Ariel Shiftan
April 9, 2023
The world of data protection has changed significantly in recent years. Personal and sensitive data used to be treated like any other data, and used to be stored along with the rest of the information in many tables under many databases. However, several factors have shifted the landscape and raised the stakes for data protection:
To design a cloud system that is compliant with data protection regulations, emphasizing their data security aspect in this article, organizations must ensure they meet data protection requirements. These include data security to avoid unauthorized access, lawful processing, data minimization, individual rights, data breach notification, and cross-border data transfers.
In this article, we'll explore these requirements in more detail, discuss the challenges of implementing data protection in modern cloud architectures, and provide practical guidance for designing and building secure and compliant cloud applications.
Organizations must ensure they meet the principal data protection requirements to design a cloud system that is compliant with data protection regulations. These requirements include (partially resembles to GDPR):
Organizations must implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, or access. This includes measures such as encryption, access controls, monitoring, and regular security testing.
Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently, with a lawful basis for processing such as consent, legitimate interest, or contractual necessity. Organizations must inform individuals about the purposes of processing their personal data and obtain their explicit consent when required.
Organizations must only collect and process personal data that is necessary for the specific purposes for which it was collected. This means collecting only the data that is relevant and necessary for the organization's operations and avoiding unnecessary data collection
Personal data must be accurate, up-to-date, and kept for no longer than is necessary for the specific purposes for which it was collected. Organizations must take reasonable steps to ensure that personal data is accurate and up-to-date, and delete data that is no longer needed.
Individuals have certain rights with respect to their personal data, including the right to access, rectify, erase, or restrict the processing of their data. Organizations must provide individuals with the means to exercise these rights and respond to their requests within a reasonable timeframe (e.g. through cookie banners, or profile settings).
Organizations must notify individuals and relevant authorities in the event of a data breach that is likely to result in a risk to their data and their rights. Organizations must also have procedures in place to respond to data breaches and minimize their impact.
Organizations must comply with applicable laws and regulations when transferring personal data across borders. This includes obtaining appropriate consent, implementing safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, and ensuring the same level of data protection as required in the country of origin.
Modern cloud architectures are much more complex than in the past. This rising complexity makes it harder to ensure consistent data protection measures. In distributed, microservices, and event-driven architectures, services are designed to be independent and loosely coupled, and data is often propagated and copied across services to keep them independent. This results in more copies of data being created, which makes it very hard to implement and enforce data protection measures consistently across all copies of the data. It also increases the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches if appropriate.
Holding many copies of the same data results in multiplied risk and thus storing it has to be designed differently. In the next section, we'll provide practical guidance for designing modern cloud applications with data protection in mind. To address the challenges of implementing data protection in modern cloud architectures, organizations should consider the following best practices:
By implementing these best practices, organizations can ensure that their cloud applications are secure. In the next section, we'll discuss the key requirements for a data privacy vault solution.
A data privacy vault is a centralized solution for securely storing, encrypting and managing sensitive data. When selecting a data privacy vault solution, organizations should ensure that it meets the following requirements:
By selecting a data privacy vault solution that meets these requirements, organizations can ensure that their sensitive data is well-protected and compliant with data protection regulations. Great companies such as Netflix, Apple, Slack, and JP Morgan Chase and Grubhub have successfully done it on their own with a massive undertaking.
In summary, designing and building secure and compliant cloud applications requires careful consideration of data protection requirements, challenges, and best practices. Here are the key takeaways from this article:
By following these key takeaways and best practices, organizations can ensure that their cloud applications are secure and compliant with data protection regulations, providing their customers with the confidence that their personal data is well-protected.
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CTO & Co-founder
Ariel, despite holding a PhD in Computer Science, doesn't strictly conform to the traditional academic archetype. His heart lies in the realm of hacking, a passion he has nurtured since his early years. As a proficient problem solver, Ariel brings unmatched practicality and resourcefulness to every mission he undertakes.
Increased complexity as the number of keys and systems grow.
Adopt a centralized key management solution such as a Hardware Security Module (HSM) or cloud-based KMS to securely manage and control cryptographic keys at scale.
Ensuring secure and timely key distribution and synchronization at scale.
Automate key rotation processes to maintain synchronization, reduce human intervention, and minimize errors as the system grows.