Protecting Data with Intelligent Query Inspection

Understanding the Role of Queries in Cloud Data Security

Companies are sitting on petabytes of consumer data, and while this data drives insights and competitive advantage, it also opens the door to significant risks. The era of restricted data access is over. Thousands of employees, from analysts to junior staff, access sensitive data daily.

This democratization of data is a double-edged sword. It fuels innovation but also increases the risk of internal breaches. Over the past decade, over 15 billion consumer records have been leaked globally, and this year alone, we expect nearly 6,000 internal breaches​ (ITRC)​​ (DataProt)​​ (UpGuard)​.

The question for data and security leaders is straightforward: How can you provide broad data access without compromising security?

Traditional Security Measures and Their Limitations

Traditional security measures primarily focus on external threats to prevent malicious outsiders from accessing sensitive data. While effective at keeping out unauthorized external actors, these measures often overlook the risks posed by insiders—employees, contractors, or partners who already have legitimate access to the data. Most organizations rely on access control, a binary system where an employee either has access to data or does not. This approach fails to address how data is used once access is granted.

This binary model is analogous to locking the front door of a house but not monitoring the activities inside. Without visibility into what employees are doing with the data they access, companies are blind to potential misuse or inadvertent breaches. Insiders can exploit their access in ways that traditional security measures cannot detect or prevent, leading to significant data breaches. To mitigate these risks, organizations must implement more granular controls and monitoring mechanisms focusing on who accesses the data and how the data is being used. 

The Power of Query Inspection

An analyst accesses data by executing SQL queries, the standard language for data analytics. While SQL's flexibility allows for comprehensive data analysis, it also introduces security risks. 

Consider two queries on the same database: one computes the highest-performing product category and returns all customer orders and accounts in the last 30 days. 

The second query returns all customer orders and accounts. Whether the intent was malicious or benign (e.g., data exfiltration or an inexperienced analyst), this query poses a security risk because sensitive consumer data is downloaded from the database.

Both queries access consumer data, so simple access control policies can't distinguish between safe and risky queries. Risky queries can also pose privacy risks by returning specific individuals' information. Companies often lack visibility into the tens of thousands of queries executed daily, making it almost impossible to detect or prevent misuse.

The Necessity of Query Inspection

SQL queries are the primary method of accessing, manipulating, and analyzing data. By scrutinizing these queries, we can discern the intent behind data access and differentiate between benign and potentially harmful activities. This capability is crucial in identifying and mitigating risks posed by insiders, who may inadvertently or maliciously execute queries that expose sensitive data. Through continuous monitoring and analysis of queries, companies can ensure that data is used appropriately and can quickly detect and respond to suspicious activities.

Query inspection works with traditional access control measures, enhancing overall security. While access control determines who can enter the data environment, query inspection monitors what users do once they are inside. This dual-layered approach is like having security cameras and guards inside a building. By integrating query inspection into their security strategy, organizations gain comprehensive visibility into data usage, enabling them to prevent data breaches, enforce compliance, and protect sensitive information from misuse. 

Implementing Comprehensive Data Security

The risks associated with growing consumer data collection and use also increase. Data and security teams must adopt new measures to monitor and control insider interactions with sensitive data.

This blog post highlighted the risks associated with SQL queries and the importance of query inspection. In future posts, we will explore techniques for automated query inspection and how analyzing query logs can help detect and address data breaches in near real time.

Organizations can build upon their existing data security and governance strategies by leveraging Dasera's comprehensive suite of capabilities, including Data Store Auto-Discovery, Configuration Analysis, Privilege Analysis, Classification, and Data-in-Use Monitoring. This ensures data visibility and understanding of its usage across platforms.

Next Steps: Embrace Intelligent Data Security

To navigate the complexities of modern data security, businesses must go beyond traditional approaches. Embrace query inspection as a critical component of your data protection strategy. Stay tuned for more insights and techniques to enhance your data security posture in our upcoming blog posts.