From Law to Action: Mastering DSPM with 5R of Data Security - Part 2

In the previous section of this blog, you read about the core principles of the DPDP Act and demystifyied how DSPM works as well as mapped the key requirements of DPDP against the capabilities of a DSPM solution. It’s time to operationalise the act together and create a robust approach with practical solutions and frameworks.

Let’s talk operational use-cases for DSPM from a compliance aspect too -

Automated Data Discovery and Classification:

• Scenario: A large e-commerce company processes millions of customer records. DSPM can automatically discover and classify PII (Personally Identifiable Information) like names, addresses, phone numbers, and payment details across their on-premise databases, cloud storage (AWS S3, Azure Blob), and SaaS applications.

• DPDP Relevance: Essential for understanding what personal data is held, where it resides, and its sensitivity, which is the first step towards compliance with data minimization and security obligations.

Continuous Risk Assessment and Vulnerability Management for Personal Data:

• Scenario: A healthcare provider stores patient medical records in a cloud environment. DSPM continuously monitors for misconfigurations (e.g., publicly accessible S3 buckets containing patient data), weak access controls, or unencrypted data. It can alert if a sensitive database is exposed to the internet.

• DPDP Relevance: Directly addresses the "reasonable security measures" and "data breach prevention" requirements by proactively identifying and prioritizing data-centric risks.

Real-time Detection of Overexposed Personal Data:

• Scenario: An employee accidentally shares a spreadsheet containing customer contact information with a public folder in a cloud storage service. DSPM can detect this "overexposure" immediately and trigger an alert, allowing the security team to revoke access and rectify the situation before a breach occurs.

• DPDP Relevance: Crucial for preventing unauthorized disclosure and fulfilling the obligation to protect data confidentiality.

Monitoring and Enforcing Data Access Policies:

• Scenario: A financial institution has strict policies on who can access customer financial data. DSPM can monitor all access attempts, identify unauthorized access patterns (e.g., an employee accessing data outside their role), and flag suspicious activities. It can also help enforce least-privilege access.

• DPDP Relevance: Supports the "integrity and confidentiality" principle and helps in demonstrating accountability for data access.

Supporting Data Subject Rights (Access and Erasure):

• Scenario: A customer requests to see all the personal data a company holds about them or requests its deletion. DSPM's data discovery and classification capabilities can quickly pinpoint all instances of that customer's data across various systems, making it easier to fulfill the Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) or ensure complete erasure.

• DPDP Relevance: Facilitates compliance with the "Right to Access" and "Right to Erasure" provisions by providing a comprehensive view of the data principal's data.

Automated Data Retention Policy Enforcement:

• Scenario: A marketing company needs to delete customer consent data after a specified period as per DPDP Act. DSPM can identify data that has reached its retention expiry and flag it for deletion, or in some cases, even automate the deletion process securely.

• DPDP Relevance: Directly supports the "Storage Limitation" principle.

Third-Party Risk Management:

• Scenario: An organization uses several SaaS applications to process personal data. DSPM can help assess and monitor the security posture of the data residing within these third-party environments, ensuring that vendors are adhering to the necessary security standards.

• DPDP Relevance: Addresses the Data Fiduciary's obligation to ensure that Data Processors (third parties) also comply with data protection requirements.

Frameworks for Data Security

While there isn't one single "DPDP Act compliance framework" that is universally adopted, organizations can leverage existing robust cybersecurity and privacy frameworks and adapt them for DPDP compliance, with DSPM playing a crucial enabling role. Here are some frameworks and approaches:

NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF)

ISO 27001 (Information Security Management System)

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) Framework

Privacy by Design and Default & Internal Data Governance Frameworks

In the realm of data security, data management, and privacy, there is an emerging and well-adopted "5R" framework of Data Security:

The "5Rs of Data Security" - From Wiz

Read the Full Blog : https://www.wiz.io/blog/operationalize-data-security

This is a framework specifically designed to help organizations respond to and manage data security risks, particularly in cloud environments. It focuses on practical actions to improve data posture. The 5 R’s typically stand for:

• Reduce: Focus on stopping data sprawl and eliminating unnecessary data. This involves identifying and deleting "shadow data" (unknown, unmanaged data), duplicate data, or data that has exceeded its retention period.

  • DPDP Relevance: Directly supports Data Minimization and Storage Limitation. DSPM excels at identifying stale, redundant, or orphaned personal data that can be safely removed.

• Restrict: Limit access to sensitive data to only those who absolutely need it. This involves mapping and removing over privileged access, ensuring least privilege, and segmenting data.

  • DPDP Relevance: Crucial for enforcing Security Measures and preventing unauthorized access. DSPM helps identify overprivileged users and misconfigured access controls.

• Relabel: Accurately classify data based on its sensitivity and regulatory requirements. This involves tagging cloud assets and data stores with their corresponding data sensitivity levels (e.g., PII, confidential, public).

  • DPDP Relevance: Fundamental for Data Classification, which informs all other DPDP compliance efforts. DSPM's automated classification is key here.

• Relocate: Ensure data resides in appropriate locations based on regulatory requirements and data residency laws. This involves moving data to compliant regions or more secure storage.

  • DPDP Relevance: Important for Data Residency (though the DPDP Act allows for data transfer outside India under certain conditions, it still requires secure transfers and adherence to the Act's principles). DSPM can help identify data stored in non-compliant locations.

• Reconfigure: Ensure that security configurations are properly applied to data and its surrounding infrastructure. This includes ensuring encryption is enabled, logging is adequate, and other security settings are optimal.

  • DPDP Relevance: Directly addresses the Security Measures requirement. DSPM helps identify and recommend remediation for misconfigurations that could expose personal data.

In a nutshell, when evaluating the synergies of DPDP Act and DSPM technology, one of the most relevant framework is undoubtedly the "5Rs of Data Security" (Reduce, Restrict, Relabel, Relocate, Reconfigure) - (Above is a snapshot from Wiz 5Rs of Data Security).

As India's DPDP Act reshapes the data landscape, robust compliance demands a synchronized approach. By leveraging DSPM's capabilities to operationalize the 5R framework, organizations can bridge the gap between legal mandates and actionable data security, ensuring both regulatory adherence and sustained trust.

Ready to Transform Your Data Security Posture? Learn how integrating DSPM and the 5Rs can secure your data and future-proof your compliance strategy - Request a demo from Wiz