Cloud-service providers, database-hosting companies, large enterprises and small service providers can deploy unified database security software to prevent intrusions and Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attacks into databases, says Israeli database security company GreenSQL founder and CTO David Maman.

The company’s unified database security software parses the protocols and the syntax of connections into a database and analyses the patterns of activity to monitor and manage access to sensitive information. The system determines activity patterns, enabling companies to classify more easily the suspicious patterns that must be blocked. The software also contains preconfigured patterns and policies of known attack patterns.

“GreenSQL’s Database Activity Monitoring enables management to see exactly when and which sensitive records their external consultants have been exposed to and what actions they took.”

The software also enables companies to mask their data and enforces a separation of duties among different users, reducing the risk from third-party service providers and administrators.

The GreenSQL unified database security system can be downloaded and deployed within an hour. It protects against SQL injection attacks and internal and external threats by monitoring database activity and dynamically masking data in real time, Maman says.

“The database security policy automatically detects SQL injection attempts and, to ease administration, it automatically detects the operating environment and database session identifiers – the user, database, source IP and application. By sending activity-monitoring logs to remote commercial databases, GreenSQL simplifies auditing and compliance reporting,” he adds.

Various database security systems must generally be deployed to enable a company to conduct database audits, mask data and monitor access and activity. This often increases costs and deployment times.

GreenSQL offers a free version of its database security system from its website, with clients receiving the masking, performance management and auditing functions as part of its full service, Maman notes.

The company’s unified database security system was developed, initially, as an open-source project to protect open-source MySQL databases in 2006, with the first release in 2007 of the basic database security solution, he says.

In less than three years time, the program was downloaded more than 100 000 times and Maman then founded the company with partners in 2009, which developed the GreenSQL database security system – built anew based on the team’s knowledge of database security in the open-source community.

“Database security is often a complex exercise and the many fractal systems are unwieldy to manage and implement. We focused, therefore, on developing a simple solution that even small enterprises and businesses can use, but which provides the enterprise-grade auditing, masking and management required by large companies.”

GreenSQL’s unified database security system enables companies to comply with increasingly rigorous corporate governance on the security of sensitive data, he says.

“The system provides complete compliance with regulations, such as the public company accounting reform Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the administrative simplification standard Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard,” concludes Maman.

Story highlights:

* Unified database security software parses the protocols and the syntax of connections into a database to analyse the patterns of activity to monitor and manage access to sensitive information.
* Database Activity Monitoring enables management to see exactly when and which sensitive records their external consultants have been exposed to and what actions they took.