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Encrypting your Data Catalog - Amazon Glue
Amazon managed keysCustomer managed keysAmazon Glue encryption contextEnabling encryptionEncrypting Catalog assets with Amazon KMS customer managed keyMonitoring your KMS keys for Amazon Glue
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Encrypting your Data Catalog

Amazon Glue Data Catalog encryption provides enhanced security for your sensitive data. Amazon Glue integrates with Amazon Key Management Service (Amazon KMS) to encrypt metadata that's stored in the Data Catalog, including automatically registered assets that you enrich with business context for semantic search. You can enable or disable encryption settings for resources in the Data Catalog using the Amazon Glue console or the Amazon CLI.

When you enable encryption for your Data Catalog, all new objects that you create will be encrypted. When you disable encryption, the new objects you create will not be encrypted, but existing encrypted objects will remain encrypted.

You can encrypt your entire Data Catalog using Amazon managed encryption keys or customer managed encryption keys. For more information on key types and states, see Amazon Key Management Service concepts in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide.

Note

When you use the encrypted Data Catalog with a crawler, you must maintain the encryption settings. Removing encryption settings after a crawler has processed an encrypted catalog results in errors. If you need to remove encryption settings, create a new crawler instead of modifying the existing one.

Amazon managed keys

Amazon managed keys are KMS keys in your account that are created, managed, and used on your behalf by an Amazon service that's integrated with Amazon KMS. You can view the Amazon managed keys in your account, view their key policies, and audit their use in Amazon CloudTrail logs. However, you can't manage these keys or change their permissions.

Encryption at rest automatically integrates with Amazon KMS for managing the Amazon managed keys for Amazon Glue that are used to encrypt your metadata. If an Amazon managed key doesn't exist when you enable metadata encryption, Amazon KMS automatically creates a new key for you.

For more information, see Amazon managed keys.

Customer managed keys

Customer managed keys are KMS keys in your Amazon Web Services account that you create, own, and manage. You have full control over these KMS keys. You can:

  • Establish and maintain their key policies, IAM policies, and grants

  • Enable and disable them

  • Rotate their cryptographic material

  • Add tags

  • Create aliases that refer to them

  • Schedule them for deletion

For more information about managing the permissions of a customer managed key, see Customer managed keys.

Important

Amazon Glue supports only symmetric customer managed keys. The KMS key list displays only symmetric keys. However, if you select Choose a KMS key ARN, the console lets you enter an ARN for any key type. Ensure that you enter only ARNs for symmetric keys.

To create a symmetric customer managed key, follow the steps for creating symmetric customer managed keys in the Amazon Key Management Service Developer Guide.

When you enable Data Catalog encryption at rest, the following resource types are encrypted using KMS keys:

  • Databases

  • Tables

  • Partitions

  • Table versions

  • Column statistics

  • User-defined functions

  • Data Catalog views

  • Catalog assets

Amazon Glue encryption context

An encryption context is an optional set of key-value pairs that contain additional contextual information about the data. Amazon KMS uses the encryption context as additional authenticated data to support authenticated encryption. When you include an encryption context in a request to encrypt data, Amazon KMS binds the encryption context to the encrypted data. To decrypt data, you include the same encryption context in the request. Amazon Glue uses the same encryption context in all Amazon KMS cryptographic operations, where the key is glue_catalog_id and the value is the catalogId. 

"encryptionContext": {
    "glue_catalog_id": "111122223333"
}

When you use an Amazon managed key or a symmetric customer managed key to encrypt your Data Catalog, you can also use the encryption context in audit records and logs to identify how the key is being used. The encryption context also appears in logs that are generated by Amazon CloudTrail or Amazon CloudWatch logs.

Enabling encryption

You can enable encryption for your Amazon Glue Data Catalog objects in the Data Catalog settings in the Amazon Glue console or by using the Amazon CLI.

Console
To enable encryption using the console

  1. Sign in to the Amazon Web Services Management Console and open the Amazon Glue console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/glue/.

  2. Choose Data Catalog in the navigation pane.

  3. On the Data Catalog settings page, select the Metadata encryption check box, and choose an Amazon KMS key.

    When you enable encryption, if you don’t specify a customer managed key, the encryption settings use an Amazon managed KMS key.

  4. (Optional) When you use a customer managed key to encrypt your Data Catalog, the Data Catalog provides an option to register an IAM role to encrypt and decrypt resources. You need to grant your IAM role permissions that Amazon Glue can assume on your behalf. This includes Amazon KMS permissions to encrypt and decrypt data.

    When you create a new resource in the Data Catalog, Amazon Glue assumes the IAM role that's provided to encrypt the data. Similarly, when a consumer accesses the resource, Amazon Glue assumes the IAM role to decrypt data. If you register an IAM role with the required permissions, the calling principal no longer requires permissions to access the key and decrypt the data.

    Important

    You can delegate KMS operations to an IAM role only when you use a customer managed key to encrypt the Data Catalog resources. KMS role delegation feature doesn't support using Amazon managed keys for encrypting Data Catalog resources at this time.

    Warning

    When you enable an IAM role to delegate KMS operations, you can no longer access the Data Catalog resources that were encrypted previously with an Amazon managed key.

    1. To enable an IAM role that Amazon Glue can assume to encrypt and decrypt data on your behalf, select the Delegate KMS operations to an IAM role option.

    2. Next, choose an IAM role.

      To create an IAM role, see Create an IAM role for Amazon Glue.

      The IAM role that Amazon Glue assumes to access the Data Catalog must have the permissions to encrypt and decrypt metadata in the Data Catalog. You can create an IAM role, and attach the following inline policies:

      • Add the following policy to include Amazon KMS permissions to encrypt and decrypt the Data Catalog.

        JSON
        JSON
        {
  "Version":"2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kms:Decrypt",
        "kms:Encrypt",
        "kms:GenerateDataKey"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws-cn:kms:us-east-1:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
    }
  ]
}

      • Next, add the following trust policy to the role for Amazon Glue service to assume the IAM role.

        JSON
        JSON
        {
  "Version":"2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "Service": "glue.amazonaws.com"
      },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
    }
  ]
}

      • Next, add the iam:PassRole permission to the IAM role.

        JSON
        JSON
        {
  "Version":"2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "iam:PassRole"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws-cn:iam::111122223333:role/<encryption-role-name>"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

    When you enable encryption, if you haven't specified an IAM role for Amazon Glue to assume, the principal accessing the Data Catalog must have permissions to perform the following Amazon KMS actions on the KMS key:

    • kms:DescribeKey

    • kms:Decrypt

    • kms:Encrypt

    • kms:GenerateDataKey

    • kms:CreateGrant

    The following policy grants the principal the required permissions. The kms:CreateGrant action allows Amazon Glue to encrypt and re-encrypt Data Catalog metadata and the search index in the background after the Amazon KMS request completes. Amazon Glue scopes the grant to the glue_catalog_id encryption context.

    {
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "kms:DescribeKey",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:kms:<region>:<account-id>:key/<key-id>"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "kms:Decrypt",
                "kms:Encrypt",
                "kms:GenerateDataKey"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:kms:<region>:<account-id>:key/<key-id>"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "kms:CreateGrant",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:kms:<region>:<account-id>:key/<key-id>",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "kms:EncryptionContext:glue_catalog_id": "<account-id>"
                },
                "StringLike": {
                    "kms:CallerAccount": "<account-id>"
                },
                "Bool": {
                    "kms:GrantIsForAWSResource": "true"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}
Amazon CLI
To enable encryption using the SDK or Amazon CLI

  • Use the PutDataCatalogEncryptionSettings API operation. If no key is specified, Amazon Glue uses Amazon managed encryption key for the customer account to encrypt the Data Catalog.

    aws glue put-data-catalog-encryption-settings \
  --data-catalog-encryption-settings '{
      "EncryptionAtRest": {
      "CatalogEncryptionMode": "SSE-KMS-WITH-SERVICE-ROLE",
      "SseAwsKmsKeyId": "arn:aws:kms:<region>:<account-id>:key/<key-id>",
      "CatalogEncryptionServiceRole":"arn:aws:iam::<account-id>:role/<encryption-role-name>"
    }

  }'

When you enable encryption, all objects that you create in the Data Catalog objects are encrypted. If you clear this setting, the objects you create in the Data Catalog are no longer encrypted. You can continue to access the existing encrypted objects in the Data Catalog with the required KMS permissions.

Important

The Amazon KMS key must remain available in the Amazon KMS key store for any objects that are encrypted with it in the Data Catalog. If you remove the key, the objects can no longer be decrypted. You might want this in some scenarios to prevent access to Data Catalog metadata.

Supported catalog resources are automatically registered in your Amazon Glue Data Catalog as assets. You add business context to these assets, which enables you to semantically search and filter on this metadata in Amazon Glue. When you enable metadata encryption with a customer managed key, Amazon Glue also encrypts the search index for your Data Catalog with your KMS key. No additional steps are required — Amazon Glue enables search index encryption automatically as part of metadata encryption.

If you previously enabled Data Catalog encryption with a customer managed key and your existing policy includes only kms:Decrypt, kms:Encrypt, and kms:GenerateDataKey, you must add the following permissions to support catalog assets and semantic search:

  • kms:DescribeKey — required for key validation.

  • kms:CreateGrant — allows Amazon Glue to encrypt and re-encrypt the search index in the background. Amazon Glue scopes the grant to the glue_catalog_id encryption context.

For the full policy that includes these permissions, see Enabling encryption. If you are setting up encryption for the first time, the policy in that section already includes all required permissions.

Important

Semantic search over Data Catalog assets does not support the Amazon managed key (aws/glue). If your Data Catalog metadata is encrypted with aws/glue, search over that catalog is not available until you change the configuration to use a customer managed key or remove the configuration.

Enabling metadata encryption is an asynchronous operation. Amazon Glue accepts your request and then completes the encryption setup, including encryption of the existing search index. Enabling encryption for the first time could take some time depending on the size of your Data Catalog. During this time, the business context and search APIs return an error until the status is Enabled.

The following table describes the different encryption statuses for the Data Catalog asset metadata:

Status Description

Enabling

Amazon Glue is setting up encryption. When you enable encryption for the first time, search is not available until setup completes. When you change from one customer managed key to another, search remains available.

Enabled

Encryption is complete. Your Data Catalog metadata is searchable.

Enabled (with errors)

Encryption is complete, and search is available, but Amazon Glue could not process some metadata. The console displays the error messages. To retry the failed items, save your encryption settings again after fixing the errors.

Failed

Encryption could not be completed, and search is not available. Review the error message, correct the configuration, and save your encryption settings again with a customer managed key.

Disabling

Amazon Glue is disabling encryption from the search index with your KMS key.

Disabled

Your Data Catalog metadata and search index are no longer encrypted with your KMS key. Business context and search APIs continue to work.

When you change your Data Catalog encryption from one customer managed key to another, Amazon Glue re-encrypts the search index with the new key. Search remains available while re-encryption is in progress. When you disable metadata encryption, Amazon Glue removes your KMS key from the search index and the status changes to Disabled.

Warning

Do not disable, delete, or revoke access to the previous KMS key until the encryption status returns to Enabled (or Disabled, if you disabled encryption). If Amazon Glue loses access to the previous key before the operation completes, it cannot decrypt the search index, the status changes to Failed, and search over your Data Catalog is not available.

The principal that enables or changes metadata encryption must have the kms:CreateGrant permission described in Enabling encryption. Amazon Glue uses the glue_catalog_id encryption context (the value is your catalogId) in Amazon KMS operations for the search index, consistent with Amazon Glue encryption context. The Amazon KMS calls that Amazon Glue makes for the search index are recorded in Amazon CloudTrail.

The principal that accesses business context and search must also have access to the KMS key. If you have delegated Amazon KMS operations to an IAM service role, the service role must have access to the KMS key instead.

In addition to the identity policy, you must also add the following statement to your KMS key policy to allow Amazon Glue to create grants for search index encryption. The kms:GrantIsForAWSResource condition limits the grant to Amazon Glue, and the glue_catalog_id encryption context scopes it to your Data Catalog. To use the statement, replace the user input placeholders with your own information.

{
    "Sid": "AllowCreateGrantForSearchIndexEncryption",
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Principal": {
        "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::account-id:root"
    },
    "Action": "kms:CreateGrant",
    "Resource": "arn:aws:kms:region:account-id:key/key-id",
    "Condition": {
        "StringLike": {
            "kms:CallerAccount": "account-id"
        },
        "Bool": {
            "kms:GrantIsForAWSResource": "true"
        },
        "StringEquals": {
            "kms:EncryptionContext:glue_catalog_id": "account-id"
        }
    }
}

Monitoring your KMS keys for Amazon Glue

When you use KMS keys with your Data Catalog resources, you can use Amazon CloudTrail or Amazon CloudWatch Logs to track requests that Amazon Glue sends to Amazon KMS. Amazon CloudTrail monitors and records KMS operations that Amazon Glue calls to access data that’s encrypted by your KMS keys.

The following examples are Amazon CloudTrail events for the Decrypt, GenerateDataKey, CreateGrant, and RetireGrant operations. When you enable encryption with a customer managed key, Amazon Glue creates a Amazon KMS grant scoped to the glue_catalog_id encryption context so that it can encrypt and re-encrypt Data Catalog metadata in the background, and retires the grant when Amazon Glue no longer needs it.

Decrypt
{
    "eventVersion": "1.08",
    "userIdentity": {
        "type": "AssumedRole",
        "principalId": "AROAXPHTESTANDEXAMPLE:Sampleuser01",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111122223333:assumed-role/Admin/Sampleuser01",
        "accountId": "111122223333",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "sessionContext": {
            "sessionIssuer": {
                "type": "Role",
                "principalId": "AROAXPHTESTANDEXAMPLE",
                "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/Admin",
                "accountId": "111122223333",
                "userName": "Admin"
            },
            "webIdFederationData": {},
            "attributes": {
                "creationDate": "2024-01-10T14:33:56Z",
                "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
            }
        },
        "invokedBy": "glue.amazonaws.com"
    },
    "eventTime": "2024-01-10T15:18:11Z",
    "eventSource": "kms.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "Decrypt",
    "awsRegion": "eu-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "userAgent": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "requestParameters": {
        "encryptionContext": {
            "glue_catalog_id": "111122223333"
        },
        "encryptionAlgorithm": "SYMMETRIC_DEFAULT"
    },
    "responseElements": null,
    "requestID": "43b019aa-34b8-4798-9b98-ee968b2d63df",
    "eventID": "d7614763-d3fe-4f84-a1e1-3ca4d2a5bbd5",
    "readOnly": true,
    "resources": [
        {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "type": "AWS::KMS::Key",
            "ARN": "arn:aws:kms:<region>:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
        }
    ],
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "managementEvent": true,
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
    "eventCategory": "Management",
    "sessionCredentialFromConsole": "true"
}
GenerateDataKey
{
    "eventVersion": "1.08",
    "userIdentity": {
        "type": "AssumedRole",
        "principalId": "AROAXPHTESTANDEXAMPLE:V_00_GLUE_KMS_GENERATE_DATA_KEY_111122223333",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111122223333:assumed-role/Admin/V_00_GLUE_KMS_GENERATE_DATA_KEY_111122223333",
        "accountId": "111122223333",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "sessionContext": {
            "sessionIssuer": {
                "type": "Role",
                "principalId": "AROAXPHTESTANDEXAMPLE",
                "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/Admin",
                "accountId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
                "userName": "Admin"
            },
            "webIdFederationData": {},
            "attributes": {
                "creationDate": "2024-01-05T21:15:47Z",
                "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
            }
        },
        "invokedBy": "glue.amazonaws.com"
    },
    "eventTime": "2024-01-05T21:15:47Z",
    "eventSource": "kms.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "GenerateDataKey",
    "awsRegion": "eu-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "userAgent": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "requestParameters": {
        "keyId": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE:key/AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "encryptionContext": {
            "glue_catalog_id": "111122223333"
        },
        "keySpec": "AES_256"
    },
    "responseElements": null,
    "requestID": "64d1783a-4b62-44ba-b0ab-388b50188070",
    "eventID": "1c73689b-2ef2-443b-aed7-8c126585ca5e",
    "readOnly": true,
    "resources": [
        {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "type": "AWS::KMS::Key",
            "ARN": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:111122223333:key/AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
        }
    ],
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "managementEvent": true,
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
    "eventCategory": "Management"
}
CreateGrant

When you enable encryption with a customer managed key, Amazon Glue creates a grant on the KMS key so that it can encrypt and re-encrypt Data Catalog metadata in the background. The grant is scoped to the glue_catalog_id encryption context.

{
    "eventVersion": "1.08",
    "userIdentity": {
        "type": "AssumedRole",
        "principalId": "AROAIGDTESTANDEXAMPLE:Sampleuser01",
        "arn": "arn:aws:sts::111122223333:assumed-role/Example/Sampleuser01",
        "accountId": "111122223333",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "sessionContext": {
            "sessionIssuer": {
                "type": "Role",
                "principalId": "AROAIGDTESTANDEXAMPLE",
                "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:role/Example",
                "accountId": "111122223333",
                "userName": "Example"
            },
            "attributes": {
                "creationDate": "2024-04-22T17:02:00Z",
                "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
            }
        },
        "invokedBy": "glue.amazonaws.com"
    },
    "eventTime": "2024-04-22T17:02:00Z",
    "eventSource": "kms.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "CreateGrant",
    "awsRegion": "eu-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "userAgent": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "requestParameters": {
        "retiringPrincipal": "glue.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com",
        "operations": [
            "GenerateDataKey",
            "Decrypt",
            "Encrypt",
            "ReEncryptFrom",
            "ReEncryptTo",
            "DescribeKey",
            "RetireGrant"
        ],
        "granteePrincipal": "glue.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com",
        "constraints": {
            "encryptionContextSubset": {
                "glue_catalog_id": "111122223333"
            }
        },
        "keyId": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
    },
    "responseElements": {
        "grantId": "0ab0ac0d0b000f00ea00cc0a0e00fc00bce000c000f0000000c0bc0a0000aaafSAMPLE",
        "keyId": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
    },
    "requestID": "ff000af-00eb-00ce-0e00-ea000fb0fba0SAMPLE",
    "eventID": "ff000af-00eb-00ce-0e00-ea000fb0fba0SAMPLE",
    "readOnly": false,
    "resources": [
        {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "type": "AWS::KMS::Key",
            "ARN": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
        }
    ],
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "managementEvent": true,
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
    "eventCategory": "Management",
    "sessionCredentialFromConsole": "true"
}
RetireGrant

Amazon Glue retires the grant when Amazon Glue no longer needs it, for example when you change the KMS key or disable encryption.

{
    "eventVersion": "1.08",
    "userIdentity": {
        "type": "AWSService",
        "invokedBy": "glue.amazonaws.com"
    },
    "eventTime": "2025-04-29T22:18:50Z",
    "eventSource": "kms.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "RetireGrant",
    "awsRegion": "eu-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "userAgent": "glue.amazonaws.com",
    "requestParameters": null,
    "responseElements": {
        "keyId": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
    },
    "additionalEventData": {
        "grantId": "0ab0ac0d0b000f00ea00cc0a0e00fc00bce000c000f0000000c0bc0a0000aaafSAMPLE"
    },
    "requestID": "294308c0-7617-4727-b5c9-34eaf75aa8e3",
    "eventID": "273708f7-5fbb-3a90-b04d-2b3138bf0ec9",
    "readOnly": false,
    "resources": [
        {
            "accountId": "111122223333",
            "type": "AWS::KMS::Key",
            "ARN": "arn:aws:kms:eu-west-2:111122223333:key/<key-id>"
        }
    ],
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "managementEvent": true,
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333",
    "sharedEventID": "b46377d7-b3c3-4bfd-a257-722bd3f3411d",
    "eventCategory": "Management"
}