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Best practices for security, compliance, and privacy

The Databricks Security Best Practices guide, including a downloadable PDF, is available on the Databricks Security & Trust Center. The sections in this article list the best practices from this guide along the principles of this pillar.

1. Manage identity and access using least privilege​

Account setup and identity configuration​

During deployment, configure Databricks account administration, SSO, and user provisioning to establish a secure foundation:

  • Assign account admin roles to 2-3 trusted individuals only
  • Configure SSO with OIDC or SAML for centralized authentication
  • Enable automatic identity management or SCIM provisioning to automate user and group synchronization from your identity provider
  • Set up identity federation to link corporate identities across workspaces
  • Configure multifactor authentication at the identity provider level
  • Define emergency access procedures for account recovery

For step-by-step account setup procedures, see Phase 1: Design account and identity strategy.

Identity and access management best practices​

  • Authenticate via single sign-on (SSO) at the account level
  • Leverage multi-factor authentication
  • Enable unified login and configure emergency access
  • Use automatic identity management to synchronize users and groups (or SCIM if your identity provider is not supported)
  • Limit the number of admin users
  • Enforce segregation of duties between administrative accounts
  • Restrict workspace admins
  • Manage access according to the principle of least privilege
  • Use OAuth token authentication
  • Enforce token management
  • Restrict cluster creation rights
  • Use compute policies
  • Use service principals to run administrative tasks and production workloads
  • Use compute that supports user isolation
  • Store and use secrets securely
  • Use a restricted cross-account IAM role

Details are in the PDF referenced at the beginning of this article.

2. Protect data in transit and at rest​

  • Centralise data governance with Unity Catalog
  • Plan your data isolation model
  • Avoid storing production data in DBFS
  • Encrypt your S3 buckets and prevent public access
  • Apply bucket policies
  • Use S3 versioning
  • Backup your S3 data
  • Configure customer-managed keys for managed services
  • Configure customer-managed keys for storage
  • Use OpenSharing
  • Configure an OpenSharing recipient token lifetime
  • Additionally encrypt sensitive data at rest using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
  • Leverage data exfiltration prevention settings within the workspace
  • Use Clean Rooms to collaborate in a privacy-safe environment

Details are in the PDF referenced at the beginning of this article.

3. Secure your network and protect endpoints​

Network deployment considerations for AWS​

Deploy secure network infrastructure for Databricks workspaces on AWS. The following steps establish secure connectivity:

  • Create a VPC with minimum /18 CIDR block for workspace deployments
  • Provision private subnets in multiple Availability Zones for high availability
  • Configure NAT gateway for outbound internet access from private subnets
  • Set up security groups to control traffic to and from Databricks clusters
  • Deploy AWS PrivateLink for private connectivity to Databricks control plane
  • Enable Secure Cluster Connectivity (SCC) to eliminate inbound open ports
  • Configure VPN or Direct Connect for on-premises connectivity (if required)
  • Implement network segmentation to isolate production and non-production environments

For step-by-step AWS network configuration, see AWS network architecture.

Network security best practices​

  • Use a customer-managed VPC
  • Configure IP access lists
  • Use AWS PrivateLink
  • Implement network exfiltration protections
  • Isolate sensitive workloads into different networks
  • Configure a firewall for serverless compute access
  • Restrict access to valuable codebases to only trusted networks

Details are in the PDF referenced at the beginning of this article.

4. Meet compliance and data privacy requirements​

  • Restart compute on a regular schedule
  • Isolate sensitive workloads into different workspaces
  • Assign Unity Catalog securables to specific workspaces
  • Implement fine-grained access controls
  • Apply tags
  • Use lineage
  • Use AWS Nitro instances
  • Use Enhanced Security Monitoring or Compliance Security Profile
  • Control & monitor workspace access for Databricks personnel
  • Implement and test a Disaster Recovery strategy

Details are in the PDF referenced at the beginning of this article.

5. Monitor system security​

  • Leverage system tables
  • Monitor system activities via AWS CloudTrail and other logs
  • Enable verbose audit logging
  • Manage code versions with Git folders
  • Restrict usage to trusted code repositories
  • Provision infrastructure via infrastructure-as-code
  • Manage code via CI/CD
  • Control library installation
  • Use models and data from only trusted or reputable sources
  • Implement DevSecOps processes
  • Use data quality monitoring
  • Use inference tables and AI Guardrails
  • Use tagging as part of your cost monitoring and charge-back strategy
  • Use budgets to monitor account spending
  • Use AWS service quotas

Details are in the PDF referenced at the beginning of this article.

Additional Resources​

- Download and review the Databricks AI Security Framework (DASF) to understand how to mitigate AI security threats based on real-world attack scenarios

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