Snowflake Financial Records Protection

Why It Matters

The core goal is to proactively secure every location where financial records are stored within your Snowflake environment, preventing unauthorized access before exposures occur. Implementing robust preventive controls for financial data in Snowflake is critical for organizations subject to SOX compliance, as it ensures proper access controls and audit trails for all financial reporting data—mitigating the risk of data exposure and regulatory violations.

Primary Risk: Data exposure of sensitive financial records

Relevant Regulation: SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) Financial Reporting

Comprehensive preventive measures establish strong security boundaries, enabling automated policy enforcement and continuous compliance monitoring.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

ACCOUNTADMIN or SECURITYADMIN role
USAGE privileges on relevant databases and schemas
Ability to create and manage access policies

External Tools

Snowflake CLI or Web UI
Cyera DSPM account
API credentials for integrations

Prior Setup

Snowflake account provisioned
Role-based access controls defined
Network policies configured
Audit logging enabled

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 and Named Entity Recognition (NER) models, Cyera automatically identifies financial records in Snowflake, including account numbers, transaction data, and regulatory filings. This automated classification enables proactive policy enforcement and ensures your financial data remains protected against unauthorized access while maintaining SOX audit readiness.

Step-by-Step Guide

Implement Column-Level Security

Create dynamic data masking policies for financial columns. Configure encryption for sensitive fields like account numbers, transaction amounts, and financial statements.

CREATE MASKING POLICY financial_mask AS (val string) RETURNS string ->
CASE WHEN CURRENT_ROLE() IN ('FINANCE_ANALYST', 'AUDITOR') THEN val
ELSE '*****-' || RIGHT(val, 4) END;

Configure Row-Level Security

Set up row access policies to restrict financial record access based on user roles, departments, and business units. Ensure proper segregation of duties for SOX compliance.

CREATE ROW ACCESS POLICY financial_access AS (dept string) RETURNS boolean ->
CURRENT_ROLE() IN ('ACCOUNTADMIN', 'FINANCE_MANAGER') OR
dept = CURRENT_USER_DEPT();

Enable Cyera Continuous Monitoring

In the Cyera portal, navigate to Integrations → DSPM → Add new. Select Snowflake, configure your connection details, and set up automated scanning for financial data classification and policy enforcement.

Establish Access Controls and Monitoring

Implement network policies, configure audit logging, and set up real-time alerts for unauthorized access attempts. Create automated compliance reports for SOX audits.

Architecture & Workflow

Snowflake Security Layer

Row and column-level security policies

Cyera AI Engine

Classifies and monitors financial data patterns

Policy Enforcement

Automated access control and data masking

Compliance Monitoring

Real-time alerts and audit trail generation

Security Flow Summary

Data Classification → Policy Application → Access Control → Continuous Monitoring

Best Practices & Tips

Security Configuration

Enable multi-factor authentication for all users
Implement time-based access restrictions
Configure IP whitelisting for sensitive data access

Policy Management

Regular review of access policies and permissions
Automated policy testing and validation
Maintain principle of least privilege

Common Pitfalls

Overly broad role assignments bypassing controls
Insufficient monitoring of privileged account usage
Missing encryption for data in transit and at rest

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🔍 Detect: Scan for exposed financial records 🔧 Fix: Remediate discovered financial data exposures