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Database Security Assessment

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Database Security Assessment

Weak usernames and passwords that are simple for attackers to use are typical database

vulnerabilities. Weak usernames and passwords open the door for attackers to compromise the

confidentiality of data (wrong sentence, re-write). Data bleaching indicates that the owner's data

has been unlawfully accessed and disclosed (Hassanshahi & Yap, 2017). Comprised data lacks

integrity and correctness since it is inconsistent, a sign of incomplete data. Lastly, compromised

and stolen data imply that the data is no longer trustworthy. The compensating control for this

vulnerability is for organizations to set strong database passwords and usernames. The

justification is that this will give attackers a hard time cracking them, and they do not cost

anything to update passwords.

The database's extensive user and group permissions are another frequent data

vulnerability that is rarely recognized. Not all individuals and organizations who use a database

are accountable. Some people could feel compelled to alter the database's contents to fulfill their

desires. The database's altered data suggests that it is no longer secure and serves its intended

function. Interfered data becomes inaccurate in fulfilling its intended meaning and function

regarding data integrity (Williams, 2018). The interference with the database's data also impacts

the availability of the data because the hacked database's data is inconsistent and therefore not

accessible. The compensating control is to reduces the privileges given to users and other groups

associated with the database. The justification is that reduced privileges in the database will

reduce the users' activities in the database, and this control is free.

Unencrypted sensitive data is one last standard error that puts a database in danger. Many

businesses occasionally fail to encrypt critical information before storing it in their databases

(Pham & Dang, 2018). Sensitive information that is not encrypted makes it simple for attackers
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to abuse its availability, integrity, and confidentiality in the database. Encrypting and decrypting

all sensitive data in a way that limits its exposure to flaws is the best way to prevent this.

The best compensation control that can be compared with vulnerabilities listed above is

encryption, which includes converting all electronic data into a compelling cipher text.

Encrypting also involves changing cryptographic keys, despite having hardship in

implementation. Arguably use of multiple compensation controls might be effective for reliable

for extensive database protection, purposely considering the vulnerabilities above.

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References

Hassanshahi, B., & Yap, R. H. (2017, April). Android database attacks revisited. In Proceedings

of the 2017 ACM on Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security (pp.

625-639).

Williams, M. A., Dey, S., Barranco, R. C., Naim, S. M., Hossain, M. S., & Akbar, M. (2018,

December). Analyzing evolving trends of vulnerabilities in national vulnerability

database. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data) (pp. 3011-

3020). IEEE.

Pham, V., & Dang, T. (2018, December). Cvexplorer: Multidimensional visualization for

common vulnerabilities and exposures. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Big

Data (Big Data) (pp. 1296-1301). IEEE.