Databricks PCI Data Exposure Prevention

Learn how to prevent exposure of PCI data in Databricks environments. Follow step-by-step guidance for PCI-DSS compliance.

unencrypted sensitive data

PCI-DSS

databricks

Why It Matters

The core goal is to establish robust preventive controls that protect payment card industry (PCI) data across your Databricks environment before exposures occur. Preventing PCI data exposure in Databricks is critical for organizations subject to PCI-DSS requirements, as it helps you maintain the highest standards of cardholder data protection—eliminating the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive payment information.

Primary Risk: Unencrypted sensitive data exposure

Relevant Regulation: PCI-DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

A comprehensive prevention strategy delivers proactive protection, ensuring continuous compliance and safeguarding against costly data breaches.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

  • Databricks admin or service principal
  • catalogs/create, schemas/create, tables/create privileges
  • Ability to configure encryption and access policies

External Tools

  • Databricks CLI
  • Cyera DSPM account
  • Key management service (AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, etc.)

Prior Setup

  • Databricks workspace provisioned
  • Unity Catalog enabled
  • Encryption keys configured
  • Network security groups 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 and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, Cyera automatically identifies PCI data patterns in Databricks, applies intelligent tokenization recommendations, and enforces preventive security policies to ensure cardholder data remains protected at all times.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Configure encryption at rest and in transit

Enable customer-managed encryption keys for all Databricks storage layers and ensure TLS 1.2+ for data transmission. Configure Unity Catalog with proper encryption settings.

databricks configure --profile pci-secure

2
Implement data classification and tagging

In the Cyera portal, navigate to Policies → Data Classification. Configure PCI data detection rules with high confidence thresholds and enable automatic tagging for cardholder data elements.

3
Set up access controls and network segmentation

Configure Unity Catalog with role-based access controls, implement network segmentation for PCI workloads, and establish IP allowlists for sensitive data access. Enable audit logging for all data operations.

4
Deploy tokenization and masking policies

Configure Cyera's AI-powered tokenization engine to automatically replace PCI data with secure tokens. Set up dynamic data masking for non-production environments and validate that original cardholder data is properly protected.

Architecture & Workflow

Databricks Unity Catalog

Centralized governance with encryption and access controls

Cyera AI Engine

Intelligent PCI data classification and policy enforcement

Encryption Layer

Customer-managed keys and tokenization services

Monitoring & Compliance

Continuous audit trails and compliance reporting

Prevention Flow Summary

Classify Data → Apply Encryption → Enforce Access Controls → Monitor Compliance

Best Practices & Tips

Encryption Strategy

  • Use customer-managed encryption keys
  • Implement field-level encryption for PCI data
  • Rotate encryption keys regularly

Access Control Management

  • Implement principle of least privilege
  • Use time-limited access tokens
  • Enable multi-factor authentication

Common Pitfalls

  • Storing unencrypted PCI data in temporary tables
  • Over-permissive network access rules
  • Inadequate key management practices

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🔍 Detect: Scan for existing PCI data exposures 🔧 Fix: Remediate identified PCI data exposures