Redacting sensitive data
Defense in depth means that every layer of a system must do its part to prevent an attack. Encrypting data at rest is the last line of defense, and yet it is where the most shortcuts are taken, as evidenced by all the high-profile data breaches. If a hacker breaches all the other layers of security, the data will still be secure if we have properly redacted the sensitive information.To truly secure data at rest, we cannot stop at simply turning on a datastore's encryption feature. Disk-level encryption only secures the data when the disk is removed from the system. While a disk is attached to the system, the data is automatically decrypted when accessed with sufficient privilege. Unfortunately, this is what happens in most data breaches. A hacker gains privileged access through an alternate channel and the data is automatically decrypted when it is read from the datastore.To prevent this, we must redact sensitive data at the application level. This will ensure...