Recently, I integrated Prowler to better understand how cloud security scanning tools help secure cloud deployments in real environments. I explored both the GUI and CLI versions on Azure to understand how each approach works for security scanning, identifying compliance gap and reporting.
This blog focuses on my initial hands-on experience with the Prowler setup on Azure Cloud Shell.
# What is Prowler?
Prowler is an open-source cloud security assessment tool used to scan cloud environments for:
- Security misconfigurations
- Risky settings
- Compliance gaps
- Exposed cloud resources
It supports multiple cloud platforms:
- Amazon Web Services(AWS)
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Prowler can be used in two ways:
- CLI(Command Line Interface)
- GUI/Web Dashboard
# Installing Prowler on Azure
Below are the basic steps I followed during the setup process.
Step 1 — Open Azure Cloud Shell
- Login to your Microsoft Azure account
- From the top menu → click Cloud Shell icon [>_]
- Select Bash
Azure Cloud Shell already includes Azure CLI, which makes the setup process easier.
Step 2 — Install Prowler (in Cloud Shell)
Run the following commands:
python3 -m pip install --user pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath
pipx install prowler
Check the installation:
prowler -v
Step 3 — Run First Scan
Check the active Azure subscription:
az account show --output table
Run the scan:
prowler azure --az-cli-auth
OR scan a specific subscription:
prowler azure --az-cli-auth --subscription-ids <YOUR-SUBSCRIPTION-ID>
This performs a security assessment of the Azure subscription and generates security findings and compliance results.
Step 4 — View the reports
After the scan completes, Prowler generates reports in multiple formats, such as:
- HTML
- JSON
- CSV
The HTML report is especially useful for demonstrations and presentations because it provides a clean dashboard-style view of the scan results.
Final Thoughts
This was my first hands-on experience with Prowler, and it gave me a practical introduction to cloud security scanning and compliance validation. If you are starting with cloud security or DevSecOps, Prowler is a good tool to explore because it is open-source, beginner-friendly, and supports multiple cloud platforms.
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