Real, anonymised findings with the business impact, supporting detail and practical next steps. Read the sample here or share the PDF with your IT person.
Selected Azure findings from a review dated 2 October 2026, followed by examples from other reviews. Client names and resource identifiers are removed. This is a sample of the handover, not the full client register.
SECURITY / CUSTOMER WEBSITES01 / 03
The website firewall was watching. It was not blocking.
The firewall in front of customer websites was set to record suspicious requests without blocking them. In Azure, this setting is called Detection mode. Dex flagged it for review.
WHERECustomer websites
FIREWALL SETTINGLog without blocking
WHY IT MATTERS
Installing a firewall is only part of protecting a website. The IT team needed to confirm why blocking was not enabled and check what other protection was in place.
THE NEXT STEPS
Check why Detection mode is in use.
Review rule matches, false positives and required exceptions.
After validation, enable Prevention mode and verify the results.
The servers kept running. Their Azure backups had stopped.
Four servers were still running, but their Azure backups had stopped. The last recorded backups were from May or August 2026, months before this review.
AFFECTED4 running servers
LAST AZURE BACKUPSMay or August 2026
WHY IT MATTERS
If a server failed, restoring an old backup could lose months of work. The first step was to check whether another backup system covered the missing period.
THE NEXT STEPS
Confirm recovery requirements and any alternative backup coverage.
Restore the required backup schedule and check successful runs.
Test a restore so recovery is demonstrated.
The finding concerns Azure Backup. It does not establish that every backup method was absent.
CONTINUITY / BUSINESS DATA03 / 03
Important data. Only three days of backup history.
A live database holding nearly 2 TB of data kept just three days of backups. It also had no standby database to take over and no enabled Azure Monitor alert covering it.
BACKUP HISTORY3 days
STANDBY DATABASENone
WHY IT MATTERS
A problem discovered after that window could be harder to recover from. The team also needed to check how long the business could afford to be without the database.
THE NEXT STEPS
Confirm the workload, recovery window and acceptable downtime.
Check CPU usage and credits, storage headroom and existing monitoring.
Review sizing, backup retention and standby against those requirements.
IT detail: MySQL on one burstable CPU. Check actual usage before changing capacity. The right backup window and standby setup depend on the business’s needs.
PREVENTING AN INTERRUPTION
A renewal deadline caught in time.
Dex flagged a certificate approaching expiry. Certificates help services make secure connections; letting one expire can interrupt those connections. The IT team renewed it in time, avoiding an expiry-related interruption.
The renewal was confirmed after the review. No notice period or financial loss is claimed.
FROM OTHER REVIEWS
Access and costs left behind.
FORGOTTEN EMAIL ACCESS
The migration was over. The apps still had mailbox access.
Old Microsoft 365 migration apps could still read and change mailbox contents. The next step: confirm the apps are retired, then remove their unnecessary access.
PAYING FOR NOTHING IN USE
About $200 a month on unused services.
Unused Azure services, including empty App Service hosting plans, were still generating bills. The IT team’s next step: check nothing depends on them, then remove what is no longer needed.
AFTER AN EMPLOYEE LEAVES
The person had left. The business was still paying.
Microsoft 365 licences remained assigned to former employees. Confirm which data needs to be kept, then reclaim licences that are no longer needed.
These examples come from separate reviews. The $200/month figure is observed unused spend, not savings already achieved.
Put the regular checks in place.
Tell us which systems you want reviewed and where checks keep slipping.