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Cloud Security Strategy: Key Elements, Principles, and Challenges

January 22, 2024

Min Read

Data Security

Daniel Suissa

Data Team Lead

What is a Cloud Security Strategy?

During the initial phases of digital transformation, organizations may view cloud services as an extension of their traditional data centers. But to fully harness cloud security, there must be progression beyond this view.

A cloud security strategy is an extensive framework that outlines how an organization manages its dynamic, software-defined security ecosystem and protects its cloud-based assets. Security, in its essence, is about managing risk – addressing the probability and impact of attacks instead of eliminating them outright. This reality essentially positions security as a continuous endeavor rather than being a finite problem with a singular solution.

Cloud security strategy advocates for:

Ensuring the cloud framework’s integrity: Involves implementing security controls as a foundational part of cloud service planning and operational processes. The aim is to ensure that security measures are a seamless part of the cloud environment, guarding every resource.
Harnessing cloud capabilities for defense: Employing the cloud as a force multiplier to bolster overall security posture. This shift in strategy leverages the cloud's agility and advanced capabilities to enhance security mechanisms, particularly those natively integrated into the cloud infrastructure.

Why is a Cloud Security Strategy Important?

Some organizations make the mistake of miscalculating the duality of productivity and security. They often learn the hard way that while innovation drives competitiveness, robust security preserves it. The absence of either can lead to diminished market presence or organizational failure. As such, a balanced focus on both fronts is paramount.

Customers are more likely to do business with organizations that consistently retain the trust to protect proprietary data. When a single instance of a data breach or a security incident that can erode customer trust and damage an organization's reputation, the stakes are naturally high. A cloud security strategy can help organizations address these challenges by providing a framework for managing risk.

A well-crafted cloud security strategy will include the following:

Risk assessment to identify and prioritize the organization's key security risks.
Set of security controls to mitigate those risks.
Process framework for monitoring and improving the security posture of the cloud environment over time.

Key Elements of a Cloud Security Strategy

Tactically, a cloud security strategy empowers organizations to navigate the complexities of shared responsibility models, where the burden of security is divided between the cloud provider and the client.

Key Element	Description	Objectives	Tools/Technologies
Data Protection	Safeguarding data from unauthorized access and ensuring its availability, integrity, and confidentiality.	- Ensure data privacy and regulatory compliance - Prevent data breaches	- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) - Backup and recovery solutions
Infrastructure Protection	Securing the underlying cloud infrastructure including servers, storage, and network components.	- Protect against vulnerabilities - Secure the physical and virtual infrastructure	- Network security controls - Intrusion detection systems
Identity and Access Management (IAM)	Managing user identities and governing access to resources based on roles.	- Implement least privilege access - Manage user identities and credentials	- IAM services (e.g., AWS IAM, Azure Active Directory) - Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Automation	Utilizing technology to automate repetitive security tasks.	- Reduce human errors - Streamline security workflows	- Automation scripts - Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) systems
Encryption	Encoding data to protect it from unauthorized access.	- Protect data at rest and in transit - Ensure data confidentiality	- Encryption protocols (e.g., TLS, SSL) - Key management services
Detection & Response	Identifying potential security threats and responding effectively to mitigate risks.	- Detect security incidents in real-time - Respond to and recover from incidents quickly	- Security information and event management (SIEM) - Incident response platforms

Key Challenges in Building a Cloud Security Strategy

When organizations shift from on-premises to cloud computing, the biggest stumbling block is their lack of expertise in dealing with a decentralized environment.

Some consider agility and performance to be the super-features that led them to adopt the cloud. Anything that impacts the velocity of deployment is met with resistance. As a result, the challenge often lies in finding the sweet spot between achieving efficiency and administering robust security. But in reality, there are several factors that compound the complexity of this challenge.

Lack of Visibility

If your organization lacks insight into its cloud activity, it cannot accurately assess the associated risks. Lack of visibility also introduces multifaceted challenges. Initially, it can be about cataloging active elements in your cloud. Subsequently, it can restrain comprehension of the data, operation, and interconnections of those systems.

Imagine manually checking each cloud service across different HA zones for each provider. You'd be manifesting virtual machines, surveying databases, and tracking user accounts. It's a complex task which can rapidly become unmanageable.

Most major cloud service providers (CSPs) offer monitoring services to streamline this complexity into a more efficient strategy. But even with these tools, you mostly see the numbers—data stores, resources—but not the substance within or their inter-relationship. In reality, a production-grade observability stack depends on a mix of CSP provider tools, third-party services, and architecture blueprints to assess the security landscape.

Human Errors

Surprisingly, the most significant cloud security threat originates from your own IT team's oversights. Gartner estimates that by 2025, a staggering 99% of cloud security failures will be due to human errors.

One contributing factor is the shift to the cloud which demands specialized skills. Seasoned IT professionals who are already well-versed in on-prem security may potentially mishandle cloud platforms. These lapses usually involve issues like misconfigured storage buckets, exposed network ports, or insecure use of accounts. Such mistakes, if unnoticed, offer attackers easy pathways to infiltrate cloud environments.

An organization can likely utilize a mix of service models—Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for foundational compute resources, Platform as a Service (PaaS) for middleware orchestration, and Software as a Service (SaaS) for on-demand applications. For each tier, manual security controls might entail crafting bespoke policies for every service. This method provides meticulous oversight, albeit with considerable demands on time and the ever-present risk of human error.

Misconfiguration

OWASP highlights that around 4.51% of applications become susceptible when wrongly configured or deployed. The dynamism of cloud environments, where assets are constantly deployed and updated, exacerbates this risk.

While human errors are more about the skills gap and oversight, the root of misconfiguration often lies in the complexity of an environment, particularly when a deployment doesn’t follow best practices. Cloud setups are intricate, where each change or a newly deployed service can introduce the potential for error. And as cloud offerings evolve, so do the configuration parameters, subsequently increasing the likelihood of oversight.

Some argue that it’s the cloud provider that ensures the security of the cloud. Yet, the shared responsibility model places a significant portion of the configuration management on the user. Besides the lack of clarity, this division often leads to gaps in security postures.

Automated tools can help but have their own limitations. They require precise tuning to recognize the correct configurations for a given context. Without comprehensive visibility and understanding of the environment, these tools tend to miss critical misconfigurations.

Compliance with Regulatory Standards

When your cloud environment sprawls across jurisdictions, adherence to regulatory standards is naturally a complex affair. Each region comes with its mandates, and cloud services must align with them. Data protection laws like GDPR or HIPAA additionally demand strict handling and storage of sensitive information.

The key to compliance in the cloud is a thorough understanding of data residency, how it is protected, and who has access to it. A thorough understanding of the shared responsibility model is also crucial in such settings. While cloud providers ensure their infrastructure meets compliance standards, it's up to organizations to maintain data integrity, secure their applications, and verify third-party services for compliance.

Modern Cloud Security Strategy Principles

Because the cloud-native ecosystem is still an emerging discipline with a high degree of process variations, a successful security strategy calls for a nuanced approach. Implementing security should start with low-friction changes to workflows, the development processes, and the infrastructure that hosts the workload.

Here’s how it can be imagined:

Establishing Comprehensive Visibility

Visibility is the foundational starting point. Total, accessible visibility across the cloud environment helps achieve a deeper understanding of your systems' interactions and behaviors by offering a clear mapping of how data moves and is processed.

Establish a model where teams can achieve up-to-date, easy-to-digest overviews of their cloud assets, understand their configuration, and recognize how data flows between them. Visibility also lays the foundation for traceability and observability. Modern performance analysis stacks leverage the principle of visibility, which eventually leads to traceability—the ability to follow actions through your systems. And then to observability—gaining insight from what your systems output.

Enabling Business Agility

The cloud is known for its agile nature that enables organizations to respond swiftly to market changes, demands, and opportunities. Yet, this very flexibility requires a security framework that is both robust and adaptable. Security measures must protect assets without hindering the speed and flexibility that give cloud-based businesses their edge.

To truly scale and enhance efficiency, your security strategy must blend the organization’s technology, structure, and processes together. This ensures that the security framework is capable of supporting fast-paced development cycles, ensures compliance, and fosters innovation without compromising on protection. In practice, this means integrating security into the development lifecycle from its initial stages, automating security processes where possible, and ensuring that security protocols can accommodate the rapid deployment of services.

Cross-Functional Coordination

A future-focused security strategy acknowledges the need for agility in both action and thought. A crucial aspect of a robust cloud security strategy is avoiding the pitfall where accountability for security risks is mistakenly assigned to security teams rather than to the business owners of the assets. Such misplacement arises from the misconception of security as a static technical hurdle rather than the dynamic risk it can introduce.

Security cannot be a siloed function; instead, every stakeholder has a part to play in securing cloud assets. The success of your security strategy is largely influenced by distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy friction within DevOps and IT workflows. The strategic approach blends security seamlessly into cloud operations, challenging teams to preemptively consider potential threats during design and to rectify vulnerabilities early in the development process. This constructive friction strengthens systems against attacks, much like stress tests to inspect the resilience of a system.

However, the practicality of security in a dynamic cloud setting demands more than stringent measures; it requires smart, adaptive protocols. Excessive safeguards that result in frequent false positives or overcomplicate risk assessments can impact the rapid development cycles characteristic of cloud environments. To counteract this, maintaining the health of relationships within and across teams is essential.

Ongoing and Continuous Improvement

Adopting agile security practices involves shifting from a perfectionist mindset to embracing a baseline of “minimum viable security.” This baseline evolves through continuous incremental improvements, matching the agility of cloud development. In a production-grade environment, this relies on a data-driven approach where user experiences, system performance, and security incidents shape the evolution of the platform.

The commitment to continuous improvement means that no system is ever "finished." Security is seen as an ongoing process, where DevSecOps practices can ensure that every code commit is evaluated against security benchmarks, allowing for immediate correction and learning from any identified issues.

To truly embody continuous improvement though, organizations must foster a culture that encourages experimentation and learning from failures. Blameless postmortems following security incidents, for example, can uncover root causes without fear of retribution, ensuring that each issue is a learning opportunity.

Preventing Security Vulnerabilities Early

A forward-thinking security strategy focuses on preempting risks. The 'shift left' concept evolved to solve this problem by integrating security practices at the very beginning and throughout the application development lifecycle. Practically, this approach embeds security tools and checks into the pipeline where the code is written, tested, and deployed.

Start with outlining a concise strategy document that defines your shift-left approach. It needs a clear vision, designated roles, milestones, and clear metrics. For large corporations, this could be a complex yet indispensable task—requiring thorough mapping of software development across different teams and possibly external vendors.

The aim here is to chart out the lifecycle of software from development to deployment, identifying the people involved, the processes followed, and the technologies used. A successful approach to early vulnerability prevention also includes a comprehensive strategy for supply chain risk management. This involves scrutinizing open-source components for vulnerabilities and establishing a robust process for regularly updating dependencies.

How to Create a Robust Cloud Security Strategy

Before developing a security strategy, assess the inherent risks your organization may be susceptible to. The findings of the risk assessment should be treated as the baseline to develop a security architecture that aligns with your cloud environment's business goals and risk tolerance.

In most cases, a cloud security architecture should include the following combination of technical, administrative and physical controls for comprehensive security:

Access and Authentication Controls

The foundational principle of cloud security is to ensure that only authorized users can access your environment. The emphasis should be on strong, adaptive authentication mechanisms that can respond to varying risk levels.

Build an authentication framework that is non-static. It should scale with risk, assessing context, user behavior, and threat intelligence. This adaptability ensures that security is not a rigid gate but a responsive, intelligent gateway that can be configured to suit the complexity of different cloud environments and sophisticated threat actors.

Actionable Steps

Enforce passwordless or multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms to support a dynamic security ethos.
Adjust permissions dynamically based on contextual data.
Integrate real-time risk assessments that actively shape and direct access control measures.
Employ AI mechanisms for behavioral analytics and adaptive challenges.
Develop a trust-based security perimeter centered around user identity.

Identify and Classify Sensitive Data

Before classification, locate sensitive cloud data first. Implement enterprise-grade data discovery tools and advanced scanning algorithms that seamlessly integrate with cloud storage services to detect sensitive data points.

Once identified, the data should be tagged with metadata that reflects its sensitivity level; typically by using automated classification frameworks capable of processing large datasets at scale. These systems should be configured to recognize various data privacy regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) and proprietary sensitivity levels.

Actionable Steps

Establish a data governance framework agile enough to adapt to the cloud's fluid nature.
Create an indexed inventory of data assets, which is essential for real-time risk assessment and for implementing fine-grained access controls.
Ensure the classification system is backed by policies that dynamically adjust controls based on the data’s changing context and content.

Monitoring and Auditing

Define a monitoring strategy that delivers service visibility across all layers and dimensions. A recommended practice is to balance in-depth telemetry collection with a broad, end-to-end view and east-west monitoring that encompasses all aspects of service health.

Treat each dimension as crucial—depth ensures you're catching the right data, breadth ensures you're seeing the whole picture, and the east-west focus ensures you're always tuned into availability, performance, security, and continuity. This tri-dimensional strategy also allows for continuous compliance checks against industry standards, while helping with automated remediation actions in cases of deviations.

Actionable Steps

Implement deep-dive telemetry to gather detailed data on transactions, system performance, and potential security events.
Utilize specialized monitoring agents that span across the stack, providing insights into the OS, applications, and services.
Ensure full visibility by correlating events across networks, servers, databases, and application performance.
Deploy network traffic analysis to track lateral movement within the cloud, which is indicative of potential security threats.

Data Encryption and Tokenization

Construct a comprehensive approach that embeds security within the data itself. This strategy ensures data remains indecipherable and useless to unauthorized entities, both at rest and in transit.

When encrypting data at rest, protocols like AES-256 ensure that should the physical security controls fail, the data remains worthless to unauthorized users. For data in transit, TLS secures the channels over which data travels to prevent interceptions and leaks.

Tokenization takes a different approach by swapping out sensitive data with unique symbols (also known as tokens) to keep the real data secure. Tokens can safely move through systems and networks without revealing what they stand for.

Actionable Steps

Embrace strong encryption for data at rest to render it inaccessible to intruders. Implement industry-standard protocols such as AES-256 for storage and database encryption.
Mandate TLS protocols to safeguard data in transit, eliminating vulnerabilities during data movement across the cloud ecosystem.
Adopt tokenization to substitute sensitive data elements with non-sensitive tokens. This renders the data non-exploitable in its tokenized form.
Isolate the tokenization system, maintaining the token mappings in a highly restricted environment detached from the operational cloud services.

Incident Response and Disaster Recovery

Modern disaster recovery (DR) strategies are typically centered around intelligent, automated, and geographically diverse backups. With that in mind, design your infrastructure in a way that anticipates failure, with planning focused on rapid failback.

Planning for the unknown essentially means preparing for all outage permutations. Classify and prepare for the broader impact of outages, which encompass security, connectivity, and access.

Define your recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) based on data volatility. For critical, frequently modified data, aim for a low RPO and adjust RTO to the shortest feasible downtime.

Actionable Steps

Implement smart backups that are automated, redundant, and cross-zone.
Develop incident response protocols specific to the cloud. Keep these dynamic while testing them frequently.
Diligently choose between active-active or active-passive configurations to balance expense and complexity.
Focus on quick isolation and recovery by using the cloud's flexibility to your advantage.

Conclusion

Organizations must discard the misconception that what worked within the confines of traditional data centers will suffice in the cloud. Sticking to traditional on-premises security solutions and focusing solely on perimeter defense is irrelevant in the cloud arena. The traditional model—where data was a static entity within an organization’s stronghold—is now also obsolete.

Like earlier shifts in computing, the modern IT landscape demands fresh approaches and agile thinking to neutralize cloud-centric threats. The challenge is to reimagine cloud data security from the ground up, shifting focus from infrastructure to the data itself.

Sentra's innovative data-centric approach, which focuses on Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), emphasizes the importance of protecting sensitive data in all its forms. This ensures the security of data whether at rest, in motion, or even during transitions across platforms.

Book a demo to explore how Sentra's solutions can transform your approach to your enterprise's cloud security strategy.

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Daniel Suissa

Data Team Lead

Daniel is the Data Team Lead at Sentra. He has nearly a decade of experience in engineering, and in the cybersecurity sector. He earned his BSc in Computer Science at NYU.

Latest Blog Posts

Team Sentra

December 26, 2024

Min Read

Data Security

Create an Effective RFP for a Data Security Platform & DSPM

This RFP Guide is designed to help organizations create their own RFP for selection of Cloud-native Data Security Platform (DSP) & Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solutions. The purpose is to identify key essential requirements that will enable effective discovery, classification, and protection of sensitive data across complex environments, including in public cloud infrastructures and in on-premises environments.

Instructions for Vendors

Each section provides essential and recommended requirements to achieve a best practice capability. These have been accumulated over dozens of customer implementations. Customers may also wish to include their own unique requirements specific to their industry or data environment.

1. Data Discovery & Classification

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Requirement	Details
Shadow Data Detection	Can the solution discover and identify shadow data across any data environment (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, OnPrem)?
Sensitive Data Classification	Can the solution accurately classify sensitive data, including PII, financial data, and healthcare data?
Efficient Scanning	Does the solution support smart sampling of large file shares and data lakes to reduce and optimize the cost of scanning, yet provide full scan coverage in less time and lower cloud compute costs?
AI-based Classification	Does the solution leverage AI/ML to classify data in unstructured documents and stores (Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc) and achieve more than 95% accuracy?
Data Context	Can the solution discern and ‘learn’ the business purpose (employee data, customer data, identifiable data subjects, legal data, synthetic data, etc.) of data elements and tag them accordingly?
Data Store Compatibility	Which data stores (e.g., AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure SQL, Snowflake data warehouse, On Premises file shares, etc.) does the solution support for discovery?
Autonomous Discovery	Can the solution discover sensitive data automatically and continuously, ensuring up to date awareness of data presence?
Data Perimeters Monitoring	Can the solution track data movement between storage solutions and detect risky and non-compliant data transfers and data sprawl?

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2. Data Access Governance

Requirement	Details
Access Controls	Does the solution map access of users and non-human identities to data based on sensitivity and sensitive information types?
Location Independent Control	Does the solution help organizations apply least privilege access regardless of data location or movement?
Identity Activity Monitoring	Does the solution identify over-provisioned, unused or abandoned identities (users, keys, secrets) that create unnecessary exposures?
Data Access Catalog	Does the solution provide an intuitive map of identities, their access entitlements (read/write permissions), and the sensitive data they can access?
Integration with IAM Providers	Does the solution integrate with existing Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems?

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3. Posture, Risk Assessment & Threat Monitoring

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Requirement	Details
Risk Assessment	Can the solution assess data security risks and assign risk scores based on data exposure and data sensitivity?
Compliance Frameworks	Does the solution support compliance with regulatory requirements such as GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA?
Similar Data Detection	Does the solution identify data that has been copied, moved, transformed or otherwise modified that may disguise its sensitivity or lessen its security posture?
Automated Alerts	Does the solution provide automated alerts for policy violations and potential data breaches?
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)	Does the solution include DLP features to prevent unauthorized data exfiltration?
3rd Party Data Loss Prevention (DLP)	Does the solution integrate with 3rd party DLP solutions?
User Behavior Monitoring	Does the solution track and analyze user behaviors to identify potential insider threats or malicious activity?
Anomaly Detection	Does the solution establish a baseline and use machine learning or AI to detect anomalies in data access or movement?

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4. Incident Response & Remediation

Requirement	Details
Incident Management	Can the solution provide detailed reports, alert details, and activity/change history logs for incident investigation?
Automated Response	Does the solution support automated incident response, such as blocking malicious users or stopping unauthorized data flows (via API integration to native cloud tools or other)?
Forensic Capabilities	Can the solution facilitate forensic investigation, such as data access trails and root cause analysis?
Integration with SIEM	Can the solution integrate with existing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) or other analysis systems?

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5. Infrastructure & Deployment

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Requirement	Details
Deployment Models	Does the solution support flexible deployment models (on-premise, cloud, hybrid)? Is the solution agentless?
Cloud Native	Does the solution keep all data in the customer’s environment, performing classification via serverless functions? (ie. no data is ever removed from customer environment - only metadata)
Scalability	Can the solution scale to meet the demands of large enterprises with multi-petabyte data volumes?
Performance Impact	Does the solution work asynchronously without performance impact on the data production environment?
Multi-Cloud Support	Does the solution provide unified visibility and management across multiple cloud providers and hybrid environments?

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6. Operations & Support

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Requirement	Details
Onboarding	Does the solution vendor assist customers with onboarding? Does this include assistance with customization of policies, classifiers, or other settings?
24/7 Support	Does the vendor provide 24/7 support for addressing urgent security issues?
Training & Documentation	Does the vendor provide training and detailed documentation for implementation and operation?
Managed Services	Does the vendor (or its partners) offer managed services for organizations without dedicated security teams?
Integration with Security Tools	Can the solution integrate with existing security tools, such as firewalls, DLP systems, and endpoint protection systems?

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7. Pricing & Licensing

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Requirement	Details
Pricing Model	What is the pricing structure (e.g., per user, per GB, per endpoint)?
Licensing	What licensing options are available (e.g., subscription, perpetual)?
Additional Costs	Are there additional costs for support, maintenance, or feature upgrades?

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Conclusion

This RFP template is designed to facilitate a structured and efficient evaluation of DSP and DSPM solutions. Vendors are encouraged to provide comprehensive and transparent responses to ensure an accurate assessment of their solution’s capabilities.

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Sentra’s cloud-native design combines powerful Data Discovery and Classification, DSPM, DAG, and DDR capabilities into a complete Data Security Platform (DSP). With this, Sentra customers achieve enterprise-scale data protection and do so very efficiently - without creating undue burdens on the personnel who must manage it.

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To learn more about Sentra’s DSP, request a demo here and choose a time for a meeting with our data security experts. You can also choose to download the RFP as a pdf.

Gilad Golani

December 16, 2024

Min Read

Data Security

Best Practices: Automatically Tag and Label Sensitive Data

The Importance of Data Labeling and Tagging

In today's fast-paced business environment, data rarely stays in one place. It moves across devices, applications, and services as individuals collaborate with internal teams and external partners. This mobility is essential for productivity but poses a challenge: how can you ensure your data remains secure and compliant with business and regulatory requirements when it's constantly on the move?

Why Labeling and Tagging Data Matters

Data labeling and tagging provide a critical solution to this challenge. By assigning sensitivity labels to your data, you can define its importance and security level within your organization. These labels act as identifiers that abstract the content itself, enabling you to manage and track the data type without directly exposing sensitive information. With the right labeling, organizations can also control access in real-time.

For example, labeling a document containing social security numbers or credit card information as Highly Confidential allows your organization to acknowledge the data's sensitivity and enforce appropriate protections, all without needing to access or expose the actual contents.

Why Sentra’s AI-Based Classification Is a Game-Changer

Sentra’s AI-based classification technology enhances data security by ensuring that the sensitivity labels are applied with exceptional accuracy. Leveraging advanced LLM models, Sentra enhances data classification with context-aware capabilities, such as:

Detecting the geographic residency of data subjects.
Differentiating between Customer Data and Employee Data.
Identifying and treating Synthetic or Mock Data differently from real sensitive data.

This context-based approach eliminates the inefficiencies of manual processes and seamlessly scales to meet the demands of modern, complex data environments. By integrating AI into the classification process, Sentra empowers teams to confidently and consistently protect their data—ensuring sensitive information remains secure, no matter where it resides or how it is accessed.

‍Benefits of Labeling and Tagging in Sentra

Sentra enhances your ability to classify and secure data by automatically applying sensitivity labels to data assets. By automating this process, Sentra removes the manual effort required from each team member—achieving accuracy that’s only possible through a deep understanding of what data is sensitive and its broader context.

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Here are some key benefits of labeling and tagging in Sentra:

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Enhanced Security and Loss Prevention: Sentra’s integration with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions prevents the loss of sensitive and critical data by applying the right sensitivity labels. Sentra’s granular, contextual tags help to provide the detail necessary to action remediation automatically so that operations can scale.‍
Easily Build Your Tagging Rules: Sentra’s Intuitive Rule Builder allows you to automatically apply sensitivity labels to assets based on your pre-existing tagging rules and or define new ones via the builder UI (see screen below). Sentra imports discovered Microsoft Purview Information Protection (MPIP) labels to speed this process.

Labels Move with the Data: Sensitivity labels created in Sentra can be mapped to Microsoft Purview Information Protection (MPIP) labels and applied to various applications like SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Amazon S3, and Azure Blob Containers. Once applied, labels are stored as metadata and travel with the file or data wherever it goes, ensuring consistent protection across platforms and services.
Automatic Labeling: Sentra allows for the automatic application of sensitivity labels based on the data's content. Auto-tagging rules, configured for each sensitivity label, determine which label should be applied during scans for sensitive information.
Support for Structured and Unstructured Data: Sentra enables labeling for files stored in cloud environments such as Amazon S3 or EBS volumes and for database columns in structured data environments like Amazon RDS. By implementing these labeling practices, your organization can track, manage, and protect data with ease while maintaining compliance and safeguarding sensitive information. Whether collaborating across services or storing data in diverse cloud environments, Sentra ensures your labels and protection follow the data wherever it goes.

Applying Sensitivity Labels to Data Assets in Sentra

In today’s rapidly evolving data security landscape, ensuring that your data is properly classified and protected is crucial. One effective way to achieve this is by applying sensitivity labels to your data assets. Sensitivity labels help ensure that data is handled according to its level of sensitivity, reducing the risk of accidental exposure and enabling compliance with data protection regulations.

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Below, we’ll walk you through the necessary steps to automatically apply sensitivity labels to your data assets in Sentra. By following these steps, you can enhance your data governance, improve data security, and maintain clear visibility over your organization's sensitive information.

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The process involves three key actions:

Create Sensitivity Labels: The first step in applying sensitivity labels is creating them within Sentra. These labels allow you to categorize data assets according to various rules and classifications. Once set up, these labels will automatically apply to data assets based on predefined criteria, such as the types of classifications detected within the data. Sensitivity labels help ensure that sensitive information is properly identified and protected.
Connect Accounts with Data Assets: The next step is to connect your accounts with the relevant data assets. This integration allows Sentra to automatically discover and continuously scan all your data assets, ensuring that no data goes unnoticed. As new data is created or modified, Sentra will promptly detect and categorize it, keeping your data classification up to date and reducing manual efforts.
Apply Classification Tags: Whenever a data asset is scanned, Sentra will automatically apply classification tags to it, such as data classes, data contexts, and sensitivity labels. These tags are visible in Sentra’s data catalog, giving you a comprehensive overview of your data’s classification status. By applying these tags consistently across all your data assets, you’ll have a clear, automated way to manage sensitive data, ensuring compliance and security.

By following these steps, you can streamline your data classification process, making it easier to protect your sensitive information, improve your data governance practices, and reduce the risk of data breaches.

Applying MPIP Labels

In order to apply Microsoft Purview Information Protection (MPIP) labels based on Sentra sensitivity labels, you are required to follow a few additional steps:

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Set up the Microsoft Purview integration - which will allow Sentra to import and sync MPIP sensitivity labels.
Create tagging rules - which will allow you to map Sentra sensitivity labels to MPIP sensitivity labels (for example “Very Confidential” in Sentra would be mapped to “ACME - Highly Confidential” in MPIP), and choose to which services this rule would apply (for example, Microsoft 365 and Amazon S3).

Using Sensitivity Labels in Microsoft DLP

Microsoft Purview DLP (as well as all other industry-leading DLP solutions) supports MPIP labels in its policies so admins can easily control and prevent data loss of sensitive data across multiple services and applications.For instance, a MPIP ‘highly confidential’ label may instruct Microsoft Purview DLP to restrict transfer of sensitive data outside a certain geography. Likewise, another similar label could instruct that confidential intellectual property (IP) is not allowed to be shared within Teams collaborative workspaces. Labels can be used to help control access to sensitive data as well. Organizations can set a rule with read permission only for specific tags. For example, only production IAM roles can access production files. Further, for use cases where data is stored in a single store, organizations can estimate the storage cost for each specific tag.

Build a Stronger Foundation with Accurate Data Classification

Effectively tagging sensitive data unlocks significant benefits for organizations, driving improvements across accuracy, efficiency, scalability, and risk management. With precise classification exceeding 95% accuracy and minimal false positives, organizations can confidently label both structured and unstructured data. Automated tagging rules reduce the reliance on manual effort, saving valuable time and resources. Granular, contextual tags enable confident and automated remediation, ensuring operations can scale seamlessly. Additionally, robust data tagging strengthens DLP and compliance strategies by fully leveraging Microsoft Purview’s capabilities. By streamlining these processes, organizations can consistently label and secure data across their entire estate, freeing resources to focus on strategic priorities and innovation.

Yair Cohen

December 4, 2024

Min Read

Data Security

PII Compliance Checklist: 2025 Requirements & Best Practices

What is PII Compliance?

In our contemporary digital landscape, where information flows seamlessly through the vast network of the internet, protecting sensitive data has become crucial. Personally Identifiable Information (PII), encompassing data that can be utilized to identify an individual, lies at the core of this concern. PII compliance stands as the vigilant guardian, the fortification that organizations adopt to ensure the secure handling and safeguarding of this invaluable asset.

In recent years, the frequency and sophistication of cyber threats have surged, making the need for robust protective measures more critical than ever. PII compliance is not merely a legal obligation; it is strategically essential for businesses seeking to instill trust, maintain integrity, and protect their customers and stakeholders from the perils of identity theft and data breaches.

Sensitive vs. Non-Sensitive PII Examples

Before delving into the intricacies of PII compliance, one must navigate the nuanced waters that distinguish sensitive from non-sensitive PII. The former comprises information of profound consequence – Social Security numbers, financial account details, and health records. Mishandling such data could have severe repercussions.

On the other hand, non-sensitive PII includes less critical information like names, addresses, and phone numbers. The ability to discern between these two categories is fundamental to tailoring protective measures effectively.

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Type	Examples
Sensitive PII	Social Security Numbers
	Financial Account Details (e.g., credit card info)
	Health Records
	Biometric Information (e.g., fingerprints)
	Personal Identification Numbers (PINs)
Non-Sensitive PII	Names
	Addresses
	Phone Numbers
	Email Addresses
	Usernames

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This table provides a clear visual distinction between sensitive and non-sensitive PII, illustrating the types of information that fall into each category.

The Need for Robust PII Compliance

The need for PII compliance is propelled by the escalating threats of data breaches and identity theft in the digital realm. Cybercriminals, armed with advanced techniques, continuously evolve their strategies, making it crucial for organizations to fortify their defenses. Implementing PII compliance, including robust Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), not only acts as a shield against potential risks but also serves as a foundation for building trust among customers, stakeholders, and regulatory bodies. DSPM reduces data breaches, providing a proactive approach to safeguarding sensitive information and bolstering the overall security posture of an organization.

PII Compliance Checklist

As we delve into the intricacies of safeguarding sensitive data through PII compliance, it becomes imperative to embrace a proactive and comprehensive approach. The PII Compliance Checklist serves as a navigational guide through the complex landscape of data protection, offering a meticulous roadmap for organizations to fortify their digital defenses.

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From the initial steps of discovering, identifying, classifying, and categorizing PII to the formulation of a compliance-based PII policy and the implementation of cutting-edge data security measures - this checklist encapsulates the essence of responsible data stewardship. Each item on the checklist acts as a strategic layer, collectively forming an impenetrable shield against the evolving threats of data breaches and identity theft.

1. Discover, Identify, Classify, and Categorize PII

The cornerstone of PII compliance lies in a thorough understanding of your data landscape. Conducting a comprehensive audit becomes the backbone of this process. The journey begins with a meticulous effort to discover the exact locations where PII resides within your organization's data repositories.

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Identifying the diverse types of information collected is equally important, as is the subsequent classification of data into sensitive and non-sensitive categories. Categorization, based on varying levels of confidentiality, forms the final layer, establishing a robust foundation for effective PII compliance.

2. Create a Compliance-Based PII Policy

In the intricate tapestry of data protection, the formulation of a compliance-based PII policy emerges as a linchpin. This policy serves as the guiding document, articulating the purpose behind the collection of PII, establishing the legal basis for processing, and delineating the measures implemented to safeguard this information.

The clarity and precision of this policy are paramount, ensuring that every employee is not only aware of its existence but also adheres to its principles. It becomes the ethical compass that steers the organization through the complexities of data governance.

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public class PiiPolicy {
    private String purpose;
    private String legalBasis;
    private String protectionMeasures;

    // Constructor and methods for implementing the PII policy
    // ...

    // Example method to enforce the PII policy
    public boolean enforcePolicy(DataRecord data) {
        // Implementation to enforce the PII policy on a data record
        // ...
        return true;  // Compliance achieved
    }
}

The Java code snippet represents a simplified PII policy class. It includes fields for the purpose of collecting PII, legal basis, and protection measures. The enforcePolicy method could be used to validate data against the policy.

3. Implement Data Security With the Right Tools

Arming your organization with cutting-edge data security tools and technologies is the next critical stride in the journey of PII compliance. Encryption, access controls, and secure transmission protocols form the arsenal against potential threats, safeguarding various types of sensitive data.

The emphasis lies not only on adopting these measures but also on the proactive and regular updating and patching of software to address vulnerabilities, ensuring a dynamic defense against evolving cyber threats.


function implementDataSecurity(data) {
    // Example implementation for data encryption
    let encryptedData = encryptData(data);

    // Example implementation for access controls
    grantAccess(user, encryptedData);

    // Example implementation for secure transmission
    sendSecureData(encryptedData);
}

function encryptData(data) {
    // Implementation for data encryption
    // ...
    return encryptedData;
}

function grantAccess(user, data) {
    // Implementation for access controls
    // ...
}

function sendSecureData(data) {
    // Implementation for secure data transmission
    // ...
}

The JavaScript code snippet provides examples of implementing data security measures, including data encryption, access controls, and secure transmission.

4. Practice IAM

Identity and Access Management (IAM) emerges as the sentinel standing guard over sensitive data. The implementation of IAM practices should be designed not only to restrict unauthorized access but also to regularly review and update user access privileges. The alignment of these privileges with job roles and responsibilities becomes the anchor, ensuring that access is not only secure but also purposeful.

5. Monitor and Respond

In the ever-shifting landscape of digital security, continuous monitoring becomes the heartbeat of effective PII compliance. Simultaneously, it advocates for the establishment of an incident response plan, a blueprint for swift and decisive action in the aftermath of a breach. The timely response becomes the bulwark against the cascading impacts of a data breach.

6. Regularly Assess Your Organization’s PII

The journey towards PII compliance is not a one-time endeavor but an ongoing commitment, making periodic assessments of an organization's PII practices a critical task. Internal audits and risk assessments become the instruments of scrutiny, identifying areas for improvement and addressing emerging threats. It is a proactive stance that ensures the adaptive evolution of PII compliance strategies in tandem with the ever-changing threat landscape.

7. Keep Your Privacy Policy Updated

In the dynamic sphere of technology and regulations, the privacy policy becomes the living document that shapes an organization's commitment to data protection. It is of vital importance to regularly review and update the privacy policy. It is not merely a legal requirement but a demonstration of the organization's responsiveness to the evolving landscape, aligning data protection practices with the latest compliance requirements and technological advancements.

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# Example implementation for reviewing and updating the privacy policy
class PrivacyPolicyUpdater
  def self.update_policy
    # Implementation for reviewing and updating the privacy policy
    # ...
  end
end

# Example usage
PrivacyPolicyUpdater.update_policy

The Ruby script provides an example of a script to review and update a privacy policy.

8. Prepare a Data Breach Response Plan

Anticipation and preparedness are the hallmarks of resilient organizations. Despite the most stringent preventive measures, the possibility of a data breach looms. Beyond the blueprint, it emphasizes the necessity of practicing and regularly updating this plan, transforming it from a theoretical document into a well-oiled machine ready to mitigate the impact of a breach through strategic communication, legal considerations, and effective remediation steps.

Key PII Compliance Standards

Understanding the regulatory landscape is crucial for PII compliance. Different regions have distinct compliance standards and data privacy regulations that organizations must adhere to. Here are some key standards:

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United States Data Privacy Regulations: In the United States, organizations need to comply with various federal and state regulations. Examples include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for healthcare information and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) for financial data.

Europe Data Privacy Regulations: European countries operate under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a comprehensive framework that sets strict standards for the processing and protection of personal data. GDPR compliance is essential for organizations dealing with European citizens' information.

Conclusion

PII compliance is not just a regulatory requirement; it is a fundamental aspect of responsible and ethical business practices. Protecting sensitive data through a robust compliance framework not only mitigates the risk of data breaches but also fosters trust among customers and stakeholders. By following a comprehensive PII compliance checklist and staying informed about relevant standards, organizations can navigate the complex landscape of data protection successfully. As technology continues to advance, a proactive and adaptive approach to PII compliance is key to securing the future of sensitive data protection.

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If you want to learn more about Sentra's Data Security Platform and how you can use a strong PII compliance framework to protect sensitive data, reduce breach risks, and build trust with customers and stakeholders, request a demo today.