Depending on the nature of the connection, data in transit to, from, and between VMs that are running Windows is encrypted in a number of ways:

• RDP sessions: From a Windows client computer, you can connect and sign in to a VM using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). From a Mac, you can connect with an RDP client installed. This can protect data in transit over the network using TLS. You can also use RDP to connect to a Linux VM in Azure.
• Secure access to Linux VMs with SSH: To manage Linux VMs in Azure, you can use the Secure Shell (SSH) for remote management. This is an encrypted protocol that allows secure logins over unsecured connections. SSH uses a public/private key pair (asymmetric encryption) for authentication, which eliminates the need for passwords to sign in.