We Need CI/CD for Data Security

In the not-so-distant past, software teams would develop an application and then have to integrate the work of multiple developers into one finished product. In his seminal essay "Continuous Integration," Martin Fowler recalls visiting an office where the team had been developing an application for several years and were now months deep into the integration process. Fast forward to today, and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) have become standard practices, allowing software to be updated regularly without downtime.

On the other hand, security, particularly data access control, is not quite there yet. Today, access to data is managed separately on different data warehouses, lakes, production databases, and business intelligence (BI) tools. It's all painfully manual, involves duplicate work in managing access to multiple data stores, and compromises the security of your customer data. Not to mention that it leaves people waiting for access to data they need to do their jobs, which opens the door to shadow IT and further security risks.

This way of managing data access is a relic from a time when organizations dealt with smaller data volumes and simpler use cases. In recent years, there's been a major transformation in data technologies and use cases, while tools and processes for securing sensitive data have barely moved. Just like CI/CD transformed software development, we need a similar revolution in data security.

The Current State of Data Security

According to IBM's 2024 "Cost of a Data Breach Report," customer data is involved in 43% of data breaches. Clearly, security teams are struggling with the complexity of protecting sensitive data.

And not without reason — most modern systems follow a microservices architecture, where each service has its own API server and database. This creates environments that are vastly more complex than those of 10 or 15 years ago, with sensitive data spread out in dozens of different database technologies across hundreds of database instances.

Security processes often involve three main steps:

While these steps may seem straightforward, they rarely are in practice. With new data stores constantly being added, organizations frequently find themselves stuck on discovery and classification, with little focus on enforcing effective controls. And when security teams are stuck in outdated processes, they leave vulnerabilities open.

The Case for Integrated Data Security

The way to bridge this gap is to adopt a CI/CD-like approach to data security. This involves integrating security processes into the data life cycle, enabling real-time visibility and control that can adapt as data flows change. Here's how we can reimagine data security through a CI/CD lens:

Integrated Visibility and Control

Just as CI/CD pipelines allow for continuous integration of code changes, data security must integrate visibility and control mechanisms. The newest breed of tools, data security platforms, allow you to not only discover and classify data, but also enforce security policies in real time. This way, as data is accessed or modified, security protocols automatically adjust, ensuring robust protection without delaying access.

Automation at Every Step

Automation is a cornerstone of CI/CD, and the same must be true for data security. By automating routine tasks such as monitoring data access and enforcing permissions, security teams can free up resources to focus on more interesting work. Automation allows for quicker responses to security incidents and helps ensure compliance without the burden of manual processes.

Real-Time Adaptability

Data environments are fluid, and security measures need to be equally dynamic. An effective approach to data security requires systems that can adapt security controls to changes in user roles or datasets, ensuring that data is protected while still being accessible to those who need it.

Conclusion

Effective data security relies on clear visibility and control over sensitive information. Once companies fully understand what data they hold, who has access, and how that data is being used, they can automate security measures in response to real-time risks, reducing the chance of unauthorized access.

This approach allows security teams to efficiently manage data exposure while focusing on strategic priorities. As data environments grow more complex, having a unified view of security can simplify processes and minimize vulnerabilities. By prioritizing context-rich visibility and adaptive controls, organizations can better protect their sensitive information and navigate the evolving landscape of data security. Embracing this vision enables teams to respond effectively to challenges and safeguard their data assets.

By Eldad Chai, CEO & Co-Founder, Satori

About the Author:

Prior to founding Satori, Eldad Chai was the senior vice president of product management and a member of the senior executive team at Imperva. Before Imperva, Eldad was one of the first employees at Incapsula, a cloud-based Web applications security and acceleration company, where he led product, research, and sales until the company was acquired by Imperva in 2014.

Eldad holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Communication Systems Engineering from Ben-Gurion University.