Database Security

DATABASE SECURITY
OBJECTIVES
Understand and explain the place of database
security in the context of security analysis and
management.
Understand, explain and apply the security concepts
relevant to database systems.
Understand, identify and find solutions to security
problems in database systems.
Understand the basic language of security
mechanisms as applied to database systems.
Analyze access control requirements and perform
fairly simple implementations using SQL.
Appreciate the limitations of security subsystems.
OVERVIEW
All systems have ASSETS and security is about

protecting assets. The first thing, then, is to
know your assets and their value. In this
chapter, concentrate on database objects
(tables, views, rows), access to them, and the
overall system that manages them. Note that
not all data is sensitive, so not all requires
great effort at protection. All assets are under
threat.
OVERVIEW
The second thing to know is what THREATs are

putting your assets at risk. These include
things such as power failure and employee
fraud. Note that threats are partly hypothetical,
always changing and always imperfectly
known. Security activity is directed at
protecting the system from perceived threats.
OVERVIEW
If a threat is potential, you must allow for it to

become an actuality. When it becomes actual
there is an IMPACT. Impact you can consider
and plan for. But in the worst case, there will be
a LOSS. Security activity here is directed at
minimizing the loss and recovering the
database to minimize the loss as well as further
protecting from the same or similar threats.
Threat Impact Loss
PROTECT
DETECT
PREDICT RECOVER
MINIMIZE
PREVENT
AN OUTLINED DEVELOPMENT
MECHANISM IS:
Document assets (what they are, what their

value is)
Identify treats (what they are, how likely they
are, what will be the impact is if they occur).
Associate threats with each asset.
Design mechanisms to protect each asset
appropriate to its value and the cost of its
protection, to detect a security breach against
each asset, to minimize the losses incurred
and to recover normal operation.
THREATS TO THE DATABASE
Building your security skills comes from two

directions.
One is from the appreciation and awareness
of changing threats, and
the other from the technical remedies to
them.
THREATS INCLUDE:
Unauthorized modification: Changing data

values for reasons of sabotage, crime or
ignorance which may be enabled by
inadequate security mechanisms, or sharing
of passwords or password guessing, for
example.
THREATS INCLUDE:
Unauthorized
disclosure: When
information that should
not have been disclosed
has been disclosed. A
general issue of crucial
importance, which can
be accidental or
deliberate.
THREATS INCLUDE:
Loss of availability:
Sometimes called denial
of service. When the
database is not available
it incurs a loss (otherwise
life is better without the
system!). So any threat
that gives rise to time
offline, even to check
whether something has
occurred, is to be avoided.
CATEGORIES OF SPECIFIC REGULATORY
THREATS TO DATABASE SYSTEMS.
Commercial sensitivity: Most financial
losses through fraud arise from
employees. Access controls provide
both protection against criminal acts
and evidence of attempts (successful
or otherwise) to carry out acts
detrimental to the organization,
whether fraud, extraction of sensitive
data or loss of availability.
Data logs, User Authentication
THREATS TO DATABASE SYSTEMS
Personal privacy and data protection:
Internationally, personal data is
normally subject to legislative
controls. Personal data is data about
an identifiable individual.
Example: Postal code for a home may
in some cases identify an individual, if
only one person is living at an address
with the postal code. Such data needs
careful handling and control.
THREATS TO DATABASE SYSTEMS
Computer misuse: There is also
generally legislation on the misuse
of computers. Misuse includes the
violation of access controls and
attempts to cause damage by
changing the database state or
introducing worms and viruses to
interfere with proper operation.
These offences are often
extraditable.
Audit requirements: These are
operational constraints built around the
need to know who did what, who tried to
do what, and where and when everything
happened. They involve the detection of
events (including CONNECT and GRANT
transactions), providing evidence for
detection, assurance as well as either
defense or prosecution. There are issues
related to computer-generated evidence.
System logs
PRINCIPLES OF
DATABASE SECURITY
OVERVIEW
To structure thoughts on security, you need a

model of security. These come in various
forms that depend on roles, degree of detail
and purpose. The major categories are areas
of interest (threats, impact and loss) as well
as the actions involved in dealing with them.
SECURITY RISKS ARE TO BE SEEN IN TERMS OF THE
LOSS OF ASSETS. THESE ASSETS INCLUDE:
•Hardware
•Software
•Data
•Data quality
•Credibility
•Availability
•Business benefit
PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH THREATS
TO THE DATA AND DATA QUALITY
POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND:
You need to accept that security can

never be perfect. There always
remains an element of risk, so
arrangements must be made to deal
with the worst eventuality
which means steps to minimize
impact and recover effectively from
loss or damage to assets.
THINGS TO REMEMBER
1.Appropriate security - you do

not want to spend more on
security than the asset is worth.
2.You do not want security

measures to interfere
unnecessarily with the proper
functioning of the system.
SECURITY MODELS
SECURITY MODEL establishes the external criteria

for the examination of security issues in general,
and provides the context for database
considerations, including implementation and
operation.
Specific DBMSs have their own security models

which are highly important in systems design and
operation
You will realize that security
models explain the features
available in the DBMS which need
to be used to develop and operate
the actual security systems. They
embody concepts, implement
policies and provide servers for
such functions. Any faults in the
security model will translate either
into insecure operation or clumsy
systems.
EXAMPLE LEVEL OF USERS ACCOUNT
Administrator
System Admin
Staff/Clerk
ACCESS CONTROL
ACCESS CONTROL is expensive

in terms of analysis, design and
operational costs. It is applied to
known situations, to known
standards, to achieve known
purposes. Do not apply controls
without all the above knowledge.
Control always has to be
appropriate to the situation.
AUTHENTICATION
The client has to establish the

identity of the server and the
server has to establish the
identity of the client. This is done
often by means of shared secrets
(either a password/user-id
combination, or shared
biographic and/or biometric
data). It can also be achieved by
a system of higher authority
which has previously established
authentication
AUTHORIZATION
Authorization relates to the

permissions granted to an
authorized user to carry out
particular transactions, and
hence to change the state of
the database (write- item
transactions) and/or receive
data from the database
(read-item transactions).
LEVEL OF ACCESS

Database Security

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DATABASE SECURITY

All systems have ASSETS and security is about

The second thing to know is what THREATs are

If a threat is potential, you must allow for it to

Document assets (what they are, what their

Building your security skills comes from two

Unauthorized modification: Changing data

To structure thoughts on security, you need a

You need to accept that security can

1.Appropriate security - you do

2.You do not want security

SECURITY MODEL establishes the external criteria

Specific DBMSs have their own security models

ACCESS CONTROL is expensive

The client has to establish the

Authorization relates to the

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