Introduction
Databases have become one of the most power pillars within organizations, regardless of size, industry, or geographical location. Databases are used for the sole purpose of storing and retrieving pertinent information, that in many cases deliver a vital blow to operations in any organization, and for this sole reason, hardware and software make database security a paramount feature that must not be overlooked.
Database security issues cover a wide spectrum; however, this paper will discuss database issues as related to database applications mainly using Oracle’s database application. Embedded security features accompany many database applications; however, often times these features are not properly enabled, therefore, security
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The term “hardening” is often used to describe the removal of database vulnerabilities, but the term can also apply to computer systems hardware too. In the relationship to data, hardening there is a three step process that is used to evaluate the degree of hardening applied in hardening or securing a database. The primary stages of hardening a database consist of locking down access to resources, disabling unnecessary functions, and applying the principle of least …show more content…
In her article, The 10 Most Common Database Vulnerabilities, Ericka Chickowski (2010) explains that unnecessary enabled database feature rank number four out of ten, of the most vulnerable exposures of entrance into database breaches. The outbox configuration path for database applications vary from application-to-application thus it is not a one size fits all type configuration path that can be assumed by DBA’s, but a clear understanding of what is necessary versus unwanted must be carved out prior to beginning and installation. Planning and understanding what is desired in the operation of database can reduce risk of zero-day attacks, but it can also simplify database patch management, which leads me to the final element of the three primary database hardening
Software application development at my company was initiated first out of security concerns. There were increasing numbers of security breaches reported in hospitals, banks, Yahoo, and other places that paused potential hazards (Snyder, 2014). We are in the financial Industry with huge volumes of sensitive data. Our Information Technology department expressed concerns that our SQL server was an easy target to those that may want to hack the system. Existing security measures and periodic training were very strict but they were not enough to protect customers from hackers.
Security helps the organization meet its business objectives or mission by protecting its physical and financial resources, reputation, legal position, employees, and other tangible and intangible assets through the selection and application of appropriate safeguards. Businesses should establish roles and responsibilities of all personnel and staff members. However, a Chief Information Officer should be appointed to direct an organization’s day to day management of information assets. Supporting roles are performed by the service providers and include systems operations, whose personnel design and operate the computer systems. Each team member must be held accountable in ensuring all of the rules and policies are being followed, as well as, understanding their roles, responsibilities and functions. Organizations information processing systems are vulnerable to many threats that can inflict various types of damage that can result in significant losses (Harris, 2014). Losses can come from actions from trusted employees that defraud the system, outside hackers, or from careless data entry. The major threat to information protection is error and omissions that data entry personnel, users, system operators and programmers make. To better protect business information resources, organizations should conduct a risk analysis to see what
Some faculties and departments are already using Oracle applications in their day-to-day operations. As time goes by, more and more information users will be working with an application based on Oracle database technology. If you get the opportunity to be a member of an application development team, you will become familiar with the workings of Oracle and relational databases. Other users may have to learn about this popular database management system through their own experience. This article is for our readers who, as of yet, have no access to Oracle databases but have a yearning for learning what they're all about.
For an in-depth defence approach, case study provides a series of things that describe about what is working nowadays for a secure data.
Standards Managing and protecting each asset requires an organization to implement both internal and external controls that will assist in achieving the objective of efficient operations, compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of its critical asset at any time in accordance with best practices of NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 4 Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems, NIST SP 800-30 Guide to Conducting Risk Assessments, and SANS Institute Developing Security Policies for Protecting Corporate Assets. Procedure Conducting a Risk Assessment provides insight into the difference between a threat and vulnerabilities and helps to identify countermeasures to harden and protect an organization assets to ensure only an acceptable level of residual risk remains. A risk assessment must include an extensive review of roles and responsibilities (employees, contractors, and vendors) to determine the necessary access control for each position within the organization and classification of the type of data to which each is granted access.
Every organization, big or small, should have some level of security policy to protect their proprietary information. While the intensity and depth of an organization's security policy depends heavily on the nature of their business, common guidelines are mentioned in this paper that apply to all policies. One of the most important things to remember is that employees are a critical component to a successful security policy. It is the organization's job to ensure that their security policy is widely distributed and understood.
In taking a wide overview of the computer world today, it is very easy to identify possible security risks. Especially in a connected network of worldwide computers, the limitless stream of bytes and data may invite viruses and hackers into any one single computer. According to PC Magazine Online, “Intel execs say the computer industry is lagging in support of data-security initiatives.”1 The difficulty lies sometimes in predicting areas of security weakness. Sometimes seemingly secure code may be subject to innovative attacks which can compromise security.
The Pros and Cons of Database Replication If business leaders conduct a risk analysis of this decision and consider the implications from the perspective of information security, the notion of centralizing a service in a single location and entrusting that location to provide that service to other, geographically separate locations, is troubling for several reasons. The risks associated with centralizing the database server, with no off-site replication, include degraded performance and a lack of business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities in the event of an unplanned event. Information security concerns itself with three primary tenants: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Confidentiality, of course, refers to the privacy
DBA deals with all of this by finding user needs, set the database, and test the system. DBA should enable editing any system he or she created. At the same time DBA should ensure the security of the data and guarantee data integrity and backup. Moreover, DBAs should know the database management systems (DBMS) that include the knowledge of Oracle, IBM DB2, and Microsoft SQL server (“Database Administrator,” 2010). Oracle is one of the most important platforms that DBA must know and have experience with. According to Kanaracus “The database experience we look for most of the time is Oracle”, says Tom Hart, executive vice president of the operations and technology group at Veritude. “SQL Server is more of a nice-to-have"
[6] O’Leary. Knowledge discovery as a threat to database security. In G. Piatetsky-Shapiro & W. J. Frawley, ‘Knowledge discovery in databases’, AAAI Press, page 507-516, 1991.
The fear of the unknown is common among people and being ignorant can be the one factor that causes that fear. Cybercrimes are becoming increasingly common as more people are becoming clever and finding ways to use computers as tools to do the crime. Although there are many challenges in learning the basics of cybersecurity as I am currently facing in my school with classes such as AP Computer Science and cybersecurity, I will be diligent and strive to fulfill my goals.
Databases have been protected at a higher level through network security measures such as firewalls and n...
In the past, most of the databases were centralized, protected, and kept in a one location using a complicated database system known as centralized database. Nowadays, with the new technology of personal computers and cell phones, a new sort of database has appeared, and it seems that majority of people are pleasant with it, even if their private data is split everywhere. Many enterprises had changed their databases from the centralized databases, into the distributed database system, since it meets the demand of accessing and processing the data in the organization. Distributed database technology is considered as one of the most remarkable developments in this century (Ozsu, 1991; Rahimi & Haug, 2010; Cain, 2012). Distributed databases are basically a collection of databases that are divided on multiple computers which are connected logically but located in different physical locations, and each site manages its own local data. In contrast, centralized database is a database that is located in a one location and it is considered as a big single database (Connolly & Begg, 2010).
A Database Management System (DBMS) is a software system that uses a standard way of classifying, retrieving, and running queries on data. The DBMS functions is to manage any incoming data, organize it, and provide ways for the data to be modified or extracted by users or other programs. Some examples of DBMS are PostgreSQL, Microsoft Access, SQL Server, FileMaker, Oracle,Clipper and FoxPro. Since there are so many database management systems are available, so it is important to ensure that they communicate with each other. This is because, most database software comes with an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver which allows the database to incorporate with other databases.
In our world, people rely heavily on the power of technology every day. Kids are learning how to operate an iPad before they can even say their first word. School assignments have become virtual, making it possible to do anywhere in the world. We can receive information from across the world in less than a second with the touch of a button. Technology is a big part of our lives, and without it life just becomes a lot harder. Just like our phones have such an importance to us in our daily lives, database management systems are the same for businesses. Without this important software, it would be almost impossible for companies to complete simple daily tasks with such ease.