GCP Financial Records Exposure Remediation

Learn how to fix exposure of financial records in GCP environments. Follow step-by-step guidance for SOC 2 compliance and data protection.

data exposure

SOC 2

gcp

Why It Matters

The core goal is to rapidly remediate exposed financial records across your GCP environment, ensuring they're properly secured and access-controlled before potential breaches occur. Fixing financial data exposure in GCP is critical for organizations subject to SOC 2 compliance, as it demonstrates you can effectively respond to and remediate security incidents involving sensitive financial information.

Primary Risk: Data exposure of sensitive financial records

Relevant Regulation: SOC 2 Security and Availability Principles

Swift remediation prevents regulatory penalties, maintains customer trust, and ensures your financial data infrastructure meets enterprise security standards.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

  • Security Admin or IAM Admin role
  • Cloud Storage Admin permissions
  • BigQuery Admin access for data remediation

External Tools

  • Google Cloud CLI (gcloud)
  • Cyera DSPM account
  • Security Command Center access

Prior Setup

  • GCP project with billing enabled
  • IAM policies configured
  • Security Command Center activated
  • VPC security controls in place

Introducing Cyera

Cyera is a modern Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform that discovers, classifies, and continuously monitors your sensitive data across cloud services. Using advanced AI-powered Named Entity Recognition (NER) and pattern matching algorithms, Cyera automatically identifies exposed financial records in GCP and provides guided remediation workflows to quickly secure your sensitive financial data while maintaining SOC 2 compliance.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Assess exposure scope and impact

Review Cyera's exposure findings to understand which financial records are publicly accessible. Prioritize remediation based on data sensitivity and exposure level.

gcloud projects get-iam-policy PROJECT_ID

2
Revoke excessive permissions

Remove overly permissive IAM roles from Cloud Storage buckets and BigQuery datasets containing financial records. Apply principle of least privilege access controls.

3
Enable encryption and access controls

Implement customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) for financial data storage. Configure VPC Service Controls and Private Google Access to restrict network exposure.

4
Validate remediation and monitor

Verify that access controls are properly applied and financial records are no longer exposed. Set up continuous monitoring with Cyera to prevent future exposures.

Architecture & Workflow

GCP Security Center

Central monitoring and alert management

Cyera DSPM Engine

AI-powered exposure detection and remediation guidance

IAM & Access Controls

Granular permission management and enforcement

Audit & Compliance

SOC 2 reporting and compliance validation

Remediation Flow Summary

Detect Exposure → Assess Impact → Apply Controls → Validate Fix

Best Practices & Tips

Immediate Response

  • Prioritize publicly accessible financial data
  • Document all remediation actions taken
  • Notify stakeholders of exposure timeline

Access Control Hardening

  • Implement time-based access controls
  • Use service accounts with minimal privileges
  • Enable audit logging for all data access

Common Pitfalls

  • Overlooking legacy Cloud Storage buckets
  • Missing BigQuery dataset public access settings
  • Failing to update dependent applications after remediation

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🛡️ Prevent: Implement controls to prevent future financial data exposure 🔍 Detect: Set up monitoring for financial records exposure