TL;DR
Snowflake is a widely used cloud-native data platform that centralizes sensitive data for analytics, reporting, machine learning, and business intelligence. As a SaaS application, it enables seamless collaboration across tools and teams, but it also introduces new risks.
Is Snowflake secure? That depends on how it’s configured, monitored, and governed. This guide brings together Snowflake security best practices from a SaaS security perspective, covering identity management, access controls, integrations, compliance, and data protection to help security, IT, and data teams minimize risk.
What Is Snowflake Security?
Snowflake security refers to the set of technical and governance practices used to protect your Snowflake environment against misconfigurations, unauthorized access, and data exposure.While Snowflake secures the infrastructure, your organization is responsible for:
- Managing roles and user access
- Monitoring data activity and shares
- Securing third-party integrations and APIs
- Maintaining compliance with frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR
Security teams must guard against excessive privileges, drift, and shadow integrations. Data teams must ensure integrity, privacy, and compliance
Why Snowflake Security Matters
Snowflake sits at the heart of modern data ecosystems. A misstep in its security configuration can expose sensitive data, compromise compliance, and disrupt operations:
- Exposure of customer, employee, or regulated data
- Breaches of GDPR, HIPAA, or SOX policies
- Data exfiltration via open shares or tokens
- Failed audits or financial reporting risks
Its frequent use across teams, integrations, and workflows makes Snowflake a high-value target and a critical SaaS surface to secure.
Common Snowflake Security Risks
Overprivileged Roles and Weak Access Control
Excessive permissions, inherited roles, and cloned admin templates often create unnecessary exposure.
Dormant or Orphaned Accounts
Users and service accounts without recent activity may remain enabled, creating hidden back doors.
Unsecured Integrations and APIs
Tokens used by BI tools and pipelines can have broad access and no expiration.
Misconfigured or Excessive Data Shares
Data shares meant for internal or temporary use may remain active indefinitely or be shared externally.
Lack of Monitoring and Alerting
Without logging or automated alerts, sensitive actions go unnoticed — such as new admin roles or large exports.
Configuration Drift Over Time
Schema, role, and permission changes accumulate without centralized tracking or approval workflows.
Lessons from the 2024 Snowflake Attack Campaign
In mid-2024, several high-profile data breaches were linked to compromised Snowflake customer environments. Early reports suggested a breach within Snowflake’s production systems, affecting organizations such as Santander Bank and Ticketmaster. However, Snowflake later confirmed that its own infrastructure and security controls were not compromised. An independent investigation by Mandiant found no evidence of any vulnerability or breach within Snowflake itself.
Instead, attackers exploited weaknesses in customer security practices. Two factors played a critical role:
1. Compromised Credentials
Threat actors obtained valid Snowflake account credentials through unrelated malware infections, data breaches, or credential reuse across personal and work accounts. With valid usernames and passwords, attackers were able to access Snowflake environments that lacked additional protections.
2. Absence of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Many of the affected accounts relied only on password-based authentication. Without MFA, stolen credentials provided immediate access to sensitive data. MFA adds a second verification layer that can stop attackers even when credentials have been compromised.
These incidents highlight the importance of understanding the Shared Responsibility Model in SaaS security. Snowflake secures its own platform infrastructure, while customers are responsible for enforcing strong identity controls, enabling MFA, and monitoring account activity. Weak authentication, excessive privileges, and configuration gaps continue to be common causes of SaaS data exposure.
Snowflake Security Best Practices
In mid-2024, several high-profile data breaches were linked to compromised Snowflake customer environments. Early reports suggested a breach within Snowflake’s production systems, affecting organizations such as Santander Bank and Ticketmaster. However, Snowflake later confirmed that its own infrastructure and security controls were not compromised. An independent investigation by Mandiant found no evidence of any vulnerability or breach within Snowflake itself.
Instead, attackers exploited weaknesses in customer security practices. Two factors played a critical role:
1. Apply Least Privilege to All Roles
- Design job-specific roles, avoid broad grants or cloning admin templates
- Use schema and object-level permissions, not blanket access
- Remove or restrict ACCOUNTADMIN and SYSADMIN use
2. Enforce Strong Authentication and MFA
- Use SSO and MFA for all user logins
- Decommission legacy username/password authentication
- Require reauthentication for sensitive actions
3. Audit and Remove Dormant Identities
- Monitor last login activity and disable inactive accounts
- Regularly audit service accounts and integrations
- Use an identity provider to automate provisioning and deprovisioning
4. Secure Integrations and API Connections
- Use scoped, expiring OAuth tokens or key pair authentication
- Maintain an inventory of all integrations and their access scopes
- Restrict permissions for automation or data pipeline tools
5. Control and Review Data Sharing
- Audit outbound data shares, including public and external access
- Remove unused or temporary shares
- Apply access tags to track sensitive data flows
6. Monitor Activity and Anomalies
- Enable access history and event tables
- Connect Snowflake logs to your SIEM
- Monitor for high-risk actions like new role assignments, data exports, or failed logins
7. Establish Change Management and Governance
- Require documentation and approval for role, schema, and integration changes
- Assign owners for roles and integrations
- Conduct quarterly access and privilege reviews with data owners
Built-In Snowflake Security Features
Snowflake offers robust native protections:
- RBAC with granular object-level permissions
- MFA, SSO, and federated identity support
- Data encryption at rest and in transit
- Access logging and usage history
Secure Data SharingThese capabilities require active configuration, monitoring, and governance to be effective.
Why Snowflake Security Is A SaaS Concern
Snowflake is more than a database. It is a SaaS platform integrated with many other apps, vendors, and services. Its user base includes analysts, engineers, automation scripts, and external partners.
Without visibility and control across this ecosystem, drift, over-permissioning, and exposure can happen quickly. Securing Snowflake means treating it like any modern SaaS app: dynamic, integrated, and requiring continuous SaaS security posture management.
How Valence Helps Secure Snowflake
Valence brings SaaS-native protection to Snowflake by:
- Identifying overprivileged roles, misconfigurations, and dormant accounts
- Mapping users and service accounts across access, activity, and integrations
- Monitoring behavior for configuration changes and anomalies
Snowflake Security Checklist
Download our SaaS Security Buyer's Guide for a broader review across your entire application ecosystem.
Final Thoughts
NetSuite security is not just an IT concern. It is a cross-functional priority that touches security, finance, compliance, and operations. By strengthening NetSuite ERP security, tightening user role access, and automating controls across your SaaS ecosystem, you can reduce risk and improve audit readiness.
Want a clearer view of your NetSuite security posture? Start with a free Valence SaaS Risk Assessment and identify the risks that matter most, and walk away with actionable insights you can implement today.
