Qualys, Inc., a pioneer and leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions, today announced a new integration with Microsoft Azure Stack that provides a single-pane view of the security and compliance posture of Microsoft Azure infrastructure and user workloads.

Azure customers can now assess the vulnerability and compliance posture of Azure Stack's control plane infrastructure, and get the advisory published by Microsoft Azure. In addition, this integration unifies security visibility across Microsoft Azure and Azure Stack.

Azure Stack customers can either deploy Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliances directly from the Azure Stack Marketplace or deploy Qualys Cloud Agents as an extension while spinning up new virtual machines, enabling them to easily detect and identify vulnerable systems and applications across Azure's hybrid cloud model.

"As cloud providers extend into datacenters with more heterogeneous systems, they further blur boundaries and provide more mobility across those lines," said Fernando Montenegro, Senior Analyst, 451 Research. "Users need to be aware of how shared security responsibility also permeates these boundaries, and how this requires them to maintain certain security practices in the cloud while having equal flexibility to do so on the infrastructure within their premises."

"Microsoft has raised the bar by delivering a consistent experience between Azure's public cloud and private cloud," said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO, Qualys. "By building security and compliance into the Azure Stack we now extend visibility and security seamlessly across Microsoft Azure's hybrid cloud model."

"Verified compliance assessment for Azure Stack infrastructure is now a reality thanks to the integration of Azure Stack with Qualys," said Vijay Tewari, Partner Group Program Manager for Azure Stack, Microsoft. "This provides the transparency and assurance that customers require."