Effortless Data Compliance for Amazon RDS

Data compliance in modern environments like Amazon RDS demands more than checkbox auditing. It requires real-time visibility, automated safeguards, and proactive detection across diverse environments. Whether you're running PostgreSQL or SQL Server, the goal remains consistent—reduce risk and ensure audit-readiness without adding operational burden.

This article walks through native capabilities in Amazon RDS (with PostgreSQL examples), then explores how DataSunrise amplifies these foundations with autonomous, zero-touch capabilities for complete compliance coverage.

Native Tools in Amazon RDS for Effortless Compliance

Real-Time Audit for PostgreSQL with pgaudit

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL supports real-time auditing through the pgaudit extension. This allows logging of SQL statements issued by users for traceability and compliance monitoring.

Enable pgaudit in your PostgreSQL RDS instance:

-- Connect to your PostgreSQL RDS instance as an admin user
ALTER SYSTEM SET shared_preload_libraries = 'pgaudit';
ALTER SYSTEM SET pgaudit.log = 'all';
SELECT pg_reload_conf();

Configure the logging level in the parameter group, then review your CloudWatch logs for activity details.

More on this setup is available in the AWS PostgreSQL auditing guide.

Dynamic Data Masking

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL supports dynamic data masking through custom views and functions, ensuring that sensitive data like phone numbers and credit card details remain hidden from unauthorized users.

CREATE VIEW masked_customers AS
SELECT
    id,
    name,
    email,
    'XXX-XXX-' || RIGHT(phone, 4) AS phone_masked,
    LEFT(cc_number, 4) || '-XXXX-XXXX-' || RIGHT(cc_number, 4) AS cc_masked
FROM customers;

-- Access this view instead of the original table
SELECT * FROM masked_customers;

Detailed techniques are provided in this AWS blog on PostgreSQL dynamic masking, applicable to RDS for PostgreSQL.

Data Discovery with Amazon Macie and AWS DataZone

To classify sensitive data automatically, Amazon RDS integrates with Amazon Macie. You can scan exported snapshots and data in S3 using Macie's content inspection for PII or PHI.

Additionally, AWS DataZone helps organize and tag data assets across environments for better governance.

Learn how to enable classification for Amazon RDS with Macie.

Zero-Touch Compliance with DataSunrise

Amazon RDS deploys DataSunrise to deliver Effortless Data Compliance with zero-touch implementation. This approach integrates Auto-Discover & Mask, No-Code Policy Automation, and Flexible Deployment Modes—including native platform support for AWS, GCP, and Azure. By operating in non-intrusive modes like proxy, sniffer, and log trailing, DataSunrise ensures seamless integration without infrastructure changes.

Learn more about these deployment modes.

Real-Time Audit with Autonomous Rules

DataSunrise offers Autonomous Compliance Orchestration using self-learning audit rules that adapt to behavior patterns, reducing false positives and manual tuning. Real-time Database Activity Monitoring ensures Continuous Regulatory Calibration, aligning with frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.

With audit storage optimizations, compliance events are instantly available for review.

Dynamic Masking with Fine-Grained Control

Unlike static views, DataSunrise applies Zero-Touch Data Masking at query time. Its Dynamic Data Masking engine supports Surgical Precision Masking, enabling role-aware protection of names, emails, and financial data.

Rules are fully customizable and deployable in minutes, with support for PII classification and synthetic data generation for test environments.

Intelligent Data Discovery

The Data Discovery engine automatically scans RDS instances for PII, PHI, and financial data, tagging them by type and regulatory context. Built-in policies align with Compliance Regulations and allow quick configuration of alerting or masking based on discovered sensitivity.

The engine supports OCR Image Scanning, NLP Data Classification, and Automatic Policy Generation, accelerating compliance readiness.

Seamless Enterprise Integration

DataSunrise’s Compliance Manager delivers Real-Time Regulatory Alignment across hybrid environments. Whether your workloads run fully in AWS or across multiple clouds, the Unified Security Framework ensures consistent policies and protection.

With report generation tools and one-click audit trails, audit readiness becomes automatic.

Competitive Edge in Compliance Automation

Unlike solutions that require constant tuning, DataSunrise delivers true Autonomous Compliance Orchestration with No-Code Policy Automation and intelligent defaults. It combines a user-friendly interface with ML Audit Rules, User Behavior Monitoring, and granular access controls demanded by security teams.

Explore more in the overview of DataSunrise’s capabilities.

Conclusion

Effortless Data Compliance for Amazon RDS is achievable using a combination of native AWS tools and DataSunrise’s autonomous platform. Native features like pgaudit, Macie, and Athena provide a solid foundation. DataSunrise amplifies this with zero-touch deployment, continuous compliance posture, and rich automation.

This unified approach delivers audit-ready results, minimizes compliance gaps, and significantly reduces operational burden.

Schedule a DataSunrise demo today to see how quickly you can go live.