Oracle has begun shipping a new release of Oracle Database Firewall which includes support for MySQL Enterprise Edition, complementing existing support for Oracle Database 11g and earlier releases, IBM DB2 Linux/Unix/Windows, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase ASE, and Sybase SQL Anywhere. The new release also features new reporting capabilities including new out-of-the box reports that help to further address regulatory compliance.
Oracle Database Firewall establishes a defensive perimeter around databases, while monitoring and enforcing normal application behavior in real-time to help prevent SQL injection attacks and unauthorized attempts to access sensitive information. This is critical, notes Oracle, citing findings from the most recent IOUG Data Security Survey, which found that only 36% of respondents have taken steps to ensure their applications are not subject to SQL injection attacks.
"Since most customers are at risk of SQL injection attacks, the Oracle Database Firewall provides much needed security," states Andy Flower, president of the IOUG. "Oracle Database Firewall is an example of the necessary first line of defense for large and small customers that can monitor database activity and block threats before they even reach the database."
With new support for MySQL, which Oracle acquired as part of its acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010, the release protects MySQL databases against data breaches without requiring any changes to existing applications, the database infrastructure or the existing operating system of the target database.
"We are expanding the footprint of databases that we support," Oracle's Roxana Bradescu, director of Outbound Product Management, Database Security, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Additionally, the new version of Oracle Database Firewall introduces a new reporting infrastructure for running and modifying the layout of existing reports. "The new reporting infrastructure enables report customization using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher, so Oracle BI Publisher customers can now completely customize their reports. They can take advantage of all the Oracle BI Publisher features that they are familiar with for generating custom reports," notes Bradescu.
Offering a range of prebuilt and customizable reports, Oracle Database Firewall also provides 10 new out-of-the-box reports to help organizations comply with privacy and regulatory mandates such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX).
Moreover, the new release offers a new proxy operating mode that provides customers more flexibility in deploying it on the network. In addition, new 'multi-core' management capabilities offer administrators fine-grained control over the resources allocated to protect specific databases for even greater scalability.
And finally, to ensure that customers can adopt a defense-in-depth strategy, Oracle Database Firewall is now also integrated with Oracle Advanced Security. "The new integration with Oracle Advanced Security allows us to monitor native encryption over the network so if customers are encrypting their network traffic using the network encryption capabilities in Oracle Advanced Security, the Database Firewall can still see that encrypted traffic and monitor it, and be able to apply policies to that traffic," Bradescu explains.
This release is focused on providing capabilities that customers have asked for in order "to make their deployment and their use of the product, easier, better, faster," Bradescu says. "There is a growing awareness about security."
For more information about the Oracle Database Firewall, go here. http://www.oracle.com/us/products/database/database-firewall-160528.html
The 2011 IOUG Data Security Survey, which was produced by Unisphere Research, is available from the Oracle website by filling out a short registration form.
The executive summary of the report is also publicly available from the IOUG website, and IOUG members can log in to access the full research report.
For more information about Unisphere Research, go to www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.