Azure Customer Data Detection

Learn how to detect customer data in Azure environments. Follow step-by-step guidance for GDPR compliance.

data exposure

GDPR

azure

Why It Matters

The core goal is to identify every location where customer information is stored within your Azure environment, so you can remediate unintended exposures before they become breaches. Scanning for customer data in Azure is a priority for organizations subject to GDPR, as it helps you prove you've discovered and accounted for all sensitive customer assets—mitigating the risk of data exposure and ensuring data subject rights compliance.

Primary Risk: Data exposure of customer information

Relevant Regulation: GDPR General Data Protection Regulation

A thorough scan delivers immediate visibility, laying the foundation for automated policy enforcement and ongoing compliance.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

  • Azure subscription owner or contributor
  • Reader permissions on target resources
  • Ability to register Azure AD applications

External Tools

  • Azure CLI or PowerShell
  • Cyera DSPM account
  • Service principal credentials

Prior Setup

  • Azure subscription provisioned
  • Resource groups configured
  • CLI authenticated
  • Network access rules configured

Introducing Cyera

Cyera is a modern Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform that discovers, classifies, and continuously monitors your sensitive data across cloud services. By leveraging advanced AI including Named Entity Recognition (NER) and pattern matching algorithms, Cyera automatically identifies customer data across Azure SQL databases, Blob storage, and other Azure services, ensuring you meet GDPR data discovery requirements and maintain continuous visibility into your customer data landscape.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Configure Azure service principal

Create a service principal with appropriate permissions to scan your Azure resources and register it in Azure Active Directory.

az ad sp create-for-rbac --name "cyera-scanner" --role reader

2
Enable scanning workflows

In the Cyera portal, navigate to Integrations → DSPM → Add new. Select Azure, provide your subscription ID and service principal credentials, then define the scan scope including SQL databases, storage accounts, and other data repositories.

3
Integrate with Azure Security Center

Configure webhooks or Event Hub integrations to push scan results into Azure Security Center or Azure Sentinel. Link findings to existing incident response workflows.

4
Validate results and tune policies

Review the initial detection report, prioritize databases and storage containers with large volumes of customer PII, and adjust detection rules to reduce false positives. Schedule recurring scans to maintain visibility.

Architecture & Workflow

Azure Resource Manager

Source of metadata for resources and configurations

Cyera Connector

Pulls metadata and samples data for classification

Cyera AI Engine

Applies NER models and risk scoring algorithms

Reporting & Remediation

Dashboards, alerts, and compliance reports

Data Flow Summary

Enumerate Resources → Send to Cyera → Apply AI Detection → Route Findings

Best Practices & Tips

Performance Considerations

  • Start with critical resource groups first
  • Use sampling for very large storage accounts
  • Configure scan scheduling during off-peak hours

Tuning Detection Rules

  • Maintain allowlists for test environments
  • Adjust confidence thresholds for customer data
  • Configure region-specific data patterns

Common Pitfalls

  • Missing storage accounts in different regions
  • Over-scanning development environments
  • Neglecting to rotate service principal secrets

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🛡️ Prevent: Set up proactive customer data protection policies 🔧 Fix: Review and remediate exposed customer data