Tips to Help Secure Your Database during Development

Database security is more important today than ever before. Whether it is a database in one of yourunity games, web applications or other. This is because of the increased level of hacking and the fact that it is your data that helps you anticipate the future, customize your products and marketing strategies as well as stay ahead of the competition. However, keeping your database secure is not a simple thing and there is no surefire way of doing that.

If your organization relies on open source database, there are important points discussed in the post on sociable.co titled ‘Open source database security gets a significant boost’. The information here will help you improve data security. However, if you are using other platforms or needed added security, the following points will come in handy. Focus is in keeping your database secure right from the development stage.

As a security professional, it is imperative that you understand the basics of developing a secure database. It is also your duty to educate the organization on how best to use the database so as to keep it free from security threats. Below are some important points you need to consider using in database development.

• Focus on database views

Developers have different approaches in database management. If you plan on building a more secure database, you should consider using database views as opposed to tables. Creating applications that interact with the views rather than tables will boost security. This is because database views will give you more control over the access of information at both row and column level.

• Use stored procedures

To limit the range of actions that an application can perform while on your database, make use of the stored procedures. The SQL code needs to be stored on the server then made available via the use of stored procedures. This will not only improve data security but also allow easy and centralized updates in case the security requirements change later in time.

• Never embed the SQL commands in the application code

Including the SQL commands in the applications will compromise your database security. This is because doing this increases vulnerability in case malicious users modify the application. This point goes hand in hand with making use of the stored procedures.

• Developers should not have administrative power over the users

A separation of powers is important when it comes to database security. Developers should not be able to create or modify user permissions. This eliminates risk resulting from the temptation of loosening the access controls to make their work easier when testing the system. At times, these temporary solutions remain unresolved and end up being the gateways to the database. Any exploit is total exploit when it comes to database security.

These basic security tips will get you started on the right foot when developing a database that is secure. Developers must always give priority to security. It makes no sense in having the most user-friendly database that is easy to compromise. Make sure you develop a database that is foolproof.

by http://www.remote-dba-experts.com/