Aspects Of Database Security Information Technology Essay

Aspects Of Database Security Information Technology Essay Many native methods of providing Database security have also been discussed along with a survey of database threats issues and its remedies. Mechanisms are discussed that propose strengthening the database security. It seems desirable to get an understanding of the complete set of security problems faced and their problems up-to-date to devise better methodologies for database security issues. The research study regarding Database Security is organized as follows: Section 1 highlights the native methods of Database Security which have been employed. Section 2 describes the threats faced by databases and Section 3 discusses varies proposed remedies to the Database security issues. Improper safeguarding of data might compromise database confidentiality, its availability and integrity. In order to prevent this, it is very important to form a comprehensive ‘database security’ concept [term paper link]. Importance of Data The security of data has always been an issue, but wi th the increase of applications relying more on databases to store that information, the threats to the security have increased manifold. Security of data is a crucial issue today then ever and the importance of it is clearly understood as well. The three main objectives of Database security include Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability [1]. The databases have to be secured in any case since they contain bulk amount of data both confidential and public. The loss of integrity of data can not only have disastrous affect for a specific user, but the reputation of the whole organization comes at stake. Methods to perturb original data and are required in which data is converted to some anonymous form, in cases where the privacy of data itself is of utmost importance. Anonymization in that case is carried out in such a way that the original data integrity and its relationships are maintained while the data is perturbed for analysis. Threats to Database Databases today face a growin g risk of threats and vulnerabilities. Security breaches are typically categorized as unauthorized data observation, incorrect data modification, and data unavailability. Unauthorized data observation results in the disclosure of information to users not entitled to gain access to such information [2]. In case of unauthorized data observation, the data is seen by users for whom that data in not intended. For incorrect data modifications, once the data in the databases is modified, its integrity is lost and then the proper usage of data cannot be carried out. The true information is not available when it is needed. Countermeasures to Threats Some countermeasures that can be employed are outlined below: – Access Controls (can be Discretionary or Mandatory) – Authorization (granting legitimate access rights) – Authentication (determining whether a user is who they claim to be)ÂÂ   – Backup – Journaling (maintaining a log file – enables eas y recovery of changes) – Encryption (encoding data using an encryption algorithm) – RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks – protects against data loss due to disk failure)ÂÂ   – Polyinstantiation (data objects that appear to have different values to users with different access rights / clearance)ÂÂ   – Views (virtual relations which can limit the data viewable by certain users) [3]. Security Solutions for Databases