What is Network Security Groups (NSGs)?

Network Security Groups (NSGs) are a fundamental component of network security in cloud environments, especially within Microsoft Azure. They act as virtual firewalls, enabling you to control inbound and outbound network traffic to and from Azure resources, such as virtual machines, virtual networks, and subnets. NSGs contain security rules that allow or deny network traffic based on factors like source and destination IP addresses, ports, and protocols. They are commonly used to isolate network segments, restrict access to specific services, and create defense-in-depth security architectures.