Databases are extremely attractive targets for cybercriminals due to the sensitive and valuable information they contain. This data can range from intellectual property, financial information, to personal user data and mission critical business data.
A database vulnerability is a weakness in the security of your database that allows unauthorized access. This can lead to data loss, stolen information, and even identity theft.
Data breaches are a growing concern for businesses, as malicious actors seek to find vulnerabilities into databases to access the information within. So it’s imperative to know if your database is vulnerable to data breaches and how to act to prevent it from happening.
Common database vulnerabilities
There’s a risk that even small mistakes can lead to a database compromise. In order to safeguard your company from any security breach, it’s important to take the necessary measures that will provide maximum security. Following are the most common types of database vulnerabilities:
Deployment failures
Database deployment is a complex process. It’s vital to test the functionality and security of the database before deployment. Comprehensive security testing on a systematic basis will find any problems that could become a vulnerability that attackers can exploit.
SQL Injection attacks
This is probably one of the most common methods to breach databases. Malicious code is injected into web applications connected to a database, which enable cybercriminals to have unlimited access to data within.
Password issues
Default and weak passwords are an easy way for malicious actors to gain access to systems and databases. Most users have poor password habits, including weak passwords or reusing the same one on multiple platforms. Better database security would involve removing any blank, default or weak passwords and enforcing strong password requirements. Hackers keep track of default accounts and will use them when they get the chance to hack databases.
Extensive user and user group privileges
Users can be granted excessive database privileges which go beyond what is necessary for their job function. Users only need access to the data required to perform their job. A group-based approach to privileges (making users part of a group and managing those group privileges collectively) will reduce the risk of individual users abusing their permissions and potentially triggering a data breach.
Missing security patches
Databases missing security updates leave them open to develop malware. Database administrators may not install patches in a timely manner, which can be remedied by enabling auto updates. Vendor patches should be tested and applied within 30 days of being available.
Unencrypted data
Sensitive data should never be stored in clear text in databases. Connections to the database and all stored data should use encryption, as well as database copies. This means that even if hackers are able to access the database, the data is unreadable.
Denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
Cybercriminals use a type of attack called a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) by flooding a target database with traffic or queries, making it unable to operate properly and inaccessible to users.
Buffer overflows
A buffer overflow occurs when a program attempts to write more data to a fixed-length block of memory, or buffer, than the buffer is allocated to handle, causing data to overflow into adjacent storage. This can lead to the database servers crashing or creates a vulnerability for cyberattackers to exploit.
How to protect against database vulnerabilities
The first step to understanding data security is to find out where your company’s vulnerabilities are and work to mitigate the risks of potential data breaches. Human error is responsible for most data breaches, which makes it even more important to implement robust security policies to protect your databases. While this won’t completely eliminate risk, it reduces vulnerabilities and protects against potential data breaches. Database backups are also an important part of ensuring your
Partnering with a specialist database service provider can give you peace of mind and satisfaction knowing you’re taking the necessary steps to keep your database and critical information safe. Everconnect’s database managed service team can perform a comprehensive security review of your system and protect your business from malicious attacks, keeping your sensitive information safe.
In most cases, companies are not aware of database vulnerabilities, not until it’s too late. Although it’s not very “loved” I think that using a hacker (or a few) and get them to try and hack into your company databases is the best way to find those weak spots. I don’t see any other way of actually discovering these weaknesses.
Not using weak passwords should be one of the very first things employees are taught. Management should also be aware of this. I can’t believe that in 2022 we’re still even talking about this but it’s so common! And so easy to fix.
Why is it better to make users a part of a group? I would think that it would be better to give them database access for their particular job. Am I not getting something? Wouldn’t it be easier to give each user limited access to be able to do their particular job and then isn’t it easier to keep an eye on them this way? Wouldn’t it be harder to do this for a whole group?
The world (outside world and digital one) is getting scarier. It’s so hard to keep your company afloat when hackers target it. I know there are 1000 and one ways to increase security but I’ve seen security being beaten by knowledgeable hackers and it’s scary. There doesn’t seem to be a way to make it 100% hacker-proof.