How to Achieve HIPAA Compliance in MariaDB

How do I make MariaDB HIPAA compliant?

Configure MariaDB security features—encryption, auditing, access controls, backups—to protect PHI and meet HIPAA requirements.

Welcome to the Galaxy, Guardian!
You'll be receiving a confirmation email

Follow us on twitter :)

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Description

Example H2

Example H3

What makes a MariaDB deployment HIPAA compliant?

HIPAA compliance hinges on three pillars: confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Protected Health Information (PHI). In MariaDB, you meet these pillars through encryption (at rest & in transit), granular access controls, continuous auditing, and secure backups.

How do I encrypt PHI columns in MariaDB?

Use InnoDB tablespace encryption for data at rest plus AES_ENCRYPT() for column-level protection. Store keys in a key management service (KMS) or file_key_management plugin, not in source code.

Example: encrypting the email column

ALTER TABLE Customers MODIFY email VARBINARY(255); UPDATE Customers SET email = AES_ENCRYPT(email, UNHEX(SHA2('kms_key_01',512)));

How do I force TLS connections?

Create a server certificate, enable require_secure_transport = ON in my.cnf, and grant users with the REQUIRE SSL clause.

Example: user restricted to SSL

CREATE USER 'api_app'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '***' REQUIRE SSL; GRANT SELECT, INSERT ON ecommerce.* TO 'api_app'@'%';

How can I audit PHI access?

Load the server_audit plugin, route logs to a tamper-proof destination, and capture READ_WRITE events on sensitive tables.

Minimal audit config

INSTALL SONAME 'server_audit'; SET GLOBAL server_audit_logging = ON; SET GLOBAL server_audit_events = 'CONNECT,QUERY'; SET GLOBAL server_audit_excl_users = 'replicator';

How do I secure backups?

Run mariabackup --encrypt with GPG keys, store off-site, and verify restores monthly. Log each backup in an immutable ledger for HIPAA audit trails.

Best practices checklist

Encrypt tablespaces and binary logs
Rotate keys quarterly
Limit SUPER privilege to DB admins only
Enable STRICT_MODE to prevent silent data truncation
Test disaster recovery drills twice a year

Why How to Achieve HIPAA Compliance in MariaDB is important

How to Achieve HIPAA Compliance in MariaDB Example Usage


-- Fetch decrypted email for an authorized API using prepared statement
PREPARE stmt FROM 'SELECT id, name, AES_DECRYPT(email, UNHEX(SHA2(?,512))) AS email FROM Customers WHERE id = ?';
SET @key = 'kms_key_01', @cust_id = 42;
EXECUTE stmt USING @key, @cust_id;

How to Achieve HIPAA Compliance in MariaDB Syntax


-- my.cnf (excerpt)
[mysqld]
require_secure_transport = ON
plugin_load_add = server_audit
plugin_load_add = file_key_management
file_key_management_filename = /etc/mysql/encryption/keys.enc
innodb_encrypt_tables = ON
innodb_encrypt_log = ON

-- Create encrypted InnoDB tablespace
CREATE TABLE Customers (
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    email VARBINARY(255),
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
) ENGINE=InnoDB ENCRYPTED=yes;

-- Encrypt column data with application-side key
UPDATE Customers
SET email = AES_ENCRYPT('alice@example.com', UNHEX(SHA2('kms_key_01',512)))
WHERE id = 1;

-- Enforce SSL on user that queries PHI
CREATE USER 'auditor'@'10.%' IDENTIFIED BY 'secret' REQUIRE SSL;
GRANT SELECT ON Customers TO 'auditor'@'10.%';

-- Enable and configure auditing
INSTALL SONAME 'server_audit';
SET GLOBAL server_audit_logging = ON;
SET GLOBAL server_audit_events  = 'CONNECT,QUERY_DDL,QUERY_DML';

Common Mistakes

Storing encryption keys in the same server as the database. This breaks the HIPAA ‘separation of duties’ principle. Fix by using an external KMS or <code>file_key_management</code> with root-only permissions.
Auditing only DDL events. HIPAA requires logging every read of PHI. Enable <code>QUERY_DML</code> and secure logs against tampering to stay compliant.