While PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) primarily governs credit card data, storing Social Security Numbers (SSNs) in hosted databases requires similar security considerations. The key technical distinction lies in the regulatory frameworks:

// Example: Data classification logic
if (dataType === 'SSN') {
  applySecurityControls(PCI_Equivalent);
} else if (dataType === 'CreditCard') {
  applySecurityControls(PCI_Required);
}

Even without explicit PCI compliance mandates, these security measures should be implemented:

// Encryption implementation example (Node.js)
const encryptedSSN = crypto.createCipheriv(
  'aes-256-gcm',
  process.env.ENCRYPTION_KEY,
  initializationVector
).update(ssn, 'utf8', 'hex');

• Field-level encryption (AES-256 minimum)
• Tokenization for non-processing uses
• Strict access controls with MFA
• Database activity monitoring

For PostgreSQL implementations with pgcrypto:

-- Example table definition for secure SSN storage
CREATE TABLE client_data (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  name TEXT NOT NULL,
  ssn_encrypted BYTEA NOT NULL,
  ssn_iv BYTEA NOT NULL,
  CONSTRAINT encryption_check CHECK (
    octet_length(ssn_encrypted) > 0 AND 
    octet_length(ssn_iv) = 12
  )
);

-- Insert example with encryption
INSERT INTO client_data (name, ssn_encrypted, ssn_iv)
VALUES (
  'John Doe',
  pgp_sym_encrypt('123-45-6789', 'strong_secret_key'),
  gen_random_bytes(12)
);

A comprehensive logging solution should track all SSN access:

// Python example using SQLAlchemy events
from sqlalchemy import event

@event.listens_for(Client.ssn, 'set')
def log_ssn_access(target, value, oldvalue, initiator):
    audit_logger.info(
        f"SSN access {target.id}",
        extra={
            'user': current_user.id,
            'ip': request.remote_addr,
            'timestamp': datetime.utcnow()
        }
    )

For organizations preferring not to handle encryption directly:

// AWS Secrets Manager integration example
const getSSN = async (clientId) => {
  const secretName = client/${clientId}/ssn;
  return await secretsManager.getSecretValue(
    { SecretId: secretName }
  ).promise();
};

When dealing with Social Security Numbers (SSNs) in database systems, developers must consider multiple compliance frameworks. While PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) primarily governs credit card data, storing SSNs introduces other legal requirements including:

• State-specific data protection laws (e.g., South Carolina's Identity Theft Protection Act)
• Federal regulations like GLBA and HIPAA (when applicable)
• General data security best practices (NIST SP 800-53)

Here's a Python example using SQLAlchemy with encryption for SSN storage:

from sqlalchemy import Column, String
from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet

Base = declarative_base()
key = Fernet.generate_key()
cipher_suite = Fernet(key)

class Client(Base):
    __tablename__ = 'clients'
    
    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    name = Column(String(100))
    _ssn = Column('ssn', String(255))  # Encrypted storage
    
    @property
    def ssn(self):
        return cipher_suite.decrypt(self._ssn.encode()).decode()
    
    @ssn.setter
    def ssn(self, value):
        self._ssn = cipher_suite.encrypt(value.encode()).decode()

For hosted solutions, ensure your provider offers:

• Encryption at rest (AES-256)
• Network isolation (VPC/VLAN segmentation)
• Access logging with immutable audit trails
• Regular penetration testing reports

This Bash script helps verify basic security controls:

#!/bin/bash

# Check for encryption at rest
if [[ $(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier your-db \
       --query 'DBInstances[0].StorageEncrypted') != "true" ]]; then
    echo "ERROR: Database not encrypted at rest"
    exit 1
fi

# Verify network isolation
security_groups=$(aws rds describe-db-instances --db-instance-identifier your-db \
                --query 'DBInstances[0].VpcSecurityGroups[*].VpcSecurityGroupId' \
                --output text)
if ! aws ec2 describe-security-groups --group-ids $security_groups \
     --query 'SecurityGroups[*].IpPermissions' | grep -q "0.0.0.0/0"; then
    echo "ERROR: Database exposed to public internet"
    exit 1
fi

Consider tokenization patterns to avoid storing raw SSNs:

// Node.js tokenization example
const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');

function tokenizeSSN(ssn) {
    const token = uuidv4();
    // Store mapping in secure HSM/vault
    secureVault.store(token, ssn);  
    return token;
}

function detokenize(token) {
    return secureVault.retrieve(token);
}