Data is one of the most important assets for organizations of all sizes. Organizations use database management systems to handle the storage, querying, and retrieval of their data. These tasks help to uncover important business insights. Cybercriminals also know the value of data, and they can attempt to gain access to valuable data by exploiting database systems. This article describes five of the main security risks to database systems.
Why is Data so Important for Businesses?
To reinforce the importance of guarding against the security risks to database systems, it’s helpful to refresh our minds about why data is such an important asset for businesses. The following are some of the main ways companies benefit from data:
- Improved decision making—Businesses of all sizes generate data, and they can use that data to make better decisions about ways to find new customers, social media platforms to focus marketing efforts on, and much more.
- Solving problems—Marketing campaigns performing poorly? The data typically has the answers you’re seeking and you can rectify problems based on this knowledge.
- Refining performance—Analytics data helps refine performance in different areas of importance to your business, such as deliveries, or eCommerce experience.
- Understanding customer behavior—Data helps you glean crucial insights about who your customers are, what content they interact with, and what marketing channels they prefer.
- Increasing business efficiency—Analyzing data helps your business eliminate inefficiencies that cost time and money.
Security Risks to Database Systems
Bearing in mind the value of data, it’s no surprise that hackers want to access it. One of the main methods for accessing data is to take advantage of security flaws or weak points in the software you use to manage your data. Here are five of the main security risks to database systems.
Aggregation Attacks
SQL in the main language that business professionals use to query organizational data stored in database management systems (DBMS) such as MS Access, SQL Server, and MySQL. A common SQL operation is aggregation, in which information from multiple tables is combined.
An aggregation attack is an insider attack that occurs when a malicious employee uses aggregation functions to piece together different pieces of non-sensitive information that when combined, become sensitive. The best prevention method is proper control over the permissions granted to database system users.
Inference Attacks
An inference attack is closely related to an aggregation attack. It involves a malicious insider obtaining highly sensitive information from a database without necessarily having the highest access privileges to see that data.
While aggregation attacks depend on the use of aggregation functions to piece together information, inference attacks use the deductive capabilities of the malicious party to piece together information about sensitive data.
Again, proper access control is an information security department’s best friend when it comes to preventing inference attacks.
Lack of Encryption
A surprising number of exploits on database systems arise due to organizations not encrypting sensitive data. While attacks targeting encrypted data do occur, they require far more sophistication than simply accessing unencrypted data. This security risk arises from poorly implemented infosec processes rather than underlying security issues in database management systems.
It’s a good example of the benefit of the tools at your disposal depending on how you use those tools as much as the tools themselves.
The procedure for encrypting an unencrypted database depends on the DBMS your company uses. As an aside, if you store sensitive data in the cloud, it’s always prudent to make sure it’s encrypted. Here is a link to the Oracle page on transparent data encryption, which described how to encrypt an Oracle database.
Injection Attacks
An SQL injection attack is one of the main types of security risks to database systems. Injection attacks typically exploit the interactions between web applications and database systems. A programmer building a web application writes insecure code that is easily exploitable by hackers using valid SQL commands.
Databases store usernames, passwords, and even credit card information belonging to users of web applications. The hacker injects valid, yet malicious SQL commands into entry fields and can gain privileged access, alter data, or view entire databases of sensitive information.
The likes of Sony, Talk talk, and Yahoo have fallen victim to SQL injection attacks. They are a perfect cybersecurity storm of being easy to execute and devastating when successful.
Prevention comes from proper coding—using parameterized statements when constructing the code that passes inputs into SQL statements for database access. From an infosec perspective, web application firewalls and vulnerability assessment tools can detect SQL injection attacks.
Unpatched Exploits
A DBMS like Oracle is a software package that, much like any other software, is vulnerable to exploits. When security loopholes are found in a particular program, the owners of that program scramble to implement fixes as quickly as possible.
Despite the speed at which patches for security exploits are released, a shocking number of data breaches occur because of companies failing to apply patches to their software on time. According to a 2019 survey of IT professionals conducted by Tripwire, unpatched vulnerabilities caused data breaches at 27 percent of organizations.
The obvious solution is to use proper patch management and update all software on time, including database systems. A good vulnerability scanning tool is the friend of any infosec department and should be used frequently.
Closing Thoughts
As with many areas of infosec, the security risks to database systems arise from a combination of human and software weaknesses. Prevention and mitigation of all of these issues is possible and recommended if your business wants to safeguard its important data.
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