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Cloud Security specialization

Program Overview and Requirements

Program Overview

Showcase your organization's capabilities and proven experience implementing comprehensive protection across your customers' Microsoft Azure, hybrid, and multicloud environments by earning the Cloud Security specialization.

As the use of cloud services continues to grow, cyber risks and threats continue to evolve. There has been a 27 percent increase in cloud and SaaS threats over the last year alone,1 and 52 percent of customers cite data security concerns as a barrier to cloud expansion. Attacks are more frequent, more sophisticated, and more costly than ever, and it's likely the trend will continue.

Partners who earn an specialization will have a customer-facing label displayed on their business profile page and be prioritized in customer searches in Microsoft Marketplace.

 

How do I apply?

Only administrators of an organization’s Microsoft partner account can submit an application for the Cloud Security specialization on behalf of the organization. If you have the appropriate role and access, you can apply by signing into Partner Center and navigating to your Partner Center dashboard > Membership > Specializations.

What are the requirements?

Eligible partners must meet the highest standards for service delivery and support. All requirements will be verified by Microsoft and/or a third-party vendor, either automatically or by manual review, and are subject to change.

Details

Your organization must have an active Solutions Partner for Security designation.

Details

Achieve a minimum Azure consumed revenue (ACR) for Security workloads of USD200,000 in the trailing 12-month (TTM) period.

We will only use Partner Admin Link (PAL) and CSP as the available partner attribution. 

Qualified products:
Cloud Security:

  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud

    • Network Security:

  • Azure Firewall
  • Azure Firewall Manager
  • Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF)
  • Azure Bastion

    •  

    ACR can be achieved through Digital Partner of Record, Partner Admin Link and Cloud Solution Provider. Government subscriptions (i.e. Fairfax) are not eligible for ACR via PAL association.

    Service Level 4:

  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud
  • Application Gateway WAF v2
  • WAF Application Gateway
  • Azure Active Directory B2C
  • Microsoft Entra
  • Microsoft Entra External ID
  • Azure Bastion
  • Azure DDOS Protection
  • Azure Firewall
  • Azure Firewall Manager
  • Azure Front Door Service
  • Azure Defender for IoT
  • Azure Dedicated HSM
  • Key Vault
  • Network Watcher
  • Azure Defender for App Service
  • Sentinel

    •  

    Details

    Your company must have at least six (6) individuals who have earned at least one of the following certifications:

    AND

    Your company must also have at least four (4) individuals earn the following certification:

    *The Azure Security Engineer Associate certification’s retirement date is August 31, 2026. If completed before retirement, it will remain valid for one year.

    Details

    Your organization must pass a third-party remote audit. Please see the audit checklist for more details.