Introduction
Organisations require data security and compliance solutions to protect sensitive data from cyber threats, comply with industry regulations such as GLBA and HIPAA, and mitigate the risk of data breaches. These solutions not only safeguard valuable information but also enhance operational efficiency by automating tasks and providing valuable data insights.The Ponemon Institute 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report reveals that the average cost of a data breach in 2022 rose to $4.35 million, marking a 2.6% increase from the previous year. (Source: https://securityintelligence.com/series/2022-cost-of-a-data-breach-report/)
In this blog, we’ll discuss how IBM Guardium (See more details: https://www.ibm.com/guardium?lnk=flatitem ) can be used to protect SAP HANA database. It helps protect sensitive and regulated data across multiple cloud environments while managing compliance obligations, discovering where sensitive data lives, encrypting and monitoring what’s important and reducing your risk while responding to threats. Key features and functionalities of IBM Guardium is described in below figure:
How IBM Guardium on SAP HANA database works:
Protecting SAP HANA database (See more details : https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_COMMERCE/a74589c3a81a4a95bf51d87258c0ab15/8bc8abba86691014b2b9c761e88fa207.html) with IBM Guardium involves implementing various security measures and utilising the capabilities provided by Guardium. It's important to note that the specific steps and configurations may vary depending on your organisation's requirements, security policies, and the version of IBM Guardium and SAP HANA being used. Let’s have a look on an architecture of SAP HANA and IBM Guardium:
Reference architecture
In the above architecture, we have SAP HANA database (which can be on-premises or hybrid or cloud) and its integration with IBM Guardium. In case of hybrid or cloud SAP HANA Database, SAP BTP (See more details https://help.sap.com/docs/btp/sap-business-technology-platform/sap-business-technology-platform) can be also used. In this illustration, we have used S-TAP which is a lightweight kernel-level tracing tool that can be used to collect data from SAP HANA. This data can then be sent to Guardium for analysis.
Use case
Let’s go through a real world scenario. Introducing Company XYZ, a prominent financial services firm entrusted with safeguarding sensitive customer data stored in SAP HANA. To fortify data security, the company seeks an all-encompassing solution and discovers IBM Guardium. By seamlessly integrating Guardium with SAP HANA, Company XYZ gains unparalleled visibility into data access and activity, empowering them to swiftly detect suspicious behavior, investigate incidents, and enforce robust measures to safeguard against unauthorised access. Here, Guardium can be used to:
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Monitor all access to sensitive data, including who is accessing the data, when they are accessing it, and what they are doing with it.
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Identify suspicious activity, such as unusual patterns of data access or activity from unauthorized users.
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Investigate suspicious activity to determine if it is a security threat.
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Take steps to protect the data from unauthorised access, such as blocking access from unauthorised users or encrypting the data.
Conclusion
Here, IBM Guardium integration with SAP HANA provides Company XYZ with improved security for sensitive customer data, safeguarding it against unauthorised access. The integration offers additional benefits such as ensuring compliance with data security and privacy regulations, providing a comprehensive audit trail for easy compliance demonstration and security incident investigation, and streamlining data security processes, resulting in cost savings for the company.
For information about IBM Security solutions for SAP, please visit the following blog:
IBM's Comprehensive Security for SAP
To learn more about IBM Security Guardium and SAP BTP, please visit the following resources: