An attack on your database is an attack on your business. When opportunistic individuals gain access to your company’s customer records, employee information or confidential data, it creates serious repercussions beyond the financial loss. It can damage your reputation and put the future of your organisation at risk. What should you do?
Recognising Vulnerabilities
Recognition of your organisation’s vulnerabilities is the first step towards mitigating the effect of malicious entry to your database.
For companies using SQL servers for their database, DBA Services share that running a quick diagnostics of the servers can detect issues before they become major incidents. Routine monitoring of all access activity not only alerts your organisation to security threats, but also uncovers inefficiencies.
Once you know where the problems are, you’ll be able to draw appropriate measures to protect your most valuable asset — and information is an asset.
Here are some of the biggest threats to your database:
Database Injections
SQL and NonSQL are the most common forms of database injections. The former targets traditional database systems while the latter targets big data platforms.
With SQL injections, an attacker sends unauthorised database queries, giving them unrestricted access to your entire system.
Internal Access
Some of your employees may have access to information they shouldn’t have in the first place. Excessive privileges can leave your database vulnerable. This could occur with employees who abuse the privilege, using the information to sell, or hold it for ransom, when disgruntled employees become redundant.
DoS Attack
Denial of service (DoS) attack comes with data corruption and network overflooding, among other techniques. This essentially leaves your organisation’s system temporarily unavailable.
Basic Negligence
Storage media, unmanaged sensitive data and other lapses in security will boil down to basic negligence. When administrators have access to sensitive information make backup copies or when critical data do not undergo appropriate security controls, your organisation’s database will be vulnerable.
Data breach is costly. An IBM study estimates this figure at $3.8 million, which has risen to 23% since 2013. But any company that has suffered a database attack knows that the cost of a breach goes beyond the dollar value. Establishing appropriate security measures now can help your organisation mitigate or prevent the impact of an attack, and protect the future of your business.