Best Practices for Securing ClickHouse Data and Clusters

Snehakumari

What are the best practices for securing data and clusters in ClickHouse?
Share tips on implementing encryption, role-based access control, network security, and backup strategies to protect sensitive data.

aiops

Securing ClickHouse data and clusters involves several best practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. First, enable authentication and authorization by configuring users and roles, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access specific data. Use SSL/TLS encryption to secure data in transit between clients and servers. For data at rest, employ disk encryption methods or integrate with encryption solutions like dm-crypt or LUKS to protect sensitive data stored on disk. Configure firewall rules and VPC settings to restrict access to the ClickHouse server, ensuring only trusted networks can interact with it. Enable audit logging to monitor access and query activities, helping identify potential security incidents. Use replication and backups to ensure data availability and disaster recovery, while securing backups with encryption. Finally, implement regular updates and patching to ensure the ClickHouse system is protected from known vulnerabilities.

devsecops

Securing ClickHouse data and clusters is crucial for maintaining data integrity and protecting sensitive information. Key best practices include enabling authentication and authorization, such as integrating with LDAP or Active Directory, and using role-based access control (RBAC) to ensure that only authorized users can access specific data or perform certain actions. Encryption should be enabled both in transit (using TLS/SSL) and at rest to protect data during communication and storage. Regular backups and disaster recovery plans should be implemented to ensure data resilience. Additionally, network segmentation can isolate ClickHouse clusters from other systems, minimizing exposure to attacks. Monitoring and auditing with tools like Prometheus and Grafana can help detect unauthorized access and unusual activity, while ensuring regular software updates and patching to protect against known vulnerabilities. Finally, it's important to follow security best practices for underlying infrastructure, such as securing the operating system and using firewalls to limit access to the ClickHouse cluster.

mlops

Securing ClickHouse data and clusters requires a layered approach across access, network, and platform configuration. Start with strong authentication, role-based access control, and least-privilege permissions for users, applications, and service accounts. Restrict network access using firewalls, private subnets, VPNs, or service meshes, and expose ClickHouse only to trusted services. Enable TLS for client–server and inter-node communication to protect data in transit, and use disk or volume encryption to safeguard data at rest. Regularly patch ClickHouse and the underlying OS, and remove unused users, databases, and test tables. Monitor query logs, access logs, and system tables for anomalies and failed logins, integrating them with SIEM tools where possible. Finally, enforce secure backup policies, protecting backup locations with the same (or stricter) security controls as the primary cluster.

dataops

Securing ClickHouse data and clusters is essential for maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data. To ensure security, start by enabling data-at-rest encryption using AES-256 and implementing SSL/TLS for encrypting data-in-transit. This prevents unauthorized access to sensitive data both in storage and while being transmitted. For access control, utilize role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce strict user permissions and implement strong authentication methods like LDAP or OAuth. Network security is another crucial aspect; restrict access to ClickHouse clusters by configuring firewalls, using IP whitelisting, and isolating servers within secure networks or VPNs. Regularly enable and monitor audit logs to capture user activity and system events, aiding in the detection of any suspicious behavior. Additionally, ensure consistent backup practices with encrypted storage and a robust disaster recovery plan. Finally, keep ClickHouse and its dependencies updated with the latest security patches to mitigate vulnerabilities. These best practices help in safeguarding ClickHouse deployments from potential threats and unauthorized access.

cloud

Securing ClickHouse data and clusters is critical to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information. One of the best practices is to implement network-level security, such as using firewalls and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), to restrict access to ClickHouse nodes and limit communication to trusted sources. Authentication and authorization should be enforced by configuring role-based access control (RBAC), ensuring that only authorized users and applications can access sensitive data or perform administrative tasks. Additionally, data encryption at rest and in transit should be enabled to protect data from unauthorized access. ClickHouse supports SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit, and tools like filesystem encryption can be used for data at rest. Regular backups should be scheduled, and backup data should be encrypted to prevent data loss or leakage. Audit logging should be enabled to track access and query activity for forensic purposes. Finally, regular software updates are essential to patch security vulnerabilities and maintain a secure environment. By implementing these practices, organizations can significantly reduce security risks in ClickHouse deployments.