DEA-C01 Question 503
Select 3You are designing a data pipeline for a healthcare application that processes sensitive patient data. The processed data must be anonymized to protect patient identities before being stored in Amazon S3 for analytics purposes. You decide to use a combination of data masking and key salting to achieve anonymization. Which of the following actions are essential for securely implementing this solution?
- A
Use a consistent salt value for all records to ensure data can be re-identified if needed.
- B
Store the salt values in a secure location, such as AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store.
- C
Apply cryptographic hashing (e.g., SHA-256) to sensitive fields after appending the salt.
- D
Mask sensitive fields, such as Social Security Numbers (SSNs), by replacing parts of the data with generic characters.
- E
Store the unhashed, salted sensitive data in a separate S3 bucket for future reference.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answers: B, C, D
Explanation
When implementing data anonymization, techniques like masking and key salting must be applied securely. Salting ensures unique hashes by appending random values to sensitive fields before hashing, preventing predictable patterns. Storing the salt securely in AWS Secrets Manager or Parameter Store protects the anonymization process. Additionally, masking reduces exposure risks by obscuring sensitive portions of the data. Missteps, such as using a consistent salt value or storing unhashed sensitive data, compromise the security and compliance of the pipeline.
- A. Incorrect.
Using a consistent salt value across all records undermines the purpose of salting because it makes hashed values predictable, enabling attackers to perform dictionary attacks.
- B. Correct.
Storing the salt values securely is essential for ensuring the integrity of the anonymization process. AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store provides secure storage and access control for sensitive information.
- C. Correct.
Cryptographic hashing with a salt ensures that sensitive fields are anonymized and that the resulting values are unique and non-reversible. This is a critical step in data anonymization.
- D. Correct.
Masking sensitive fields by replacing parts of the data with generic characters (e.g., 'XXX-XX-1234' for SSNs) is an effective technique for data masking and helps protect sensitive information.
- E. Incorrect.
Storing unhashed, salted sensitive data in S3 undermines the anonymization process because it enables re-identification of the original data, violating security and compliance requirements.