Enforce encryption at rest

Ensuring the security of data at rest is crucial for maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information. Implementing encryption serves as a primary defensive mechanism against unauthorized access or accidental data exposure.

Best Practices

Implement Robust Encryption Standards

• Utilize strong encryption algorithms such as AES-256 to protect data at rest. This ensures a high level of security against unauthorized access and helps comply with regulatory requirements.
• Ensure that encryption keys are managed securely using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) or AWS CloudHSM to control access to encryption keys and perform auditing, providing an additional layer of security.
• Regularly review and rotate encryption keys to minimize the risk of key compromise. Implement a strategy for key rotation that aligns with your organization’s security policies.
• Define and enforce policies for data classification to ensure that sensitive data is identified and subject to encryption requirements. This helps prioritize resources and efforts to protect the most critical data.

Use Comprehensive Data Protection Measures

• Incorporate access controls such as IAM policies and resource-based policies to restrict access to encrypted data to only authorized personnel and services.
• Implement logging and monitoring through AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch to detect access patterns that may indicate unauthorized attempts to access data, ensuring swift response to potential threats.
• Evaluate using services like Amazon S3 Object Lock for immutable storage which prevents accidental or malicious data deletion, and ensure data integrity alongside confidentiality.

Establish Strong Compliance and Auditing Practices

• Ensure that your encryption practices are documented and regularly audited to comply with applicable regulations and organizational policies.
• Conduct regular assessments and penetration tests to identify potential vulnerabilities related to your data encryption practices and address any gaps in security promptly.
• Create a clear incident response plan outlining how to respond to breaches of encrypted data, including a process for notifying affected parties when necessary.

Questions to ask your team

• Is encryption at rest enforced for all sensitive data across your AWS services?
• What encryption standards or protocols are you using for encrypting data at rest?
• How do you manage and rotate encryption keys to ensure data security?
• Are there regular audits conducted to verify compliance with encryption policies?
• What mechanisms do you have in place to ensure that encryption is correctly configured for new data stores?

Who should be doing this?

Security Engineer

• Design and implement encryption solutions for data at rest.
• Monitor the compliance of encryption policies across all data storage services.
• Evaluate and select encryption technologies that meet regulatory requirements.

Data Owner

• Identify sensitive data that needs protection through encryption.
• Ensure that data classification policies are followed for encryption purposes.
• Work with IT to establish and communicate data handling standards.

Compliance Officer

• Ensure that encryption standards align with legal and regulatory requirements.
• Conduct regular audits to verify implementation of encryption controls.
• Raise awareness about the importance of protecting data at rest.

IT Architect

• Design architecture that incorporates encryption for data at rest.
• Ensure that encryption solutions do not negatively impact system performance.
• Provide guidelines for encryption implementation across various data storage systems.

Cloud Administrator

• Configure and manage cloud services to enforce encryption at rest.
• Regularly update and patch encryption technologies used in the infrastructure.
• Monitor access and use of encrypted data to detect unauthorized access.

What evidence shows this is happening in your organization?

• Data Encryption Policy: A formal policy document outlining the organization’s requirements for encrypting data at rest, including mandatory encryption algorithms, key management practices, and compliance requirements.
• Data Encryption Checklist: A comprehensive checklist to ensure all data at rest is encrypted. It includes verification of encryption methods, review of audit logs, and compliance checks with encryption policies.
• Encryption Implementation Guide: A guide that outlines the steps for implementing encryption technologies across various data storage solutions, including cloud services, databases, and on-premises storage.
• Encryption Dashboard: An interactive dashboard that visualizes encryption status for all data stores within the organization, allowing real-time monitoring of compliance with encryption policies.
• Encryption Strategy Document: A strategic plan that details how the organization will implement and maintain encryption for data at rest, including risk assessments, resource allocations, and timelines for deployment.

Cloud Services

AWS

• Amazon S3: Amazon S3 allows you to store and retrieve data securely, enabling server-side encryption (SSE) to protect data at rest automatically.
• Amazon RDS: Amazon RDS provides encryption at rest using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to secure your database storage.
• AWS Key Management Service (KMS): AWS KMS allows you to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data across AWS services.

Azure

• Azure Blob Storage: Azure Blob Storage provides built-in encryption at rest for your data to ensure its confidentiality.
• Azure SQL Database: Azure SQL Database offers Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to encrypt data at rest in SQL databases.
• Azure Key Vault: Azure Key Vault safeguards your cryptographic keys and secrets, which can be used for encrypting data at rest.

Google Cloud Platform

• Google Cloud Storage: Google Cloud Storage automatically encrypts data at rest, ensuring the security and privacy of your data.
• Google Cloud SQL: Google Cloud SQL provides automatic encryption at rest for your database instances, ensuring compliance and security.
• Google Cloud Key Management: Google Cloud Key Management allows you to manage cryptographic keys for your cloud services, enhancing data security.

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