Implementing Cloud DLP for Data Protection

When to Use

• When compliance frameworks (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS) require automated sensitive data discovery and protection
• When building data governance programs that classify and label data across cloud storage
• When implementing data loss prevention controls for cloud-based data pipelines
• When auditing cloud environments for unprotected sensitive data (PII, PHI, financial data)
• When integrating DLP scanning into CI/CD pipelines to prevent sensitive data from reaching production

Do not use for endpoint DLP (use Microsoft Purview or Symantec DLP agents), for email DLP (use Microsoft 365 DLP or Google Workspace DLP), or for network-level data exfiltration prevention (use VPC endpoint policies and network firewalls).

Prerequisites

• Amazon Macie enabled with appropriate S3 bucket permissions
• Google Cloud DLP API enabled (gcloud services enable dlp.googleapis.com)
• Azure Information Protection or Microsoft Purview configured
• IAM permissions for DLP service administration and data access
• Knowledge of data sensitivity categories relevant to the organization (PII, PHI, PCI, proprietary)