cn/synapse-analytics/security/connectivity-settings. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Azure Synapse workspaces should use customer-managed keys to encrypt data at rest | Use customer-managed keys to control the encryption at rest of the data stored in Azure Synapse workspaces. Customer-managed keys deliver double encryption by adding a second layer of encryption on top of the default encryption with service-managed keys. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Azure Synapse workspaces should use private link | Azure Private Link lets you connect your virtual network to Azure services without a public IP address at the source or destination. The Private Link platform handles the connectivity between the consumer and services over the Azure backbone network. By mapping private endpoints to Azure Synapse workspace, data leakage risks are reduced. Learn more about private links at: https://docs.azure.cn/synapse-analytics/security/how-to-connect-to-workspace-with-private-links. | Audit, Disabled | 1.0.1 |
| Configure Azure Synapse Workspace Dedicated SQL minimum TLS version | Customers can raise or lower the minimal TLS version using the API, for both new Synapse workspaces or existing workspaces. So users who need to use a lower client version in the workspaces can connect while users who has security requirement can raise the minimum TLS version. Learn more at: https://docs.azure.cn/synapse-analytics/security/connectivity-settings. | Modify, Disabled | 1.1.0 |
| Configure Azure Synapse workspaces to disable public network access | Disable public network access for your Synapse workspace so that it is not accessible over the public internet. This can reduce data leakage risks. Learn more at: https://docs.azure.cn/synapse-analytics/security/connectivity-settings. | Modify, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Configure Azure Synapse workspaces with private endpoints | Private endpoints connect your virtual network to Azure services without a public IP address at the source or destination. By mapping private endpoints to Azure Synapse workspaces, you can reduce data leakage risks. Learn more about private links at: https://docs.azure.cn/synapse-analytics/security/how-to-connect-to-workspace-with-private-links. | DeployIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Configure Microsoft Defender for SQL to be enabled on Synapse workspaces | Enable Microsoft Defender for SQL on your Azure Synapse workspaces to detect anomalous activities indicating unusual and potentially harmful attempts to access or exploit SQL databases. | DeployIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Configure Synapse workspaces to have auditing enabled | To ensure the operations performed against your SQL assets are captured, Synapse workspaces should have auditing enabled. This is sometimes required for compliance with regulatory standards. | DeployIfNotExists, Disabled | 2.0.0 |
| Configure Synapse workspaces to have auditing enabled to Log Analytics workspace | To ensure the operations performed against your SQL assets are captured, Synapse workspaces should have auditing enabled. If auditing is not enabled, this policy will configure auditing events to flow to the specified Log Analytics workspace. | DeployIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Configure Synapse Workspaces to use only Microsoft Entra identities for authentication | Require and reconfigure Synapse Workspaces to use Microsoft Entra-only authentication. This policy doesn't block workspaces from being created with local authentication enabled. It does block local authentication from being enabled and re-enables Microsoft Entra-only authentication on resources after create. Consider using the 'Microsoft Entra-only authentication' initiative instead to require both. | Modify, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Configure Synapse Workspaces to use only Microsoft Entra identities for authentication during workspace creation | Require and reconfigure Synapse Workspaces to be created with Microsoft Entra-only authentication. This policy doesn't block local authentication from being re-enabled on resources after create. Consider using the 'Microsoft Entra-only authentication' initiative instead to require both. | Modify, Disabled | 1.2.0 |
| IP firewall rules on Azure Synapse workspaces should be removed | Removing all IP firewall rules improves security by ensuring your Azure Synapse workspace can only be accessed from a private endpoint. This configuration audits creation of firewall rules that allow public network access on the workspace. | Audit, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Managed workspace virtual network on Azure Synapse workspaces should be enabled | Enabling a managed workspace virtual network ensures that your workspace is network isolated from other workspaces. Data integration and Spark resources deployed in this virtual network also provides user level isolation for Spark activities. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Microsoft Defender for SQL should be enabled for unprotected Synapse workspaces | Enable Defender for SQL to protect your Synapse workspaces. Defender for SQL monitors your Synapse SQL to detect anomalous activities indicating unusual and potentially harmful attempts to access or exploit databases. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Synapse managed private endpoints should only connect to resources in approved Azure Active Directory tenants | Protect your Synapse workspace by only allowing connections to resources in approved Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) tenants. The approved Azure AD tenants can be defined during policy assignment. | Audit, Disabled, Deny | 1.0.0 |
| Synapse workspace auditing settings should have action groups configured to capture critical activities | To ensure your audit logs are as thorough as possible, the AuditActionsAndGroups property should include all the relevant groups. We recommend adding at least SUCCESSFUL_DATABASE_AUTHENTICATION_GROUP, FAILED_DATABASE_AUTHENTICATION_GROUP, and BATCH_COMPLETED_GROUP. This is sometimes required for compliance with regulatory standards. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Synapse Workspaces should have Microsoft Entra-only authentication enabled | Require Synapse Workspaces to use Microsoft Entra-only authentication. This policy doesn't block workspaces from being created with local authentication enabled. It does block local authentication from being enabled on resources after create. Consider using the 'Microsoft Entra-only authentication' initiative instead to require both. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
| Synapse Workspaces should use only Microsoft Entra identities for authentication during workspace creation | Require Synapse Workspaces to be created with Microsoft Entra-only authentication. This policy doesn't block local authentication from being re-enabled on resources after create. Consider using the 'Microsoft Entra-only authentication' initiative instead to require both. | Audit, Deny, Disabled | 1.2.0 |
| Synapse workspaces with SQL auditing to storage account destination should be configured with 90 days retention or higher | For incident investigation purposes, we recommend setting the data retention for your Synapse workspace' SQL auditing to storage account destination to at least 90 days. Confirm that you are meeting the necessary retention rules for the regions in which you are operating. This is sometimes required for compliance with regulatory standards. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 2.0.0 |
| Vulnerability assessment should be enabled on your Synapse workspaces | Discover, track, and remediate potential vulnerabilities by configuring recurring SQL vulnerability assessment scans on your Synapse workspaces. | AuditIfNotExists, Disabled | 1.0.0 |
Next steps
- See the built-ins on the Azure Policy GitHub repo.
- Review the Azure Policy definition structure.
- Review Understanding policy effects.