Keeping SAP HANA data safe on Microsoft Azure with CipherTrust Transparent Encryption

⇨ Enterprises using SAP HANA on cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure face increasing challenges in protecting sensitive data due to evolving threats and strict compliance regulations, necessitating robust security controls.

⇨ Compliance with data protection laws such as HIPAA, GDPR, and the UK Data Protection Act is critical, and organizations need to ensure that their data security measures do not negatively impact database performance.

⇨ Implementing solutions like Thales' CipherTrust Transparent Encryption allows organizations to secure SAP HANA databases in Azure without altering the underlying architecture, facilitating compliance and enhancing security without straining IT resources.

SAP HANA is an integral part of many enterprise networks, including those hosted on cloud-based platform Microsoft Azure. Due to the large, growing repositories of sensitive data, regulated by both internal governance rules and external compliance measures, the process in protecting SAP HANA databases grows more complex. An ever-evolving threat landscape and further scrutiny on data governance means enterprises must instate robust data security controls.

HIPAA and HITECH from the US, the UK Data Protection Act, the EU Data Protection Directive and the GDPR are all examples of recent attempts of governmental data protection – all acts that need to be adhered to when considering enterprise operations in these particular locales. Security for SAP HANA databases, however, is sometimes hard to ensure in remote cloud environments like Microsoft Azure. It’s even harder to guarantee security and protection without negatively impacting database performance.

Whatever approach organizations choose when addressing SAP HANA protection, it needs to satisfy both privacy and audit requirements, while also having almost no negative impact on IT operations. While encryption measures help meet compliance requirements may not be fully addressed.

Enterprise security specialist Thales suggests that SAP HANA-enhanced databases, when deployed with CipherTrust Transparent Encryption,can enforce vital security policies that aid in the prevention of unauthorized admins, root users or privileged users from gaining access where they shouldn’t. Moreover, Microsoft Azure, being cloud-based, can receive the security benefits of the SAP HANA and Thales partnership.

CipherTrust Transparent Encryption can secure data hosted on the Microsoft Azure platform, specifically targeting data that must meet compliance requirements, without needing to change the underlying database or hardware infrastructure. This approach can help by providing granular and configurable auditing and reporting of access requests to data. It can also change internal security policies to meet evolving governance requirements.

Implementing an encryption solution like the one offered by Thales can help secure SAP data in Microsoft Azure without being a drain on IT infrastructure. With this kind of protection in place, it becomes possible for businesses to scale the solution to thousands of different systems and files – exactly the news a business looking for long-term security measures wants to hear.