Nowadays, business enterprises tend to collect huge amounts of data from various sources during their operations and customer interactions. Storing all this data securely and sharing it with the employees and others is a very challenging thing. For the database administrators and system engineers, being compliant with the cybersecurity regulations is critical, and even a single mistake may lead to hacking the entire system, which will incur huge losses to the entire organization. Therefore, this article will also look at some database security best practices for enterprise users to follow.
Use a separate server
Organizations must have a very robust and interactive business website to ensure optimum customer satisfaction. Therefore, you need to choose only the best possible hosting service for the websites and the databases. However, for storing all the company databases, one should choose a standalone and highly secured server, possibly with customizable security control and multidimensional security administration. It is also advisable that you create a couple of blocks or authentications to enter the database and retrieve information from it.
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Protect the service
Once you have all the databases tucked away in a standalone server and ensured that it is optimally protected, you should also check the given system to ensure that all the firewalls are up to date. Also, make sure that there is advanced anti-malware software installed on the server, which can turn down any attacks of the hackers to break in. Access to the database server also should be limited, and also if the company employees need to access data, it must be closely monitored and adequately regulated. There should also be provisions to generate one-time passwords, multi-factor authentication, etc., to enable secure access.
Implement encryptions
Even though you have to take various steps for protecting your database from all kinds of attacks, the hackers can be several steps ahead of you when they are into action. So, it would help if you had to outsmart their tactics by encrypting your data which is kept on the database. This can also be automated with advanced tools and software. Once the data is entered into the given database server, it will remain there in the encrypted format for the system administrators to handle it periodically. The key for decrypting the data can also be held in confidence, and by adopting this method, you will be able to ensure that your database always remains intact and secured.
The primary method of attack on encrypted data nowadays is brute force, like trying out random keys until the right one is tracked. However, the length of each key also determines a possible number of keys, and it can also affect the plausibility of these attacks. So, it is crucial to consider that encryption strength remains directly proportionate to the key size. Still, as key size increases, the number of resources required to perform a computation also increases. Some alternative methods are cryptanalysis and side-channel attacks etc.
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Install a solid database management software
Database management software is created for enterprise data management, which can also keep your database secured. These types of software are ideally known as the database management systems for DBMS, which helps to arrange the data and sort them based on the criticality of the data and enable secured retrieval methods for the same. Many of the given security elements are meant to protect the database, and various tools come packed with database management systems for security administration. You can also take the assistance of reliable third-party database security providers as RemoteDBA.com for enterprise database security.
Need for regular database backup
Creating a proper backup plan for your most important and critical data is very crucial. As of now, you will be able to think of cloud-based solutions for database backup. Full security and management of the database on cloud database servers are ideal to choose. Wherever you keep the raw data or the encrypted data on the database server, it should be mirrored onto the cloud, which will act as insurance to your data. Even in terms of the worst-case scenario as the server getting damaged or the entire server location being drowned, you may sit relieved by knowing the copies of your documents can still be retrieved from another destination or cloud.
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Delegating the responsibility of keeping all software updated
Significance of any database server security needed to be felt at all levels of the organization. It is not the sole responsibility of the IT department of the database or security administrators, but this should be designated to each level to ensure optimum database security. There should also be dedicated security professionals who need to keep a close watch of different anti-malware programs antivirus software installed onto the database server and keep them updated. Most importantly, the security administrators should be sure of the fact that all the downloaded and programs are updated are installed to ensure optimum security.
Conducting security audits
You should also try to arrange for a mock hack attempt on your database to find whether it is truly secure. This can also be done on a scheduled basis, and the interval resources can also be used to run it. It is also an ideal approach to turn to third-party security service providers to conduct a security audit and ensure optimum protection of your databases.
Considering all these factors, there should be a coordinated effort to maintain the enterprise databases under optimum security. The employees who create the data should also work together with the IT team and database and security administrators to ensure foolproof cybersecurity in enterprise database management.
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Industry best cyber security practices in enterprise database administration – Geospatial