Databricks Employee Data Exposure Remediation

Learn how to fix exposure of employee data in Databricks environments. Follow step-by-step guidance for ISO 27001 compliance and data protection.

data exposure

ISO 27001

databricks

Why It Matters

The core goal is to quickly remediate any exposed employee data within your Databricks environment, preventing potential breaches and ensuring regulatory compliance. Fixing employee data exposures in Databricks is critical for organizations subject to ISO 27001, as it demonstrates proactive data protection measures and helps maintain the confidentiality of sensitive HR information.

Primary Risk: Data exposure of sensitive employee information

Relevant Regulation: ISO 27001 Information Security Standard

Swift remediation prevents data breaches, maintains employee trust, and ensures continuous compliance with data protection regulations.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

  • Databricks admin or workspace owner
  • Unity Catalog admin privileges
  • Table/schema modification permissions

External Tools

  • Databricks CLI
  • Cyera DSPM platform
  • Access to identified exposure reports

Prior Setup

  • Employee data exposures already detected
  • Unity Catalog governance enabled
  • Backup and recovery procedures in place
  • Change management process established

Introducing Cyera

Cyera is a modern Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform that uses advanced AI and machine learning models, including Named Entity Recognition (NER), to automatically identify and classify sensitive employee data across your Databricks environment. Cyera's AI-powered remediation workflows guide you through fixing exposures while maintaining data integrity and business continuity.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Assess the exposure scope and impact

Review Cyera's exposure reports to understand which tables, schemas, or workspaces contain exposed employee data. Prioritize based on sensitivity level and access patterns.

databricks workspace list --output json | grep -E "(employee|hr|payroll)"

2
Implement immediate access restrictions

Use Unity Catalog to revoke public access and restrict permissions to only authorized personnel. Apply row-level security and column masking for sensitive fields.

REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES ON TABLE employee_data FROM account users;

3
Apply data masking and anonymization

Implement dynamic data masking for non-production environments and anonymize or pseudonymize employee data where business requirements allow.

CREATE VIEW masked_employee_data AS SELECT id, hash(ssn) as ssn_hash FROM employee_data;

4
Establish ongoing monitoring and alerts

Configure Cyera's continuous monitoring to detect future exposures and set up automated alerts for any changes to employee data access patterns or permissions.

Architecture & Workflow

Exposure Detection

Cyera identifies exposed employee data

Unity Catalog Controls

Apply access restrictions and governance policies

Data Masking Layer

Anonymize sensitive employee information

Continuous Monitoring

Ongoing surveillance for new exposures

Remediation Flow Summary

Identify Exposure → Restrict Access → Apply Masking → Monitor Changes

Best Practices & Tips

Remediation Strategy

  • Always backup data before applying fixes
  • Test remediation in non-production first
  • Document all changes for audit trails

Access Control Best Practices

  • Apply principle of least privilege
  • Use attribute-based access control (ABAC)
  • Implement time-bound access for temporary needs

Common Pitfalls

  • Breaking downstream dependencies without notice
  • Over-restricting access for legitimate business users
  • Forgetting to update documentation and runbooks

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🛡️ Prevent: Set up proactive controls for employee data 🔍 Detect: Scan for new employee data exposures