Agent skill
snowflake-security-basics
Apply Snowflake security best practices: network policies, key rotation, MFA, encryption, and least-privilege access. Use when securing Snowflake access, implementing network policies, or auditing security configuration. Trigger with phrases like "snowflake security", "snowflake network policy", "secure snowflake", "snowflake MFA", "snowflake encryption".
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/tree/main/plugins/saas-packs/snowflake-pack/skills/snowflake-security-basics
SKILL.md
Snowflake Security Basics
Overview
Security best practices for Snowflake: network policies, key pair rotation, MFA, secret management, and least-privilege roles.
Prerequisites
- SECURITYADMIN or ACCOUNTADMIN role access
- Understanding of network CIDR notation
- Secret management solution (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.)
Instructions
Step 1: Create Network Policies
-- Restrict access to known IP ranges
CREATE OR REPLACE NETWORK POLICY corporate_policy
ALLOWED_IP_LIST = (
'203.0.113.0/24', -- Corporate office
'198.51.100.0/24', -- VPN range
'10.0.0.0/8' -- Internal network
)
BLOCKED_IP_LIST = (
'203.0.113.99' -- Block specific IP
);
-- Apply to entire account
ALTER ACCOUNT SET NETWORK_POLICY = corporate_policy;
-- Or apply to specific user (service account)
ALTER USER svc_etl SET NETWORK_POLICY = corporate_policy;
-- Verify current policy
SELECT * FROM TABLE(INFORMATION_SCHEMA.POLICY_REFERENCES(POLICY_NAME => 'corporate_policy'));
Step 2: Configure Key Pair Rotation
#!/bin/bash
# rotate-snowflake-keys.sh
# Generate new key pair
openssl genrsa 2048 | openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -out rsa_key_new.p8 -nocrypt
openssl rsa -in rsa_key_new.p8 -pubout -out rsa_key_new.pub
# Extract public key (remove headers and newlines)
PUB_KEY=$(grep -v "BEGIN\|END" rsa_key_new.pub | tr -d '\n')
echo "Run in Snowflake:"
echo "ALTER USER svc_etl SET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY_2 = '${PUB_KEY}';"
echo ""
echo "After verifying new key works:"
echo "ALTER USER svc_etl UNSET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY;"
echo "ALTER USER svc_etl SET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY = '${PUB_KEY}';"
echo "ALTER USER svc_etl UNSET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY_2;"
-- Snowflake supports two active public keys for zero-downtime rotation
-- Step 1: Set new key as RSA_PUBLIC_KEY_2
ALTER USER svc_etl SET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY_2 = 'MIIBIj...new_key...';
-- Step 2: Update application to use new private key
-- Step 3: After verification, promote and clean up
ALTER USER svc_etl SET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY = 'MIIBIj...new_key...';
ALTER USER svc_etl UNSET RSA_PUBLIC_KEY_2;
Step 3: Enable MFA
-- Enforce MFA via authentication policy
CREATE OR REPLACE AUTHENTICATION POLICY require_mfa
MFA_AUTHENTICATION_METHODS = ('TOTP')
CLIENT_TYPES = ('SNOWFLAKE_UI', 'SNOWSQL')
SECURITY_INTEGRATIONS = ();
-- Apply to human users (not service accounts)
ALTER USER analyst_user SET AUTHENTICATION POLICY = require_mfa;
-- Check MFA enrollment status
SELECT name, has_mfa, login_name, disabled
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.USERS
WHERE has_mfa = 'false' AND disabled = 'false';
Step 4: Secret Management for Applications
// src/snowflake/secrets.ts
// AWS Secrets Manager
import { SecretsManagerClient, GetSecretValueCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager';
async function getSnowflakeCredentials(): Promise<{
account: string;
username: string;
privateKey: string;
}> {
const client = new SecretsManagerClient({ region: 'us-east-1' });
const response = await client.send(
new GetSecretValueCommand({ SecretId: 'snowflake/production/credentials' })
);
return JSON.parse(response.SecretString!);
}
// GCP Secret Manager
import { SecretManagerServiceClient } from '@google-cloud/secret-manager';
async function getSnowflakeKey(): Promise<string> {
const client = new SecretManagerServiceClient();
const [version] = await client.accessSecretVersion({
name: 'projects/my-project/secrets/snowflake-private-key/versions/latest',
});
return version.payload!.data!.toString();
}
Step 5: Audit Access
-- Recent login activity
SELECT user_name, client_ip, reported_client_type,
first_authentication_factor, second_authentication_factor,
is_success, error_message, event_timestamp
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.LOGIN_HISTORY
WHERE event_timestamp >= DATEADD(days, -7, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
ORDER BY event_timestamp DESC;
-- Privilege grants audit
SELECT created_on, privilege, granted_on, name, granted_to, grantee_name, granted_by
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.GRANTS_TO_ROLES
WHERE deleted_on IS NULL
AND granted_on = 'TABLE'
AND privilege = 'OWNERSHIP'
ORDER BY created_on DESC;
-- Detect unused roles (no logins in 30 days)
SELECT r.name AS role_name
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.ROLES r
LEFT JOIN (
SELECT DISTINCT role_name
FROM SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE.LOGIN_HISTORY
WHERE event_timestamp >= DATEADD(days, -30, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP())
) l ON r.name = l.role_name
WHERE l.role_name IS NULL AND r.deleted_on IS NULL;
Security Checklist
- Network policy restricts access to known IPs
- Service accounts use key pair auth (not passwords)
- Key rotation automated (90-day cycle minimum)
- MFA enabled for all human users
- Credentials stored in secret manager (not env files in prod)
-
.env,rsa_key.p8in.gitignore - Audit LOGIN_HISTORY weekly for anomalies
- Unused roles/users disabled
Error Handling
| Security Issue | Detection | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Failed logins spike | LOGIN_HISTORY WHERE is_success = 'NO' |
Check for brute force, lock user |
| Key not rotated | DESC USER; check RSA_PUBLIC_KEY |
Run rotation script |
| No network policy | SHOW PARAMETERS LIKE 'NETWORK_POLICY' |
Create and apply policy |
| Excessive privileges | GRANTS_TO_ROLES audit |
Revoke unnecessary grants |
Resources
Next Steps
For production deployment, see snowflake-prod-checklist.
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