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Use identity-based authentication for Cogitive Services accounts#

Security · Cognitive Services · 2022_09

Authenticate requests to Cognitive Services with Azure AD identities.

Description#

To send requests to Cognitive Services endpoints, each request must include an authentication header. Cognitive Services endpoints supports authentication with keys or tokens. Using an Azure AD token instead of a cryptographic key has some additional security benefits.

With Azure AD authentication, the identity is validated against Azure AD identity provider. Using Azure AD identities centralizes identity management and auditing.

Once you decide to use Azure AD authentication, you can disable authentication using keys.

Recommendation#

Consider only using Azure AD identities to authenticate requests to Cogitive Services accounts. Once configured, disable authentication based on access keys.

Examples#

Configure with Azure template#

To deploy accounts that pass this rule:

  • Set the properties.disableLocalAuth property to true.

For example:

Azure Template snippet
{
    "type": "Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts",
    "apiVersion": "2022-03-01",
    "name": "[parameters('name')]",
    "location": "[parameters('location')]",
    "identity": {
        "type": "SystemAssigned"
    },
    "sku": {
        "name": "S0"
    },
    "kind": "CognitiveServices",
    "properties": {
        "publicNetworkAccess": "Disabled",
        "networkAcls": {
            "defaultAction": "Deny"
        },
        "disableLocalAuth": true
    }
}

Configure with Bicep#

To deploy accounts that pass this rule:

  • Set the properties.disableLocalAuth property to true.

For example:

Azure Bicep snippet
resource account 'Microsoft.CognitiveServices/accounts@2022-03-01' = {
  name: name
  location: location
  identity: {
    type: 'SystemAssigned'
  }
  sku: {
    name: 'S0'
  }
  kind: 'CognitiveServices'
  properties: {
    publicNetworkAccess: 'Disabled'
    networkAcls: {
      defaultAction: 'Deny'
    }
    disableLocalAuth: true
  }
}
Last update: 2022-12-03

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