Putting a Deadbolt on Your Database: The Database Security Best Practices You Need To Know

Keeping databases secure is crucial challenge individuals and businesses face today. Since databases are full of priceless information, companies can suffer dearly from the consequences of data insecurity. Company databases can fall victim to human error, internal issues, or outside attacks.

IT professionals ready to put a deadbolt on their databases should check out these database security best practices. 

Keep all applications up to date

An often overlooked step, keeping applications up to date is one of the most accessible and critical security measures that an IT professional can take to safeguard their data. Unfortunately, many companies leave themselves vulnerable to data loss by neglecting to update their software.

Installing patches and updates is essential to fixing vulnerabilities in a database. If possible, consider avoiding installing programs that don’t update regularly or haven’t had an update in a while.

Professionals concerned with downtime during updates can move their database closer to high availability by using a live-patching solution like those from TuxCare.

Routinely backup your database

Many scenarios can cause databases to become corrupted, but regularly backing up data can prevent disruptions from causing a full-blown disaster. Backing up data is a wise way to keep your business running should the unthinkable occur.

When backing up data, set up automatic, routine saves so that this safety measure can run in the background. The data should also be encrypted and stored on a separate, external database. In case of an emergency, the data in your secondary database will still be secure. 

Use an HTTPS proxy server

Proxy servers offer IT professionals and their databases an extra layer of security by analyzing requests to visit the website and rejecting those that have questionable origins. Proxy servers function as bodyguards, keeping malicious parties far from your site and preventing entry. 

HTTP proxy servers are different from HTTPS servers. HTTPS servers provide an increased level of safety by encrypting the data input to your sites, like passwords, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information. The servers help build a trusting relationship between your business and your customers who will visit the site. 

Always encrypt data

Data encryption allows sensitive information to be made into code so that if an intruder does break into your database, they might still struggle to decode or obtain information.

While it’s common practice to keep databases encrypted, it’s necessary to plan for other phases of the data process. For instance, your business should keep the data encrypted during any transfers, which is a time when many leave their data vulnerable.

Strengthen user authentication

User authentication is a process that users encounter when signing in or accessing their accounts and sensitive information. The user authentication process ends with a password and nothing more for many sites. Unfortunately, security breaches can easily compromise easy-to-guess passwords.

To combat potential user issues that may cause security risks, you can include requirements for more unique passwords, such as special signs or numbers. Those who’d like to go the extra mile can require multi-factor authentication, making accessing a user’s account from afar unlikely. Businesses can utilize these authentication best practices

to keep their data and users safe.

Final notes

Database protection presents a set of pressing challenges that IT professionals face. While rarely easy, keeping data secure is a worthwhile endeavor, and there’s no time like the present to start striving for the most secure experiences for you and your users.