LogoLogo
2024.2
  • Immuta Documentation - 2024.2
  • What is Immuta?
  • Self-Managed Deployment
    • Getting Started
    • Deployment Requirements
    • Install
      • Managed Public Cloud
      • Red Hat OpenShift
      • Generic Installation
      • Immuta in an Air-Gapped Environment
      • Deploy Immuta without Elasticsearch
    • Configure
      • Ingress Configuration
      • Cosign Verification
      • TLS Configuration
      • Immuta in Production
      • External Cache Configuration
      • Rotating Credentials
      • Enabling Legacy Query Engine and Fingerprint
    • Upgrade
      • Upgrade Immuta
      • Upgrade to Immuta 2024.2 LTS
    • Disaster Recovery
    • Troubleshooting
    • Conventions
    • Release Notes
  • Data and Integrations
    • Immuta Integrations
    • Snowflake
      • Getting Started
      • How-to Guides
        • Configure a Snowflake Integration
        • Snowflake Table Grants Migration
        • Edit or Remove Your Snowflake Integration
        • Integration Settings
          • Enable Snowflake Table Grants
          • Use Snowflake Data Sharing with Immuta
          • Configure Snowflake Lineage Tag Propagation
          • Enable Snowflake Low Row Access Policy Mode
            • Upgrade Snowflake Low Row Access Policy Mode
      • Reference Guides
        • Snowflake Integration
        • Snowflake Data Sharing
        • Snowflake Lineage Tag Propagation
        • Snowflake Low Row Access Policy Mode
        • Snowflake Table Grants
        • Warehouse Sizing Recommendations
      • Phased Snowflake Onboarding Concept Guide
    • Databricks Unity Catalog
      • Getting Started
      • How-to Guides
        • Configure a Databricks Unity Catalog Integration
        • Migrate to Unity Catalog
      • Databricks Unity Catalog Integration Reference Guide
    • Databricks Spark
      • How-to Guides
        • Configuration
          • Simplified Databricks Configuration
          • Manual Databricks Configuration
          • Manually Update Your Databricks Cluster
          • Install a Trusted Library
        • DBFS Access
        • Limited Enforcement in Databricks
        • Hide the Immuta Database in Databricks
        • Run spark-submit Jobs on Databricks
        • Configure Project UDFs Cache Settings
        • External Metastores
      • Reference Guides
        • Databricks Spark Integration
        • Databricks Spark Pre-Configuration Details
        • Configuration Settings
          • Cluster Policies
            • Python & SQL
            • Python & SQL & R
            • Python & SQL & R with Library Support
            • Scala
            • Sparklyr
          • Environment Variables
          • Ephemeral Overrides
          • Py4j Security Error
          • Scala Cluster Security Details
          • Databricks Security Configuration for Performance
        • Databricks Change Data Feed
        • Databricks Libraries Introduction
        • Delta Lake API
        • Spark Direct File Reads
        • Databricks Metastore Magic
    • Starburst (Trino)
      • Getting Started
      • How-to Guides
        • Configure Starburst (Trino) Integration
        • Customize Read and Write Access Policies for Starburst (Trino)
      • Starburst (Trino) Integration Reference Guide
    • Redshift
      • Getting Started
      • How-to Guides
        • Configure Redshift Integration
        • Configure Redshift Spectrum
      • Reference Guides
        • Redshift Integration
        • Redshift Pre-Configuration Details
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
      • Getting Started
      • Configure Azure Synapse Analytics Integration
      • Reference Guides
        • Azure Synapse Analytics Integration
        • Azure Synapse Analytics Pre-Configuration Details
    • Amazon S3
    • Google BigQuery
    • Legacy Integrations
      • Securing Hive and Impala Without Sentry
      • Enabling ImmutaGroupsMapping
    • Registering Metadata
      • Data Sources in Immuta
      • Register Data Sources
        • Create a Data Source
        • Create an Amazon S3 Data Source
        • Create a Google BigQuery Data Source
        • Bulk Create Snowflake Data Sources
      • Data Source Settings
        • How-to Guides
          • Manage Data Sources and Data Source Settings
          • Manage Data Source Members
          • Manage Access Requests and Tasks
          • Manage Data Dictionary Descriptions
          • Disable Immuta from Sampling Raw Data
        • Data Source Health Checks Reference Guide
      • Schema Monitoring
        • How-to Guides
          • Run Schema Monitoring and Column Detection Jobs
          • Manage Schema Monitoring
        • Reference Guides
          • Schema Monitoring
          • Schema Projects
        • Why Use Schema Monitoring?
    • Catalogs
      • Getting Started with External Catalogs
      • Configure an External Catalog
      • Reference Guides
        • External Catalogs
        • Custom REST Catalogs
          • Custom REST Catalog Interface Endpoints
    • Tags
      • How-to Guides
        • Create and Manage Tags
        • Add Tags to Data Sources and Projects
      • Tags Reference Guide
  • People
    • Getting Started
    • Identity Managers (IAMs)
      • How-to Guides
        • Microsoft Entra ID
        • Okta LDAP Interface
        • Okta and OpenID Connect
        • Integrate Okta SAML SCIM with Immuta
        • OneLogin with OpenID
        • Configure SAML IAM Protocol
      • Reference Guides
        • Identity Managers
        • SAML Single Logout
        • SAML Protocol Configuration Options
    • Immuta Users
      • How-to Guides
        • Managing Personas and Permissions
        • Manage Attributes and Groups
        • User Impersonation
        • External User ID Mapping
        • External User Info Endpoint
      • Reference Guides
        • Attributes and Groups in Immuta
        • Permissions and Personas
  • Discover Your Data
    • Getting Started
    • Introduction
    • Architecture
    • Data Discovery
      • How-to Guides
        • Enable Sensitive Data Discovery (SDD)
        • Manage Identification Frameworks
        • Manage Patterns
        • Manage Rules
        • Manage SDD on Data Sources
        • Manage Global SDD Settings
        • Migrate From Legacy to Native SDD
      • Reference Guides
        • How Competitive Pattern Analysis Works
        • Built-in Pattern Reference
        • Built-in Discovered Tags Reference
    • Data Classification
      • How-to Guides
        • Activate Classification Frameworks
        • Adjust Identification and Classification Framework Tags
        • How to Use a Built-In Classification Framework with Your Own Tags
      • Built-in Classification Frameworks Reference Guide
  • Detect Your Activity
    • Getting Started
      • Monitor and Secure Sensitive Data Platform Query Activity
        • User Identity Best Practices
        • Integration Architecture
        • Snowflake Roles Best Practices
        • Register Data Sources
        • Automate Entity and Sensitivity Discovery
        • Detect with Discover: Onboarding Guide
        • Using Immuta Detect
      • General Immuta Configuration
        • User Identity Best Practices
        • Integration Architecture
        • Databricks Roles Best Practices
        • Register Data Sources
    • Introduction
    • Audit
      • How-to Guides
        • Export Audit Logs to S3
        • Export Audit Logs to ADLS
        • Run Governance Reports
      • Reference Guides
        • Universal Audit Model (UAM)
        • Snowflake Query Audit Logs
        • Databricks Unity Catalog Audit Logs
        • Databricks Query Audit Logs
        • Starburst (Trino) Query Audit Logs
        • UAM Schema
        • Audit Export CLI
        • Governance Report Types
      • Deprecated Audit Guides
        • Legacy to UAM Migration
        • Download Audit Logs
        • System Audit Logs
    • Detection
      • Use the Detect Dashboards
      • Reference Guides
        • Detect
        • Detect Dashboards
        • Unknown Users in Audit Logs
    • Monitors
      • Manage Monitors and Observations
      • Detect Monitors Reference Guide
  • Secure Your Data
    • Getting Started with Secure
      • Automate Data Access Control Decisions
        • The Two Paths: Orchestrated RBAC and ABAC
        • Managing User Metadata
        • Managing Data Metadata
        • Author Policy
        • Test and Deploy Policy
      • Compliantly Open More Sensitive Data for ML and Analytics
        • Managing User Metadata
        • Managing Data Metadata
        • Author Policy
      • Federated Governance for Data Mesh and Self-Serve Data Access
        • Defining Domains
        • Managing Data Products
        • Managing Data Metadata
        • Apply Federated Governance
        • Discover and Subscribe to Data Products
    • Introduction
      • Scalability and Evolvability
      • Understandability
      • Distributed Stewardship
      • Consistency
      • Availability of Data
    • Authoring Policies in Secure
      • Authoring Policies at Scale
      • Data Engineering with Limited Policy Downtime
      • Subscription Policies
        • How-to Guides
          • Author a Subscription Policy
          • Author an ABAC Subscription Policy
          • Subscription Policies Advanced DSL Guide
          • Author a Restricted Subscription Policy
          • Clone, Activate, or Stage a Global Policy
        • Reference Guides
          • Subscription Policies
          • Subscription Policy Access Types
          • Advanced Use of Special Functions
      • Data Policies
        • Overview
        • How-to Guides
          • Author a Masking Data Policy
          • Author a Minimization Policy
          • Author a Purpose-Based Restriction Policy
          • Author a Restricted Data Policy
          • Author a Row-Level Policy
          • Author a Time-Based Restriction Policy
          • Certifications Exemptions and Diffs
          • External Masking Interface
        • Reference Guides
          • Data Policy Types
          • Masking Policies
          • Row-Level Policies
          • Custom WHERE Clause Functions
          • Data Policy Conflicts and Fallback
          • Custom Data Policy Certifications
          • Orchestrated Masking Policies
    • Domains
      • Getting Started with Domains
      • Domains Reference Guide
    • Projects and Purpose-Based Access Control
      • Projects and Purpose Controls
        • Getting Started
        • How-to Guides
          • Create a Project
          • Create and Manage Purposes
          • Adjust a Policy
          • Project Management
            • Manage Projects and Project Settings
            • Manage Project Data Sources
            • Manage Project Members
        • Reference Guides
          • Projects and Purposes
          • Policy Adjustments
        • Why Use Purposes?
      • Equalized Access
        • Manage Project Equalization
        • Project Equalization Reference Guide
        • Why Use Project Equalization?
      • Masked Joins
        • Enable Masked Joins
        • Why Use Masked Joins?
      • Writing to Projects
        • How-to Guides
          • Create and Manage Snowflake Project Workspaces
          • Create and Manage Databricks Project Workspaces
          • Write Data to the Workspace
        • Reference Guides
          • Project Workspaces
          • Project UDFs (Databricks)
    • Data Consumers
      • Subscribe to a Data Source
      • Query Data
        • Querying Snowflake Data
        • Querying Databricks Data
        • Querying Databricks SQL Data
        • Querying Starburst (Trino) Data
        • Querying Redshift Data
        • Querying Azure Synapse Analytics Data
      • Subscribe to Projects
  • Application Settings
    • How-to Guides
      • App Settings
      • BI Tools
        • BI Tool Configuration Recommendations
        • Power BI Configuration Example
        • Tableau Configuration Example
      • Add a License Key
      • Add ODBC Drivers
      • Manage Encryption Keys
      • System Status Bundle
    • Reference Guides
      • Data Processing, Encryption, and Masking Practices
      • Metadata Ingestion
  • Releases
    • Immuta v2024.2 Release Notes
    • Immuta Release Lifecycle
    • Immuta LTS Changelog
    • Immuta Support Matrix Overview
    • Immuta CLI Release Notes
    • Immuta Image Digests
    • Preview Features
      • Features in Preview
    • Deprecations
  • Developer Guides
    • The Immuta CLI
      • Install and Configure the Immuta CLI
      • Manage Your Immuta Tenant
      • Manage Data Sources
      • Manage Sensitive Data Discovery
        • Manage Sensitive Data Discovery Rules
        • Manage Identification Frameworks
        • Run Sensitive Data Discovery on Data Sources
      • Manage Policies
      • Manage Projects
      • Manage Purposes
    • The Immuta API
      • Integrations API
        • Getting Started
        • How-to Guides
          • Configure an Amazon S3 Integration
          • Configure an Azure Synapse Analytics Integration
          • Configure a Databricks Unity Catalog Integration
          • Configure a Google BigQuery Integration
          • Configure a Redshift Integration
          • Configure a Snowflake Integration
          • Configure a Starburst (Trino) Integration
        • Reference Guides
          • Integrations API Endpoints
          • Integration Configuration Payload
          • Response Schema
          • HTTP Status Codes and Error Messages
      • Immuta V2 API
        • Data Source Payload Attribute Details
        • Data Source Request Payload Examples
        • Create Policies API Examples
        • Create Projects API Examples
        • Create Purposes API Examples
      • Immuta V1 API
        • Authenticate with the API
        • Configure Your Instance of Immuta
          • Get Fingerprint Status
          • Get Job Status
          • Manage Frameworks
          • Manage IAMs
          • Manage Licenses
          • Manage Notifications
          • Manage Sensitive Data Discovery (SDD)
          • Manage Tags
          • Manage Webhooks
          • Search Filters
        • Connect Your Data
          • Create and Manage an Amazon S3 Data Source
          • Create an Azure Synapse Analytics Data Source
          • Create an Azure Blob Storage Data Source
          • Create a Databricks Data Source
          • Create a Presto Data Source
          • Create a Redshift Data Source
          • Create a Snowflake Data Source
          • Create a Starburst (Trino) Data Source
          • Manage the Data Dictionary
        • Manage Data Access
          • Manage Access Requests
          • Manage Data and Subscription Policies
          • Manage Domains
          • Manage Write Policies
            • Write Policies Payloads and Response Schema Reference Guide
          • Policy Handler Objects
          • Search Audit Logs
          • Search Connection Strings
          • Search for Organizations
          • Search Schemas
        • Subscribe to and Manage Data Sources
        • Manage Projects and Purposes
          • Manage Projects
          • Manage Purposes
        • Generate Governance Reports
Powered by GitBook

Other versions

  • SaaS
  • 2024.3

Copyright © 2014-2024 Immuta Inc. All rights reserved.

On this page
  • What is the difference between entity tags and classification tags?
  • Why isn’t entity tagging sufficient for classification?
  • What is a framework?
  • What are the benefits of classification?

Was this helpful?

Export as PDF
  1. Discover Your Data

Data Classification

About Classification in Immuta

PreviousBuilt-in Discovered Tags ReferenceNextHow-to Guides

Last updated 9 months ago

Was this helpful?

Public preview: This feature is available to all accounts.

Classification is the process in which data is categorized by the content and the associated risk level based on context. To classify your data, Discover evaluates your data in phases:

  1. Sensitive data discovery (SDD) runs to identify your data by content type. The data is discovered and evaluated by the pattern it matches and is tagged.

  2. The Data Security Framework scans those tags and any other tags applied to the data source and columns to categorize the data by context. This phase considers the data and the data surrounding it to understand the category of the data within the context of the data source.

  3. Other regulatory-based frameworks scan and build off of the Data Security Framework tags. These frameworks are specific to regulations and standards and tag the data that matters to each framework.

  4. The Risk Assessment Framework scans and builds off of the Data Security Framework. This framework tags data with specific risk assessment tags that describe the risk the data poses to your organization or the data subject. They also contain additional metadata used in the to describe the risk as sensitivity and visualize when that sensitive data is accessed.

Every phase of classification in Immuta can be customized to find and tag the data your organization cares about. Users can customize the Data Security Framework to find, match, and tag data they want categorized based on the organization's processes. Then, users can modify the by adjusting the sensitivity of classification tags to the organization’s policies or creating new tags and rules in customized frameworks. After data is classified, classification tags can be used to or .

Using Discover classification to assign risk and sensitivity levels to your data and Detect dashboards to visualize the risk levels offers these benefits:

  • Increasing the semantic understanding of your data to better meet compliance requirements

  • Reducing the time to make decisions about what data access is allowed under what purposes

  • Reducing the effort and time to respond to auditors about data access in your company

  • Reducing the labor of classifying data to enumerate what data is within the scope of security or regulatory compliance frameworks

What is the difference between entity tags and classification tags?

Both entity and classification tags describe the content of data on a per-column basis, and you can use them to and . However, there are key differences between the two:

  • Entity tags are applied through identification and describe what the data is. SDD applies entity tags to columns based on the patterns of the data.

  • Classification tags are applied through categorization and risk assessment and describe the context of the data and the risk it poses. Using classification frameworks, classification tags are applied to columns based on the entity tags previously applied by SDD. Additional classification tags can then be applied, providing even more context or expressing the property of the record rather than just the column.

Why isn’t entity tagging sufficient for classification?

Entity tags describe the contents of individual columns, in isolation. But you don't access individual columns in isolation, so why would you determine their sensitivity that way? Entity tags do not attempt to and cannot contextualize column contents with neighboring columns' contents. This means that connections between data are lost if they cannot be identified through a pattern within the column itself. Classification tags describe the contents of a table with the context of all its columns, providing a holistic view of the risk of the data for what it is, rather than the pattern it fits. Context is necessary to understand whether your data is public or private data, risky or safe to have ungoverned access, or sensitive and creating toxic joins when accessed with other tables.

Additionally, entity tagging does not indicate how sensitive the data is, but classification tags can carry a sensitivity level. For example, an entity tag may identify a column that contains telephone numbers, but the entity tag alone cannot say that the column is sensitive. A phone number associated with a person may be classified as sensitive, while the publicly listed phone number of a company might not be considered sensitive.

After you understand what entities your data contains using SDD, you need to adopt frameworks that determine what combinations of data constitute sensitive data and their level of sensitivity.

What is a framework?

Frameworks are a set of data categories and a set of classification rules to place data into those categories. In Immuta, the data categories are represented by tags, and when data fits a classification rule the tag is applied:

  • Classification rules determine how each classification tag is applied. These rules can apply tags based on tags already on the column, tags applied to neighboring columns, and tags applied to the data source. This means that the complete data source is considered when classifying your data sources, and even tags applied to individual columns can affect the risk level of the entire data source.

What are the benefits of classification?

Data classification is a process, and with Immuta, much of it is automated. This means that you can reap the benefits of classified and tagged data quicker and easier than manually classifying and tagging it:

For example, under HIPAA, a list of procedures a doctor performed is only considered protected health information (PHI) if it can be associated with the identity of patients. Since entity tagging operates on a single column-by-column basis, it cannot reason whether or not a column containing procedure codes merits classification as PHI. Therefore, entity tagging will not tag procedure codes as PHI. But classification tagging will tag it PHI if it detects patient identity information in the other columns of the table. This is an example that Immuta built-in frameworks can address out-of-the-box using the .

Classification tags are applied based on the Discovered tags from SDD or other tags on the data source. Classification tags contain additional metadata about each column, such as the source of the tag, the dimension, and the sensitivity level. This metadata is used in the framework rules and complex formulas that assign the sensitivity of queries visible in .

Frameworks are often built off of an interpretation of regulatory frameworks or standards, such as the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the PCI standard. However, organizations can also build frameworks that represent their internal business processes. When used in Immuta, they automate data tagging and provide, through the , information about what data you have immediately after it is registered in Immuta.

See the for more information about the frameworks Immuta provides out-of-the-box.

Quick data access control: Use Discover to identify and classify your data immediately after registration in Immuta. Then, off of those tags. This repeatable process will protect your data in its current state and whenever any new data sources are created. Automate the process further with ; schema monitoring allows you to register data just once. Then, Immuta will monitor your data environment for changes and, when found, update the data source in Immuta, update the tags on that data source, and then update user access based on your governance policies when changes happen.

Scale your data monitoring: Use Discover to identify and classify your data immediately after registration in Immuta. Then, view your data users' access to your sensitive and risky data through the .

Build data platform compliance: Use and customize the to identify and classify your data based on the industry practices and regulations your organization needs to abide by. The Immuta compliance frameworks are templates to provide a strong starting point for further customization to what matters to your organization. Once those frameworks are built, use them to classify your data immediately after data registration in Immuta.

Data Security and HIPAA frameworks
Detect dashboards
Built-in classification frameworks guide
build Secure governance policies
schema monitoring
Detect dashboards
built-in compliance frameworks
Detect dashboards
build Secure policies
visualize sensitive data access in Detect dashboards
monitor data access
build access policies
Risk Assessment Framework
data inventory dashboard