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Enforce access control

PostedNovember 28, 2024
UpdatedMarch 21, 2025
ByKevin McCaffrey

Implementing effective access control mechanisms is vital to safeguarding data at rest. These controls help mitigate the risk of unauthorized access or mishandling, ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to authorized personnel and systems.

Best Practices

Implement Fine-Grained Access Control

  • Use Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and policies to enforce specific actions users can perform on your resources.
  • Use resource-based policies to manage permissions at the resource level.
  • Regularly review and audit IAM policies to ensure they follow the principle of least privilege, allowing only the necessary permissions for users or applications.

Utilize Data Encryption

  • Encrypt sensitive data at rest using AWS services like Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, or Amazon EBS, with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for managing keys.
  • Use server-side encryption and ensure that access to KMS keys is tightly controlled and monitored to prevent unauthorized access.

Implement Versioning and Lifecycle Policies

  • Enable versioning for data storage solutions like Amazon S3, which protects against accidental deletions and overwrites.
  • Set lifecycle policies to move older versions of data to lower-cost storage classes or delete them as needed, reducing exposure to potential unauthorized access.

Conduct Regular Audits and Access Reviews

  • Schedule periodic audits of access logs to monitor for unauthorized access attempts or misconfigurations.
  • Use AWS CloudTrail and AWS Config to record and evaluate changes to your access control settings, ensuring compliance with your security policies.

Prevent Public Access to Data

  • Implement bucket policies and IAM settings in Amazon S3 to restrict public access and ensure that only authenticated users can access your data.
  • Regularly check and confirm that no unintended public access settings are applied to critical resources.

Questions to ask your team

  • What mechanisms do you use to enforce access control for data at rest?
  • How do you implement isolation and versioning for sensitive data?
  • Can you describe how the principle of least privilege is applied in your data access policies?
  • What processes are in place to prevent unauthorized public access to your data?
  • How often do you review and update your access control policies?
  • Do you conduct audits to ensure compliance with access control measures?

Who should be doing this?

Data Security Officer

  • Develop policies for data access and control.
  • Implement data protection strategies based on the principle of least privilege.
  • Monitor and audit data access logs for unauthorized attempts.
  • Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements related to data protection.
  • Conduct regular security assessments and risk analyses.

Cloud Architect

  • Design data storage solutions that enforce access control mechanisms.
  • Implement isolation strategies for sensitive data.
  • Integrate versioning in data management processes.
  • Evaluate and select tools and services that support data security best practices.
  • Collaborate with other teams to ensure security is embedded in the architecture.

DevOps Engineer

  • Automate the deployment of access control measures.
  • Ensure that public access is disabled for all sensitive data storage.
  • Maintain user permissions and access controls in cloud environments.
  • Continuously monitor security posture and respond to access control violations.
  • Assist in the implementation of auditing and monitoring solutions.

Compliance Manager

  • Oversee adherence to data protection and access control policies.
  • Perform regular compliance audits related to data at rest.
  • Review and update policies to reflect changes in regulations or business needs.
  • Work with legal teams to understand data protection laws.
  • Train staff on data protection compliance and access control practices.

What evidence shows this is happening in your organization?

  • Access Control Policy Template: A comprehensive template for outlining access control measures, including isolation, versioning, and the principle of least privilege. This template serves as a foundational document for organizations to customize according to their needs.
  • Data Protection Strategy Guide: A guide that outlines strategies for protecting data at rest, emphasizing the importance of enforcing access control, implementing isolation, and preventing public access. This guide includes best practices and examples.
  • Access Control Dashboard: A visual dashboard that displays access control settings and compliance status across various data storage services. This dashboard aids in monitoring potential risks and ensuring adherence to access control policies.
  • Checklist for Implementing Access Control: A practical checklist that organizations can use to ensure all access control measures are implemented effectively. This checklist focuses on isolation techniques, versioning, and verification of the least privilege principle.
  • Runbook for Access Management: A runbook outlining step-by-step procedures for managing access control on data at rest, including how to grant, modify, and revoke access permissions while ensuring compliance with organizational policies.

Cloud Services

AWS

  • AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM allows you to control access to AWS services and resources securely. You can manage users, groups, and permissions with fine-grained access control.
  • Amazon S3 Bucket Policies: S3 bucket policies are used to manage access permissions for S3 buckets, ensuring that only authorized users can access data at rest.
  • AWS KMS (Key Management Service): AWS KMS helps you create and control encryption keys used to encrypt your data, ensuring only authorized users can access the decrypted content.

Azure

  • Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Azure RBAC allows you to manage access to Azure resources by assigning roles to users, groups, and applications at different scopes.
  • Azure Blob Storage Access Control: Blob Storage access control uses Shared Access Signatures (SAS) and role-based access to manage who has permissions to data in Azure Blob Storage.
  • Azure Key Vault: Azure Key Vault helps safeguard cryptographic keys and secrets used by cloud applications and services, providing access controls and auditing.

Google Cloud Platform

Question: How do you protect your data at rest?
Pillar: Security (Code: SEC)

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