How to Manage Data Compliance for Amazon RDS

Data compliance isn’t just a checkbox for regulated industries—it's an active process that keeps organizations resilient. When using Amazon RDS across PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or MySQL, the real challenge lies in applying consistent audit, security, and masking strategies that adapt across different cloud configurations. This article walks through native AWS features and introduces how DataSunrise transforms compliance from a manual burden into an autonomous process.

Native Compliance Features in Amazon RDS

Enabling Continuous Auditing on PostgreSQL

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL offers pgaudit to record database activity. It's an essential tool for keeping track of who accessed what, when, and how. To get started:

-- Enable comprehensive auditing
ALTER SYSTEM SET pgaudit.log = 'all';
SELECT pg_reload_conf();

Logs can be pushed to Amazon CloudWatch or Amazon S3 for monitoring and archiving.

Masking Sensitive Fields with Views

Although RDS doesn’t offer built-in dynamic masking like SQL Server, PostgreSQL users can simulate it with views:

CREATE VIEW protected_customers AS
SELECT 
  id,
  name,
  CONCAT('XXX-XX-', RIGHT(ssn, 4)) AS ssn_masked
FROM customers;

This view hides sensitive columns from unauthorized queries. More techniques are outlined in Amazon's masking overview.

Discovering Risky Data with Macie

Amazon Macie supports sensitive data classification using machine learning. It scans RDS snapshots stored in S3 and tags risky content. Learn more about Macie’s discovery features.

Hardening RDS with Security Controls

Secure Amazon RDS instances using encrypted storage, IAM authentication, and strict VPC configurations. A helpful AWS blog covers essential best practices.

Streamlining Compliance with DataSunrise

Managing compliance manually across RDS instances becomes complex as teams scale. DataSunrise offers a centralized, zero-code platform that simplifies regulatory enforcement across AWS environments and beyond.

Rapid Rollout, Zero-Code Management

DataSunrise integrates directly with Amazon RDS, supporting PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and MySQL. Deployment is flexible—via reverse proxy, traffic sniffer, or native log analysis—and doesn’t disrupt database operations.

With Sensitive Data Discovery and Auto-Discover & Mask, policies are applied based on real-time analysis, not static assumptions.

Machine Learning-Powered Audit Intelligence

Standard logging tools show you what happened. DataSunrise goes further—its machine learning models detect unusual access patterns, flag risky behavior, and auto-adjust audit rules. Its learning rules feature keeps your posture aligned with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOX.

Real-Time, Role-Based Masking

Dynamic data masking is applied on-the-fly, protecting PII without changing how apps interact with the database.

This ensures surgical protection without code rewrites or schema changes.

Multi-Platform Policy Synchronization

Using the Unified Security Framework, you can apply compliance policies across hybrid environments. PostgreSQL in RDS, MySQL on-prem, and SQL Server in Azure—all governed through the same policy engine. With no-code automation, teams can act fast without needing database expertise.

Built-In Regulatory Intelligence

DataSunrise’s audit reporting tools create downloadable evidence for external audits. Framework-specific checks ensure alignment with HIPAA, GDPR, SOX, and PCI-DSS throughout the year.

Final Thoughts

AWS-native tools like pgaudit, masking via views, and Macie offer essential first steps for compliance. But maintaining consistency across platforms and regulations demands more.

DataSunrise delivers real-time insights, intelligent masking, and autonomous controls across cloud-native and hybrid environments. Its cross-database compatibility and zero-touch deployment make it ideal for scaling security without scaling complexity.

Explore over 40 supported platforms and book your demo to accelerate your compliance journey.