Introduction

IntroductionMost DBMS did not have a secure mechanisms

for authentication and encryption until recently.

DBA is required to have an additional skill-that of implementing security policies that protect one of the most valuable assets of company-its data.

Database Security is degree to which all data is fully protected from tampering and unauthorized acts.

CIA Triangle

Three Key ObjectivesConfidentiality

Data confidentialityPrivacy

IntegrityData integritySystem integrity

Availability

ConfidentialityAddresses two aspects

First aspect is prevention of unauthorized individuals from accessing secret information.

Second aspect is process of safe guarding confidential information and disclosing secret information only to authorized individuals by means of classifying information

Confidentiality Classification

Less

More

Control

Few

Many

People

IntegrityConsistent and valid data

Data is considered to have integrity if it is accurate and has been tampered with intentionally or accidentally.

Degradation of data integrityInvalid data

Redundant Data (lead to inconsistency and data anomalies)

Inconsistent data (redundant data resides in several places, is not identical)

Data Anomalies (occurs when one occurrence of the repeated data is changed and the other occurrences are not)

Degradation of data integrityData read inconsistency (data changes that are

made by the user are visible to others before changes are committed; indicates user does not always read the last committed data)

Data non concurrency

AvailabilitySystem should be available to individuals who

are authorized to access the information.

Database security access pointsA security access point is place where

database security must be protected and applied.

People (secure data within the DB against violations caused by people)

Applications (when granting security privileges to applications, be cautious, permissions shouldn’t too loose/too restrictive)

Network

Database security access pointsOS (gateway to data, security credentials must be

verified)

DBMS

Data Files (make use of encryption and permissions to protect data files belonging to database)

Data

Data Integrity violation processSecurityAccess pointsAreunprotected

DataIntegrityViolation

Process of security gap resulting in security breach

Data Integrity violation processSecurity gaps are points at which security is

missing, and thus system is vulnerable.

Vulnerability is state in which an object can potentially be affected by a force or another object or even a situation but not necessarily is or will be.

Threat is defined as security risk that has high possibility of becoming a system breach.

Database Security Levels

Database Security LevelsVIEW database object is stored query that returns

columns and rows from selected tables.

Data provided by view object is protected by database system functionality that allows schema owners to grant or revoke privileges.

Data files in which data resides are protected by database and that protection is enforced by OS file permissions.

Finally database is secured by DBMS (through accounts and password mechanism, privileges, permissions to few)

Menaces to DatabasesSecurity VulnerabilitySecurity Threat (security violation that can happen

any time because of security vulnerability)Security Risk (A known security gap that company

intentionally leaves open)

Types of VulnerabilitiesSusceptible to attack

Intruders, attackers exploit in our environment to start their attacks.

Hackers usually explore the weak points of a system until they gain entry through gap in protection.

Types of VulnerabilitiesInstallation and configuration (results from default

installation/configuration which is known publicly and we don’t enforce any security measures)

User mistakes (due to carelessness in implementing procedures)

Software (found in commercial softwares, patches not applied)

Design and implementation (due to improper software analysis, design as well as coding deficiencies)

Types of ThreatsPeople (people intentionally/unitentionally inflict

damage, e.g. hackers,terrorists)

Malicious code (software code that is intentionally written to damage the components, e.g. viruses)

Natural disasters

Technological disasters (malfunction in equipment, e.g. network failure, hardware failure)

Virus

Worm

Back Door

Trojan Horse

Rootkits

Types of RisksPeople (loss of people who are vital components of DB,

e.g. due to resignation)

Hardware (results in hardware unavailability, down due to failure, malfunction)

Data (data loss, corruption)

Confidence (loss of public confidence in data produced by company)

Asset Types and their valuesPhysical Assets (hardware, cars)

Logical Assets (purchased softwares, OS, DB)

Intangible Assets (business reputation, confidence)

Human Assets (human skills, knowledge)

Security MethodsPeoplea.Security policies & proceduresb.Process of identification and authenticationc.Training courses on importance of securityd.Physical limits on access to hardware and

documents

Security MethodsApplicationsa.Authentication of users who accessb.Business rulesc.Single sign on ( signing on once for different

applications)

Security MethodsNetworka.Firewallsb.VPNc.Authentication

Security MethodsOSa.Authenticationb.Intrusion Detectionc.Password Policyd.User Accounts

Security MethodsDBMSa.Authenticationb.Audit Mechanismsc.Database resource limitsd.Password Policy

Security MethodsData Filesa.File Permissionsb.Access Monitoring

Dataa.Validationb.Data accessc.Encryptiond.Data constraints

Database Security MethodologyIdentification (investigation of resources reqd., policies

to be adopted)Assessment (analysis of vulnerabilities, threats and

risks)Design (blueprint of adopted security model)Implementation (code developed, tools purchased)Evaluation (testing system against attacks, failures,

disasters)Auditing