HCD security overview

HCD provides a comprehensive security framework designed for modern enterprise environments. This overview explains the security architecture and key features available in HCD 1.2.

Security architecture

HCD uses a modular security architecture with three main components:

AdvancedAuthenticator
AdvancedAuthorizer
AdvancedRoleManager

AdvancedAuthenticator

The AdvancedAuthenticator provides flexible authentication support for multiple authentication schemes:

Internal authentication: Traditional username/password stored in the database
LDAP authentication: Integration with Active Directory and other LDAP services
OpenID Connect (OIDC): Modern identity provider integration

The authenticator can configure multiple schemes simultaneously, enabling gradual migration or hybrid authentication strategies.

AdvancedAuthorizer

The AdvancedAuthorizer provides granular access control with:

Role-based access control (RBAC): Permissions granted to roles, which are assigned to users
Resource hierarchy: Permissions cascade from higher-level resources to lower-level resources
Permission inheritance: Roles can inherit permissions from other roles

AdvancedRoleManager

The AdvancedRoleManager handles role assignment and management:

Internal role management: Direct mapping of users to roles
LDAP role management: Automatic role assignment based on LDAP group membership
OIDC role management: Role assignment from JWT claims

Key security features

HCD provides four core security capabilities: authentication, authorization, encryption, and auditing.

Authentication

HCD supports multiple authentication schemes:

Internal authentication: Support for internal, LDAP, and OIDC
Flexible configuration: Mix and match authentication schemes as needed
Enterprise integration: Seamless integration with existing identity systems
Modern standards: Support for OIDC and other modern authentication protocols

Authorization

HCD delivers granular access control:

Granular permissions: Control access at keyspace, table, and function levels
Role hierarchy: Create complex permission structures with role inheritance
Separation of duties: Create administrative roles with limited permissions

Encryption

HCD secures data through multiple encryption layers:

Client-to-node encryption: Secure connections between clients and database nodes
Node-to-node encryption: Secure internode communication
Transparent data encryption: Encrypt data at rest on disk
Key management: Support for KMIP and local key management

Auditing

HCD provides comprehensive audit capabilities:

Comprehensive logging: Track all database activities
Configurable categories: Choose which events to audit
Multiple outputs: Log to files or database tables
Compliance support: Meet regulatory requirements

Configuration overview

The following sections describe how to configure the security features.

cassandra.yaml configuration

The main security configuration resides in the cassandra.yaml file:

authenticator:
  class_name: com.datastax.cassandra.auth.AdvancedAuthenticator
  parameters:
    enabled: true
    default_scheme: internal
    additional_schemes: oidc, ldap
    plain_text_without_ssl: warn

authorizer:
  class_name: com.datastax.cassandra.auth.AdvancedAuthorizer

role_manager:
  class_name: com.datastax.cassandra.auth.AdvancedRoleManager
  parameters:
    mode: internal

Authentication scheme configuration

Each authentication scheme requires specific configuration parameters:

Internal Authentication:

No additional configuration required
Users and passwords stored in the database

LDAP Authentication:

Server configuration (ldap_servers)
User search settings (ldap_user_search_filter, ldap_user_search_bases)
Group lookup configuration (ldap_group_search_* parameters)
Connection settings (ldap_connection_use_tls, ldap_connection_use_ssl)

OIDC Authentication:

Issuer URL (oidc_issuer)
Client configuration (oidc_accepted_audience)
JWT claim mapping (oidc_user_name_claim, oidc_user_roles_claims)
TLS settings (oidc_use_tls, oidc_truststore_path)

Encryption configuration

Client-to-Node Encryption:

client_encryption_options:
    enabled: true
    keystore: conf/.keystore
    keystore_password: cassandra
    require_client_auth: false

Node-to-Node Encryption:

server_encryption_options:
    internode_encryption: all
    keystore: conf/.keystore
    keystore_password: cassandra
    require_client_auth: false

Transparent Data Encryption:

transparent_data_encryption_options:
    enabled: true
    cipher: AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding
    key_alias: testing:1
    key_provider:
      - class_name: org.apache.cassandra.security.JKSKeyProvider
        parameters:
          - keystore: conf/.keystore
            keystore_password: cassandra
            store_type: JCEKS

Audit logging configuration

audit_logging_options:
    enabled: true
    logger:
      - class_name: BinAuditLogger
    included_categories: QUERY, DML, DDL, AUTH
    excluded_keyspaces: system, system_schema

Default security state

HCD 1.2 ships with the following default security configuration:

Authentication: Disabled (authenticator.parameters.enabled: false)
Authorization: Disabled (authorizer.parameters.enabled: false)
Client-to-node encryption: Disabled (client_encryption_options.enabled: false)
Node-to-node encryption: Disabled (server_encryption_options.internode_encryption: none)
Transparent data encryption: Disabled (transparent_data_encryption_options.enabled: false)
Audit logging: Disabled (audit_logging_options.enabled: false)