How do you ensure your databases are always safe?

?? How to ensure databases are always safe? ?? * ?? Use strong passwords and encryption. * ?? Backup and recovery solutions in place. * ?? Limit access with secure authentication. * ?? Train employees on data security. * ?? Monitor for unauthorized activity. * ?? Keep software up-to-date with patches. * ?? Clean up unused data. * ?? Store data in secure, off-site locations. * ?? Regularly audit security policies and procedures. * ?? Stay up-to-date with security news. Remember, to protect your valuable data, regular reviews, and improvements are essential. Stay vigilant! ????

Backing up your database and more importantly, testing your backups to ensure they are recoverable, is one way to protect your data from unexpected data loss. While 3-2-1 rule is important, it does not matter how many copies exists if you cannot restore them. Hence, testing of your backup restoration is important. In addition, your backup policy should align closely with your RPO (Recovery Point Objective).

Veeam wrote this: "Administrators have to take risks because traditional methods of backup recoverability verification do not provide reasonable means to test every produced backup." So my company invented a patented method for testing every database backup every day.

1. Consistent SOP and regular monitoring 2. Good business ethic in IT management 3. Implement ISO certification for better governance

Though A Very Age old Practice ,the only thing that will save you during a disaster is your backup ,so backup all relevant data regularly and restore randomly & check. This is the only trusted safety mechanism

The best thing to remember is to encrypt data at rest and in motion. Many cloud-based data base services allow default SSL/TLS-based encryption in motion. Many also support Transparent Data Encryptions(TDE), enabling data to remain encrypted without putting too much development effort.

Encryption of your data at rest and in transit, while important to protect your data, it has to be considered holistically with the business needs, regulatory compliance, what access controls in place, configuration & hardening. If the business is dealing with compliance regulations like SOX, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GLBA, encryption is usually mandatory. But it’s important to have the right encryption algorithm as well as to safely manage and store encryption keys in a secure, organized way. For example, it is a taboo to keep keys on the same server as the encrypted data.

Also keep those key encryption methods when replicating and backing up. Keep sefa the productive environment is important, but also the backups or other environmenta (QA, DEV, PRE-PRD). As most of the often handle productive data, of course, something I do not recommend. Always anonymize, or use dummy approach.

To ensure database safety, a comprehensive strategy is essential. Encryption safeguards data at rest and in transit, while access controls and authentication protocols limit entry. Regular audits, redundancy through backup and replication, and tested disaster recovery plans ensure resilience. Real-time AI-driven monitoring detects threats, and education minimizes human error. An evolving security approach is key to sustained safety.

Encrypt data at rest and in transit to protect it from unauthorized access. Use encryption protocols like TLS for data in transit and tools like Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) for data at rest.

1. Access management and especially authorisations management is not only to be implemented, but to be maintained, this the most tedious task and often not done well enough. 2. To manage access well, you need to know w h a t is accessed and what your most critical assets are. This defines where your biggest risks are. And that enables a risk-based approach. Because that’s where your precious budgets should best be spent. So.. asset management (CMDB well managed) is key as well.

All access and permissions to critical data and assets should always be based on the principle of least privilege and only to the specific databases the user(s) required access to. Never use default system accounts (in fact, limit or disable defaults, if possible). If you can define a more granular level of permission or role-based access, apply Table-level or Column-level, or even Row-level permissions.

While implementing access control, ensuring the database uses your corporate Identity services is critical. In case an employee(read sysadmins) leaves, as the identity is removed from the corporate directory, access to the databases is also removed.

Apart from restricting who can modify the database, access should be considered for alternate personnel. Having one person with sole access to a database can cause issues when that person goes on an unexpected absence, falls ill or quite. At the same time this can also incorporate job rotation to ensure there aren't any discrepancies with any data or processes.

Just like any other technologies, databases have many vulnerabilities too. While it may seem common sense to ensure your databases are patched and updated, it is often easier said than done. One of the reason why database patching is hard is the ambiguous instructions for complex database design with different setup of clusters, design and configurations. It is almost impossible to account for the infinite practical variations. Secondly, without high availability, there is always this risk of extended downtime and potentially risk of not able to return to expected service resumption post release.

In the Zero Trust era, the concept of an organizational firewall is slowly fading away. Many companies have been extensively using cloud-native services. Hence, it is critical to start looking at things beyond the firewall.

Few important things to consider. 1. Optimal Audit Levels: Tune audits for efficient data capture. Pinpoint crucial events without slowing systems. 2. Continuous and Proactive Monitoring: Monitor ahead with tailored detection rules. Weave in emerging threat insights for precise accuracy. 3. Incorporating Threat Context: Contextualize to ID normal vs. malicious actions. Grasp broader threat tactics and motives. 4. Establishing a Security Baseline: Anchor threat detection on a baseline. Spot deviations, signal potential threats. 5. Addressing Changes with Detection Rules: Craft adaptive rules. Stay ahead, adapt to evolving threats.

Implement real-time monitoring and alerting systems to detect and respond to security incidents promptly. Define incident response plans to address security breaches effectively.

It is always best to monitor and audit your databases to identify suspicious or activities, anomalies, and can also be used to review and calibrate your access control policies. One very important point about database activity monitoring is that the collected telemetry data from this monitoring should reside outside of the database (to avoid tampering). The other point to highlight is to leverage on UEBA (User & Entity Behavioral Analytics) to baseline / profile good behaviors so that we can detect for risky or suspicious activities based on abnormal behavior which falls outside the baseline.

To keep your databases secure, it is very essential to intact data security product with migration to cloud which gives the possibility to analyze, predict and monitor large chunk of data with pure data security integration.