Sensitive Data Guidelines
1. Identify High-Risk APIs
-
Focus on APIs flagged under Shadow,
Privilege, and UnAuth categories.
-
Prioritize APIs with large PII counts, especially those exposing data
in
Response.Body
.
2. Trace Sensitive Data Flow
-
Identify where and how PII is collected (e.g.,
Request.Body
).
- Check for unnecessary exposure or propagation in responses.
3. Classify and Label
-
Label parameters based on type (email, phone, token, etc.) using
platform insights.
-
Prioritize remediation based on risk severity and
business impact.
Recommendations for Reducing PII Exposure
๐ซ Eliminate Unnecessary PII
- Audit both request and response payloads regularly.
- Remove PII not essential for functionality or compliance.
๐ Avoid PII in URL Path or Query Parameters
-
Do not transmit sensitive data (e.g., emails, tokens) via
Request.Path
or Request.Query
.
- Use encrypted
POST
bodies instead.
๐งน Limit Sensitive Data in Responses
- Exclude unnecessary PII from client responses.
- Avoid echoing sensitive data like passwords or PINs.
๐งโ๐ผ Apply Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
-
Ensure that only authorized users or roles can access APIs exposing
sensitive data.
๐ต๏ธ Monitor Shadow & Unauthenticated APIs
- Continuously scan and inventory all APIs.
- Secure or disable undocumented or unused endpoints.
๐งท Mask, Tokenize, or Encrypt PII
- Use field-level masking in logs and API responses.
- Encrypt or tokenize sensitive data in transit and at rest.
Compliance & Best Practices
-
Ensure alignment with regulations such as
GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, PCI-DSS, etc.
-
Conduct regular sensitive data discovery and audits using
AppSentinels.
-
Enable alerts for:
- Abnormal PII flow patterns
- Unusual access behaviors
- New exposure instances