The Future is Cloud: Master Azure Certs for Cybersecurity Success | Guest Wilfredo Lanz

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Infosec instructor Wilfredo Lanz joins Cyber Work Hacks to break down the critical differences between the Azure AZ-104 certification for cloud administrators and the AZ-500 certification for cloud security professionals. Wilfredo explains why these complementary certifications can supercharge your cybersecurity career and emphasizes that cloud skills aren't optional in today's tech landscape. Whether you're in government, healthcare, finance or any other sector, cloud proficiency is quickly becoming mandatory for all cybersecurity professionals.

0:00 - Intro to cloud certifications 
1:00 - Cybersecurity Salary Guide promo 
1:35 - Meet Wilfredo Lanz and intro to Azure certs 
2:06 - Azure vs. AWS and other cloud platforms
4:45 - Industries favoring Azure (government, healthcare, finance) 
7:00 - AZ-104 Administrator vs. AZ-500 Security Engineer certifications 
9:31 - Why all cybersecurity professionals need cloud skills 
10:30 - "Cloud is the present and future" — career implications
11:45 - Wrap up and final thoughts

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About Infosec: Infosec's mission is to put people at the center of cybersecurity. We help IT and security professionals advance their careers with skills development and certifications while empowering all employees with security awareness and phishing training to stay cyber-safe at work and home. More than 70% of the Fortune 500 have relied on Infosec to develop their security talent, and more than 5 million learners worldwide are more cyber-resilient from Infosec IQ's security awareness training. Learn more at infosecinstitute.com.

Transcript

chris-sienko_4_04-29-2025_112926 0:00

Today on cyber work hacks InfoSec Bootcamp instructor Wilfredo Lanz talks about the difference between the Azure AZ 1 0 4 certification for cloud administrators and the a Z 500 certification for cloud security professionals. And why All cybersecurity professionals are going to need to be cloud masters in the security landscape of the future. if you already have uh, some skills in legacy it on premises technology, when you enhance that to the cloud, you expand your possibilities, your opportunity, Cloud isn't the future. It's the present and the future. See you today in cyber work hack.

Chris Sienko 0:42

The IT and cybersecurity job market is thriving. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 377, 500 new IT jobs annually. You need skill and hustle to obtain these jobs, of course, but the good news is that cybersecurity professionals can look forward to extremely competitive salaries. That's why InfoSec has leveraged 20 years of industry experience Drawing from multiple sources to give you, cyber work listeners, an analysis of the most popular and top paying industry certifications. You can use it to navigate your way to a good paying cyber security career. So to get your free copy of our cyber security salary guide ebook, just click the link in the description below. It's right there near the top, just below me. You can't miss it. click the link in the description and download our free cyber security salary guide ebook. Your cyber security journey starts here. Now let's get the show started Welcome to a new episode of Cyber Work Hacks. The purpose of this spinoff of our popular Cyber Work podcast is to take a single fundamental question and give you a quick, clear, actionable solution or a new insight into how to utilize InfoSec products and training to achieve your work. And career goals. Um, my guest today Wilfredo Lanz is an InfoSec instructor and among as many areas of expertise, he is the instructor for our Microsoft Azure Dual Cert Bootcamp. Uh, at the end of this bootcamp, participants will take and likely pass the Azure Administrator associate and the Azure Security Engineer associate certifications. But what are they? So what's the difference and what. Uh, which one or both will you need depending on your cybersecurity career? Wilfredo's gonna break it down for you. So welcome Wilfredo.

Wilfredo Lanz 2:23

Thank you, Chris.

Chris Sienko 2:24

Uh, so Wilfredo, let's start with, uh, Microsoft Azure broadly. Azure obviously is a brand specific cloud computing platform. Can you talk about Azure as a platform and its differences with say, uh, AWS Amazon Web Service or other branded cloud computing platforms?

Wilfredo Lanz 2:43

Absolutely. Um, as or as, um. Uh, cloud provider is, uh, is a second global cloud provider. Amazon still has the first place Amazon started back in 2006, And they have been, adding services and, uh, to the cloud offering. Microsoft started back in. 2010, but over the years they have been. Strong on their cloud, uh, uh, resources offering To either public from uh, businesses, government, Microsoft Advantage, I will say is, um, there are many are many. that have deployed Windows operating systems, servers, and uh, private Right. right? Network. When those business businesses try to work the cloud, they don't shut down everything they have and start, you know, a hundred percent on the cloud for those businesses. It's a Transition process Yeah. In which they, they start moving workloads and resources to the cloud and then they need to keep a hybrid environment. Right. In those cases, I will say, is when you see most of the customers, uh, uh, uh, preferring Micro, solution because they already are familiar with the Windows operating systems, with windows. Yep. and They transition To the cloud in a easier way that is they start blank, uh,

Chris Sienko 4:28

brand

Wilfredo Lanz 4:29

with

Chris Sienko 4:29

Amazon, right.

Wilfredo Lanz 4:30

However, Amazon, uh, does provide, uh, uh, a huge platform for developers, uh, businesses. They want to start from scratch. All the way to

Chris Sienko 4:41

To the cloud.

Wilfredo Lanz 4:42

So they compete uh, a very strong for every customer that they can, you know,

Chris Sienko 4:49

day. But

Wilfredo Lanz 4:50

uh, Microsoft

Chris Sienko 4:51

also

Wilfredo Lanz 4:52

because

Chris Sienko 4:52

of that, uh, advantage they have. of being, uh, provider of software and hardware for many years to many businesses, and

Wilfredo Lanz 5:02

they

Chris Sienko 5:03

provide that.

Wilfredo Lanz 5:04

easier transition.

Chris Sienko 5:06

Yeah. Now, um, I guess in your experience, are there specific industries or job sectors that especially favor Azure as their cloud platform of choice? I assume it, it comes down to whether certain industries or companies are, are Microsoft focused, but if, is it something like, you know, if you're going into finance or healthcare or government, is, is Azure more commonly used? In certain industries than in others.

Wilfredo Lanz 5:30

Yeah, well, every business will evaluate their

Chris Sienko 5:33

Okay.

Wilfredo Lanz 5:34

and, you know, decide on which offer is better for them. However, especially in those three options that you mentioned,

Chris Sienko 5:43

Government.

Wilfredo Lanz 5:44

Microsoft builds. Uh, separate data centers. Uh, they have a, a, a within their cloud solutions, there is an area they

Chris Sienko 5:55

Government

Wilfredo Lanz 5:56

government

Chris Sienko 5:56

cloud. Ah,

Wilfredo Lanz 5:58

that

Chris Sienko 5:58

is all the

Wilfredo Lanz 6:00

the same Azure

Chris Sienko 6:01

tools and resources

Wilfredo Lanz 6:03

that we use and manage.

Chris Sienko 6:05

but dedicated

Wilfredo Lanz 6:06

to

Chris Sienko 6:06

the government.

Wilfredo Lanz 6:08

So

Chris Sienko 6:08

in the.

Wilfredo Lanz 6:09

of the government, they are very strong because they build those specific data centers for the government. In the case of healthcare and finance, these are heavily regulated, um, businesses, right in

Chris Sienko 6:25

Yes.

Wilfredo Lanz 6:25

and finance.

Chris Sienko 6:27

Uh,

Wilfredo Lanz 6:27

so

Chris Sienko 6:28

in that area

Wilfredo Lanz 6:28

also, Microsoft

Chris Sienko 6:30

Mike, very

Wilfredo Lanz 6:31

um. Oriented to

Chris Sienko 6:34

to Lions.

Wilfredo Lanz 6:35

issues.

Chris Sienko 6:35

Mm.

Wilfredo Lanz 6:36

They

Chris Sienko 6:37

have a large

Wilfredo Lanz 6:38

um, um. Uh,

Chris Sienko 6:41

amount of resource

Wilfredo Lanz 6:42

that they make available to ensure

Chris Sienko 6:45

that organization.

Wilfredo Lanz 6:46

in the areas of healthcare and finance are compliance with laws, regulations, frameworks,

Chris Sienko 6:54

Best practices,

Wilfredo Lanz 6:55

So

Chris Sienko 6:56

is an area where Microsoft actually

Wilfredo Lanz 6:58

is

Chris Sienko 6:58

gaining more and more

Wilfredo Lanz 7:00

If you

Chris Sienko 7:01

work

Wilfredo Lanz 7:02

in

Chris Sienko 7:02

finance,

Wilfredo Lanz 7:03

or

Chris Sienko 7:04

healthcare,

Wilfredo Lanz 7:05

uh, there is a

Chris Sienko 7:06

uh, there is a, a great possibility that you

Wilfredo Lanz 7:08

get some type of.

Chris Sienko 7:10

relationship.

Wilfredo Lanz 7:11

the Microsoft Cloud as your company moves to the cloud.

Chris Sienko 7:15

Okay. Uh, now I wanna just, uh, delineate this briefly. I think probably our listeners know some of this, but, uh, as I say, we're talking about a couple of related, but, uh, structurally different Azure certifications. Can you talk about the parameters of the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate Certification versus the Azure Security Engineer associate certification? What, what are you learning in, in the 1 0 4, as you said, versus the 500?

Wilfredo Lanz 7:43

Yeah, the 1 0 4 is the classic administrator job.

Chris Sienko 7:48

Okay.

Wilfredo Lanz 7:48

If

Chris Sienko 7:49

you, uh,

Wilfredo Lanz 7:50

go

Chris Sienko 7:51

for that,

Wilfredo Lanz 7:52

then it is expected.

Chris Sienko 7:54

that you

Wilfredo Lanz 7:55

be deploying as a resources,

Chris Sienko 7:58

like

Wilfredo Lanz 7:58

virtual machines, containers storage

Chris Sienko 8:02

account,

Wilfredo Lanz 8:03

uh,

Chris Sienko 8:03

what we call computer

Wilfredo Lanz 8:05

resources, storage,

Chris Sienko 8:07

network,

Wilfredo Lanz 8:09

and

Chris Sienko 8:09

some slides.

Wilfredo Lanz 8:10

security implementations, but.

Chris Sienko 8:13

But

Wilfredo Lanz 8:13

This is

Chris Sienko 8:14

this all safety data

Wilfredo Lanz 8:16

operations, managing resources,

Chris Sienko 8:19

Okay. Performance

Wilfredo Lanz 8:20

allocation of resources and services on the cloud. Uh,

Chris Sienko 8:25

on the other hand,

Wilfredo Lanz 8:26

the AC 500, the security technologies on the cloud is more concentrated on protecting those resources

Chris Sienko 8:36

um,

Wilfredo Lanz 8:37

making

Chris Sienko 8:38

sure that.

Wilfredo Lanz 8:38

minimize, mitigate risk.

Chris Sienko 8:41

Manage threats.

Wilfredo Lanz 8:43

that may, uh, be associated with those resources. So

Chris Sienko 8:46

the two

Wilfredo Lanz 8:48

certifications compliment each other, right?

Chris Sienko 8:51

Yeah, because you cannot

Wilfredo Lanz 8:52

something that you do not understand. You can, if you go to security, but you do not understand how to deploy

Chris Sienko 9:00

deploy those

Wilfredo Lanz 9:01

resources. Then the job is more challenging.

Chris Sienko 9:05

So I would say.

Wilfredo Lanz 9:06

uh, a day you become an administrator and then you can stay there. Now you can also being an administrator take the security certification and that enhances your skills and opportunities on the cloud.

Chris Sienko 9:22

Yeah. Now, uh, okay. That's great. So yeah, I imagine even if you are just doing an administrator role, there's, there's no downside to knowing, uh, sort of security. Postures and security techniques that are in the higher level thing as well. I mean, it might even be able to help you to change or evolve your, your job role if you, if your superiors also know that not only can you deploy, you know, deploy and work in cloud, that you also have some ideas in terms of how to secure it as well.

Wilfredo Lanz 9:50

Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

Chris Sienko 9:51

Yeah. Now, uh, uh, one last question here. People planning on going into cybersecurity, maybe they're even. Doing something that wouldn't look on first, uh, blush to look like it would be at all interacting with the cloud. Like say, digital forensics or, uh, what have you, uh, what are the benefits of being this proficient in all things cloud computing? I mean, uh, do you think even non-cloud security aspirants should still consider learning these certifications

Wilfredo Lanz 10:17

Well, the thing

Chris Sienko 10:18

is right.

Wilfredo Lanz 10:19

that the cloud. Is no longer an option. The

Chris Sienko 10:24

Cloud,

Wilfredo Lanz 10:25

a default.

Chris Sienko 10:26

right? The

Wilfredo Lanz 10:27

The

Chris Sienko 10:27

cloud is not,

Wilfredo Lanz 10:28

The cloud is the present and the future.

Chris Sienko 10:31

yep.

Wilfredo Lanz 10:32

I mean, the

Chris Sienko 10:32

The cloud

Wilfredo Lanz 10:33

is

Chris Sienko 10:33

not a,

Wilfredo Lanz 10:34

it's a core skill for

Chris Sienko 10:37

most

Wilfredo Lanz 10:37

businesses. Cloud is becoming more and

Chris Sienko 10:42

Important

Wilfredo Lanz 10:43

and

Chris Sienko 10:43

as

Wilfredo Lanz 10:44

that

Chris Sienko 10:44

trend,

Wilfredo Lanz 10:45

that we will see increasing. As you

Chris Sienko 10:48

as you know.

Wilfredo Lanz 10:48

the future.

Chris Sienko 10:50

So

chris-sienko_4_04-29-2025_112926 10:50

if you already have uh, some skills in legacy it on premises technology, when you enhance that to the cloud, you expand your possibilities, your opportunity,

Wilfredo Lanz 11:07

I

Chris Sienko 11:07

I.

Wilfredo Lanz 11:07

imagine,

Chris Sienko 11:09

Uh, you know, in the next

Wilfredo Lanz 11:11

few years

Chris Sienko 11:12

that

Wilfredo Lanz 11:13

somebody

Chris Sienko 11:14

will stay just

Wilfredo Lanz 11:15

Isolated managing resources on a

Chris Sienko 11:19

private,

Wilfredo Lanz 11:19

network without having some responsibilities exposed to the cloud. So

Chris Sienko 11:27

it is very difficult for somebody

Wilfredo Lanz 11:29

getting a job in it these

Chris Sienko 11:31

case and not,

Wilfredo Lanz 11:33

familiar with the

Chris Sienko 11:34

yeah.

Wilfredo Lanz 11:34

cloud administration and we're not talking Azure. It is, uh, overall

Chris Sienko 11:39

All the way around. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, uh, that, that's worth noting is that, you know, we talk all the time about future proofing your skills and if you're, if you want your skills to still be relevant in a couple of years, they, they, they better darn well have, uh, a cloud component to them. So that's great. So, Wilfredo Lanz, thank you for breaking down these, uh, Azure search for us and also the future of cloud security.

Wilfredo Lanz 12:02

Thank you, Chris.

Chris Sienko 12:03

Uh, and thank you all for watching this episode. If you enjoyed this video and felt that it helped you, please share it with colleagues, forums, your social media accounts, or wherever you tell people about cool things you're learning about. Uh, for more hacks and feature length conversations with cybersecurity thought leaders, tune into cyber work, both on video via our YouTube channel, and as a podcast and all the usual podcast places. The links are all down in the description below. Uh, and if you like this Hex format. Check out previous hacks episodes on everything from hacking APIs to using chat GPT to learn cybersecurity. Uh, that's it for now. Till next time, this is Chris and Wilfredo saying Happy learning.