SnowPro Advanced: Security Engineer Question 146
Single answerSupport collaborative analysis without direct data exposureA healthcare provider stores sensitive patient records in Snowflake and wants to allow an external research partner to analyze treatment outcomes. The provider must prevent the partner from directly viewing row-level patient data or copying raw records into the partner's own environment, while still enabling SQL-based analysis over the provider's governed data. Which approach best meets these requirements?
- A
Create a secure data share that exposes only approved secure views and share it with the partner so queries run against the provider's live data without transferring ownership of the underlying tables.
- B
Replicate the database to the partner's Snowflake account and rely on the partner to create masking policies on the replicated tables.
- C
Export the tables to an external stage as encrypted files and let the partner load them into a separate Snowflake account with network policies applied.
- D
Provide the partner with a reader account and grant direct SELECT on the base tables, then use client-side filtering in their BI tool to hide identifying columns.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best solution is to use Snowflake Secure Data Sharing with secure views so the partner can run SQL-based analysis on the provider's live governed data without receiving ownership of the underlying tables or exported copies of raw records. This pattern is commonly used for privacy-conscious collaboration because it centralizes control with the data provider. Secure views are important because they help protect the underlying logic and support controlled exposure of only the data elements intended for external analysis. In Snowflake best practices, secure sharing is preferred for cross-account collaboration when the goal is to avoid ETL copies and maintain provider-side governance. Reader accounts can participate in data sharing, but they do not by themselves solve the requirement if raw base tables are exposed. Replication and file export are not appropriate because they create additional copies of sensitive data, increasing exposure risk and reducing the provider's control.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Secure data sharing is designed for governed collaboration without copying data into the consumer's storage. By sharing secure views rather than base tables, the provider can expose only approved logic and limit what the partner can query. Secure views help prevent users from inspecting underlying query details in ways that could reveal protected structures or data logic. This aligns with the requirement to support analysis without direct exposure to raw patient records.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Database replication is intended for business continuity and regional/account availability scenarios, not for least-privilege external analytics collaboration. Replication creates another copy of the data metadata and state in the target account context and would place responsibility for downstream controls on the partner. That violates the requirement to avoid copying raw data into the partner's environment and weakens the provider's governance posture.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Exporting to files and reloading into the partner's account explicitly creates a copy of the raw data outside the provider's governed Snowflake environment. Encryption in transit or at rest and network policies do not solve the core problem of preventing direct exposure of row-level records. This option is a common misconception because it focuses on transport security rather than governed in-place collaboration.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A reader account can be useful when consumers do not have their own Snowflake account, but granting direct SELECT on base tables exposes the raw data set, which the scenario prohibits. Client-side filtering in a BI tool is not a security control because users may still query the underlying objects directly or bypass visual filters. The provider should enforce restrictions in Snowflake through secure objects and controlled sharing, not in the presentation layer.