CYBER SECURITY

What is Regulatory Compliance?

Regulatory compliance refers to the process by which businesses ensure they follow laws, regulations, and standards relevant to their industry. It’s essential for organizations using distributed SQL platforms to meet data security and legal standards. Regulatory compliance refers to the process by which businesses ensure they follow laws, regulations, and standards relevant to their industry.

Why Does It Matter?

Regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, and PCI DSS are designed to safeguard information and protect individuals from data breaches, fraud, or misuse. For businesses, compliance is often not optional—violations can lead to heavy fines, legal action, or reputational damage.

Where Does TiDB Fit In?

As organizations move toward modern, distributed SQL platforms like TiDB, ensuring consistent compliance becomes more complex. TiDB offers powerful native capabilities, and when paired with DataSunrise, businesses can automate auditing, secure sensitive data, and meet regulatory requirements across cloud and on-prem environments.

Native TiDB Tools for Regulatory Compliance

TiDB is a distributed SQL database platform designed for scalability and hybrid transactional/analytical workloads (HTAP). It’s available in three editions, each suited to different stages of business growth and compliance maturity:

• Community Edition Free and open-source. Ideal for developers, test environments, and small projects.
• Enterprise Edition Offers enhanced compliance and performance features, including structured auditing, redaction, access control, and automated backup. Built for production and regulatory needs.
• TiDB Cloud (Dedicated) A fully managed version of TiDB on AWS or GCP, ideal for organizations that want enterprise capabilities without managing infrastructure.

Core Compliance Features

Modern compliance frameworks (like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS) require more than just logs. TiDB supports:

• Data Discovery Understand where sensitive data exists using schema exploration and partner tools like DataSunrise.
• Data Masking Prevent exposure of PII/PHI fields through role-based masking (with partner integrations).
• Access Controls Use privileges and roles to limit data exposure based on user roles or applications.
• Audit Trails Log user activity, query access, and schema changes. Enterprise and Cloud editions support structured audit logs.

Example: Audit Setup in TiDB Enterprise (v7.1.0+)

-- Enable audit logging
SET GLOBAL tidb_audit_enabled = 1;

-- Example: Log failed connection attempts
SET @r = '{
  "filter": [
    {
      "class": ["CONNECT"],
      "status_code": [0]
    }
  ]
}';
SELECT audit_log_create_filter('fail_connect', @r);
SELECT audit_log_create_rule('fail_connect', 'user@%', true);

-- Optional: Format logs as JSON and redact sensitive SQL
SET GLOBAL tidb_audit_log_format = 'json';
SET GLOBAL tidb_audit_log_redacted = ON;

Example: Cluster-Wide Log Inspection (Self-Managed Only)

SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CLUSTER_LOG
WHERE MESSAGE LIKE '%ddl%'
AND TIME BETWEEN '2025-07-01 00:00:00' AND '2025-07-10 00:00:00';

Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)

TiDB supports Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR) through the Backup & Restore (BR) tool, which is available in both Enterprise and Community editions. PITR allows teams to restore a TiDB cluster to any moment within a configured backup window by combining snapshot and log backups.

• Recovery from accidental deletes or data corruption
• Forensic replay of malicious actions
• Scheduled rollback testing in staging environments

# Start log backup task (v6.3.0+)
tiup br log start --task-name=pitr --pd="${PD_IP}:2379" 
--storage 's3://backup/logs'

# Restore to a specific timestamp (v6.3.0+)
tiup br restore point --pd="${PD_IP}:2379" 
--storage='s3://backup/logs' 
--full-backup-storage='s3://backup/full' 
--restored-ts '2025-07-09 12:00:00+0000'

Regulatory Compliance with DataSunrise for TiDB

While TiDB handles event logging, DataSunrise addresses compliance at a higher level—with unified data audit, dynamic masking, activity monitoring, and policy enforcement.

Visual Rule Management

All configurations are made via user-friendly GUI — no SQL or scripts required.

• Create audit rules for event filtering
• Set up masking rules
• Control access using RBAC policies

DataSunrise also supports:

Conclusion

TiDB’s native tools—especially in its Enterprise and Cloud editions—offer a solid foundation for compliance. Features like structured audit logging and PITR help address key regulatory requirements.

However, modern compliance goes beyond logs and backups. Organizations also need visibility into sensitive data, role-based controls, real-time alerts, and user-friendly rule management. These are not fully covered by TiDB alone.

That’s where DataSunrise adds critical value. It extends TiDB’s native capabilities and simplifies compliance operations for security, DevOps, and governance teams alike.

Below is a side-by-side comparison to illustrate how the platforms complement each other:

Compliance Feature Comparison: TiDB versions vs. DataSunrise

TiDB lays the groundwork for regulatory compliance, especially for audit logging and PITR. But for organizations aiming to implement complete compliance programs without heavy engineering effort, DataSunrise becomes the practical next step.

It bridges the gap between infrastructure and policy—helping teams secure data faster, pass audits more confidently, and reduce manual overhead.