How to Ensure Compliance for Sybase

Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) is a high-performance relational database still widely used in industries like finance, telecom, and government. Due to its handling of sensitive workloads and legacy system integration, maintaining data compliance within Sybase environments is vital. In this guide, we explain how to ensure compliance using Sybase's native audit features and how DataSunrise strengthens security and reporting capabilities for modern regulatory needs.

Why Compliance Matters in Sybase Systems

Data compliance helps organizations follow laws such as GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, and PCI DSS. These regulations ensure that sensitive information is processed and stored responsibly. Sybase, often used for customer and transaction data, must support audit trails and access monitoring to meet these legal and industry obligations.

Neglecting compliance can lead to data breaches, fines, or legal actions. A reliable audit trail also helps in incident forensics, accountability, and trust with clients and regulators.

Native Compliance Features in Sybase ASE

Sybase ASE includes a built-in auditing mechanism that logs server-level and database-level events. To use it effectively, database administrators must manually configure policies and ensure logs are securely stored.

Enabling the Audit Feature

Before auditing can begin, Sybase ASE requires initialization and configuration of the audit subsystem. Here's a detailed step-by-step guide:

1. Enable the auditing option at the server level

Audit functionality must first be enabled:

sp_configure 'auditing', 1

To verify that the configuration change was successful:

sp_helpconfig 'auditing'

You may need to restart the ASE server for changes to take effect:

shutdown with nowait
-- restart ASE instance

2. Initialize the audit system

Once auditing is enabled, initialize the audit system. This step creates the sybsecurity database and necessary system tables:

sp_auditinit

This must be run only once. It sets up audit logging infrastructure.

3. Enable auditing for specific events

Use sp_audit to configure exactly what should be audited:

-- Audit all successful and failed login attempts
sp_audit 'login', 'all', 'all', 'on'

-- Audit all SELECT operations on sensitive tables
sp_audit 'select', 'table', 'customer_data', 'on'

-- Audit creation of new tables
sp_audit 'create', 'table', 'all', 'on'

You can scope the audit to:

• Specific actions: select, update, delete, insert
• Object types: table, view, procedure
• Users or groups: 'john_doe', 'all'

4. Verify audit configuration

To confirm active audit policies:

sp_displayaudit

This procedure returns the list of current audit configurations and their scopes.

5. Check audit activity logs

Audit events are logged in tables like sybsecurity..sysaudits_01. To view recent entries:

use sybsecurity

go

select top 50 * from sysaudits_01
order by eventtime desc

If log space is exhausted, new audit events may not be recorded. Regular review and archiving are recommended.

6. Optional: Set up automated exports and rotation

Sybase ASE does not manage audit log rotation automatically. Administrators should regularly export and truncate audit logs using scripts or jobs. A common practice is to copy logs to external storage and purge old records using:

bcp sybsecurity..sysaudits_01 out audit_log.txt -S server_name -U sa -P password -c
truncate table sybsecurity..sysaudits_01

Schedule these steps via cron or Windows Task Scheduler to keep log size under control.

Reviewing Audit Logs

Administrators use sp_displayaudit and sp_audit to query and manage audit policies. For audit trail review, external tools or custom scripts are often used to export and analyze the logs.

Enhancing Sybase Compliance with DataSunrise

DataSunrise offers an intelligent security platform that integrates with Sybase ASE and enhances its compliance capabilities. It adds autonomous audit, alerting, and masking features that align with modern compliance frameworks.

Real-Time Activity Monitoring

DataSunrise captures all query-level activity in real time, including bind variables, user identity, and client IP. It supports:

• Audit trail storage in JSON or relational formats
• Forwarding events to SIEM/SOAR platforms
• Policy-based alert triggers

Customizable Audit Rules

Through its web interface or CLI, users can create precise audit rules that:

• Target specific schemas, roles, or operations
• Apply filters (e.g., only UPDATEs on finance tables)
• Trigger notifications via email, Slack, or Teams

Refer to the Audit Guide for configuration examples.

Compliance Autopilot and Templates

The built-in Compliance Manager includes templates for:

• GDPR
• HIPAA
• SOX
• PCI DSS

Templates come with preconfigured audit and masking policies. This reduces setup time and ensures alignment with regulations.

Data Discovery and Classification

DataSunrise discovers PII, PHI, and payment card fields across Sybase instances. It scans structured and unstructured data for compliance classification.

• Data Discovery Overview

Cross-Platform Audit Management

Unlike Sybase's per-instance setup, DataSunrise provides centralized policy control across Sybase and 40+ other platforms. With unified dashboards and API access, it simplifies compliance management.

Business Impact

Business Objective	Native Sybase ASE	With DataSunrise Integration
Audit Complexity	Manual configuration, limited filters	Centralized, no-code rule engine with fine-grained filters
Compliance Coverage	Basic tracking only	Prebuilt templates for GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX
Incident Response Time	Delayed — no real-time alerts	Real-time alerting with SIEM/SOAR integration
Sensitive Data Protection	No masking available	Role-based, IP-aware dynamic data masking
Log Accessibility	Binary internal tables	Human-readable, exportable formats (JSON, CSV)
Reporting Workflow	Manual review and scripting	One-click audit-ready compliance reports
Cost of Maintenance	High (manual, per-instance setup)	Reduced via automation and centralized management
Scalability	Instance-specific only	Cross-database, cloud-ready platform with over 40 integrations

With this transformation, organizations benefit from:

• Faster compliance alignment — automate controls with policy templates
• Lower operational risk — gain full visibility into access and changes
• Reduced staffing overhead — fewer manual tasks, streamlined reviews
• Enhanced business trust — demonstrable compliance posture with auditors

Conclusion

While Sybase ASE includes foundational auditing tools, compliance demands in regulated industries require deeper control and automation. DataSunrise extends Sybase's capabilities with centralized rule creation, real-time tracking, and dynamic masking. This ensures Sybase remains a viable and secure option in modern compliance-driven environments.