A Milestone in Data Security: Classifying an Exabyte of Snowflake Data and Uncovering Over 1 Trillion Sensitive Records at Risk

As global enterprises increasingly adopt Snowflake to manage their data, Cyera has achieved a breakthrough that redefines what’s possible in data security: classifying an exabyte (1,000 petabytes) of Snowflake data with 95% precision. In doing so, Cyera uncovered over 1 trillion sensitive records at risk—emphasizing the critical need for robust Data Security Posture Management (DSPM). This milestone was powered by our industry-leading scanning velocity: 2PB per day, or 1TB per minute (Per Customer).

To put this scale in perspective, one exabyte can store every movie ever made approximately 10 million times—in 4K resolution. For data security professionals, the ability to scan and classify information at this scale represents new possibilities for data protection. It delivers faster insights, more innovation, reduced risk, and greater compliance at previously unachievable scales.

The Global Surge in Sensitive Records

The rise of Snowflake as a cornerstone for enterprise data management has also brought an exponential increase in the volume of sensitive records stored in the cloud. Without DSPM protection, organizations face heightened risks of data exposure, compliance failures, and costly breaches.

Cyera recognized this challenge and identified a critical gap: security teams lack the tools to manage sensitive data at such scales. Driven by this realization, Cyera set out to develop a solution capable of handling the enormity of modern data estates while maintaining exceptional precision and efficiency.

Innovative Solutions to Excel at Scale

Creating a platform capable of scanning and classifying data at exabyte levels required rethinking traditional approaches. Cyera’s engineers, in collaboration with Snowflake’s core engineering team, developed cutting-edge methods that blend speed, precision, and cost-effectiveness. Here’s how it was achieved:

• Smart Sampling: Leveraging Snowflake’s built-in clustering techniques, Cyera developed a bias-free sampling method that enables large-scale scans without compromising quality.
• Precision Estimations: Cyera’s advanced framework analyzes small subsets of data to estimate sensitive record counts with exceptional accuracy, eliminating the need to process entire datasets.
• Dynamic Scaling: Cyera intelligently optimizes scanning resources within the customer’s Snowflake account, ensuring a seamless balance between cost efficiency, performance, and speed. This enables the scanning of even the largest tables without the overhead of idle compute resources, delivering unparalleled efficiency and scalability.
• Security-Oriented Deployment: Our deployment takes a read-only approach, ensuring zero impact on production environments. While many tools require admin privileges, Cyera achieves visibility into Snowflake data without introducing unnecessary risks or compromising operational security, adhering with most stringent security practices (no admin privileges, daily key rotation, encryption at rest and in transit, and more).

These innovations not only allow Cyera to handle the scale of exabyte-level deployments but also provide our customers with unmatched insights—and no big bill at the end of the month.

Exploring a Real-World Cyera Deployment

Here’s how Cyera delivered immediate value for a customer with 28.5TB of Snowflake data. 

• 3:00 PM: A customer deployed Cyera to scan their 28.5TB Snowflake environment for sensitive data.
• 8:00 AM (the next day): The customer opened their Cyera platform to discover that their entire Snowflake environment was completely scanned overnight, identifying 1.6 billion sensitive records at risk, and mapping them to global compliance frameworks.

Before Cyera, this process would likely take months. Now, security teams have actionable insights in less than a day. The result? Teams can focus on reducing risks and driving innovation, not classifying data.

The Benefits of Data Discovery and Classification at Scale‍

Cyera’s ability to leverage AI for classification at exabyte scale is a game-changer for global enterprises. It enables regulatory readiness, helping ensure data meets compliance obligations with laws and frameworks such as the GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. It creates operational efficiency, reducing manual workloads and limiting false positives that bog down data security teams. It accelerates risk reduction by automatically identifying and prioritizing critical issues within Snowflake and across your broader data environment. 

Discovering and classifying data at this scale is more than a technological achievement, it’s a strategic enabler of innovation for organizations seeking greater visibility and control over their data.

Ready to Scale Your Data Security Program?

Cyera is here to empower your team to operate confidently and securely. Request a demo today to discover how Cyera can transform your data security strategy—no matter the complexity or scale.