Skip to content

Azure Bastion Security Benefits

Azure Bastion provides secure SSH access to VMs without exposing them to the public internet.

Key Security Benefits

No Public IP Required

VMs connected through Bastion don't need public IP addresses, eliminating a major attack surface:

  • No port scanning exposure
  • No brute force SSH attempts from the internet
  • Reduced network attack surface

Azure AD Authentication

Bastion integrates with Azure Active Directory for centralized identity management:

  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
  • Conditional access policies
  • Audit logging of all access

TLS-Encrypted Tunnels

All traffic between the client and Bastion is encrypted with TLS 1.2+:

  • End-to-end encryption
  • Certificate-based authentication
  • No VPN required

NSG Simplification

With Bastion, Network Security Groups can be significantly simplified:

  • No inbound SSH (port 22) rules needed on VMs
  • Only Bastion subnet needs inbound HTTPS (443)
  • Reduced misconfiguration risk

How azlin Uses Bastion

azlin automatically detects and uses Bastion when available:

# Connect through Bastion (automatic if VM has no public IP)
azlin connect myvm

# Explicit Bastion usage
azlin bastion status

# GUI features work through Bastion too
azlin connect --x11 myvm     # X11 forwarding through Bastion
azlin gui myvm                # VNC through Bastion tunnel

All azlin features, including file transfer, session management, and GUI forwarding, work transparently through Bastion tunnels.

Cost Considerations

Azure Bastion has an hourly cost. See Cost Analysis for pricing details and optimization strategies.

See Also