AWS PII Exposure Prevention

Learn how to prevent PII exposure in AWS environments. Follow step-by-step guidance for GDPR compliance and data protection.

data exposure

GDPR

aws

Why It Matters

The core goal is to proactively prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from being exposed across your AWS infrastructure, ensuring compliance with GDPR requirements before violations occur. Implementing robust PII protection in AWS is critical for organizations handling EU citizen data, as it helps you establish technical and organizational safeguards—preventing costly data breaches and regulatory fines.

Primary Risk: Data exposure through misconfigured services and inadequate access controls

Relevant Regulation: GDPR Article 32: Security of Processing

A comprehensive prevention strategy delivers proactive protection, establishing automated guardrails and continuous monitoring to maintain GDPR compliance.

Prerequisites

Permissions & Roles

  • AWS IAM admin or security role
  • S3, RDS, DynamoDB read/write access
  • CloudTrail and Config management permissions

External Tools

  • AWS CLI
  • Cyera DSPM account
  • Terraform or CloudFormation

Prior Setup

  • AWS account properly configured
  • CloudTrail logging enabled
  • KMS keys provisioned
  • Service Control Policies 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. By leveraging advanced AI and Named Entity Recognition (NER) models, Cyera automatically identifies PII patterns in AWS services and enforces prevention policies in real time, ensuring your data remains protected against exposure risks while maintaining GDPR compliance.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Configure data classification policies

Set up automated classification rules in Cyera to identify PII patterns across S3 buckets, RDS databases, and DynamoDB tables. Define sensitivity labels and retention policies aligned with GDPR requirements.

aws s3api put-bucket-policy --bucket sensitive-data --policy file://pii-prevention-policy.json

2
Implement access controls and encryption

Deploy least-privilege IAM policies, enable KMS encryption for all data at rest, and configure VPC endpoints to prevent data from traversing the public internet. Set up bucket policies to restrict unauthorized access.

3
Enable monitoring and alerting

Configure CloudTrail to log all data access activities and integrate with Cyera's real-time monitoring. Set up alerts for unusual access patterns, data export activities, and policy violations.

4
Deploy automated remediation

Create Lambda functions triggered by Cyera alerts to automatically quarantine exposed data, revoke excessive permissions, and notify security teams. Implement data loss prevention (DLP) rules to block unauthorized transfers.

Architecture & Workflow

AWS Data Services

S3, RDS, DynamoDB storing PII data

Cyera AI Engine

Classifies and monitors data with NER models

Prevention Controls

IAM policies, encryption, and access restrictions

Automated Response

Lambda functions and remediation workflows

Prevention Flow Summary

Classify PII Data → Apply Controls → Monitor Access → Auto-Remediate

Best Practices & Tips

Encryption Strategy

  • Use customer-managed KMS keys for sensitive data
  • Enable encryption in transit for all services
  • Implement envelope encryption for large datasets

Access Control

  • Implement zero-trust network architecture
  • Use temporary credentials with STS
  • Enable MFA for sensitive operations

Common Pitfalls

  • Leaving S3 buckets with public read access
  • Using overly broad IAM policies
  • Neglecting to encrypt CloudTrail logs

References & Further Reading

Next Steps

🔍 Detect: Discover existing PII in your AWS environment 🔧 Fix: Remediate exposed PII data