It is not necessary to look too far back in history to see the damage of data loss in both private enterprise as well as the government sector. As leading retailers – including Target, Neiman Marcus, and Michaels – disclosed details of their data breaches earlier this year, they sounded a clear warning to others that more must be done to protect customer data. In addition, data breaches at the government level – with news reports about WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden, and Bradley Manning – illustrate the risk that is posed by individuals within and outside the firewall.
Although data is increasingly being viewed as a valuable asset and progress in data security is being made, advancements are not being implemented as quickly or as vigorously as they should, according to a recent Unisphere Research survey of 322 data managers and professionals. (“Data Security: Leaders Vs. Laggards - 2013 IOUG Enterprise Data Security Survey,” sponsored by Oracle)
Among the salient data points from the study are the fact that close to two-thirds of respondents indicated that the bulk of their resources go toward protecting against network intrusions although they feel a breach at the database layer would cause the greatest harm.
In terms of encryption techniques–an important approach to preventing data theft–more organizations are applying encryption against data in motion, but too few encrypt all their data at rest.
In addition, human error and internal hacking which can be limited or even prevented through privilege controls are also not being deployed widely enough. More than two-thirds of respondents say they are either unaware of, or know that they have no safeguards to prevent a database administrator or developer from accidentally deleting data or unintentionally harming to critical applications.
An aggressive stance with preventive security measures, the report states, is critical since it enables organizations to ward off breaches. Monitoring and audits, on the other hand, will only detect data loss after an event.
Here are the winners of the 2014 DBTA Readers' Choice Awards for Best Database Security Solution:
Winner: Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall
Winners' Circle by Jeb Dasteel, Senior VP & Chief Customer Officer
Unleash Innovation by Simplifying IT
Oracle is shifting the complexity from IT, moving it out of the enterprise byengine ering hardware and software to work together—in the cloud and in the data center. By eliminating complexity and simplifying IT, Oracle enables its customers—400,000 of them in more than 145 countries around the world—to accelerate innovation and create added value for their customers ... read on.
Finalists:
IBM InfoSphere Guardium
McAfee Database Activity Monitoring