Database Security within Remote and Unattended Monitoring Systems

The integrity and confidentiality of safeguard data is vital in the effective use of unattended and remote monitoring applications. Trusting the overall system security posture and ensuring that each component is secured to industry best practice should be critical steps in the design and deployment of a solution to protect safeguard information. This is especially true of the system database, which is a critical component for the secure storage and handling of safeguard data. A database is a collection of information organized in a manner to be easily accessed, managed, updated, and ultimately presented to serve a specific purpose. In the case of unattended and remote monitoring, safeguard data is often stored within a database, incorporated into the system. Databases, while providing an ideal method for data handling, are notorious for containing insecurities. These vulnerabilities, once exploited, can be a risk to the integrity and confidentiality of safeguards data and overall system infrastructure. This paper will address known issues associated with databases and provide a methodology for the assessment of database security. Finally, simple remediation actions to alleviate database insecurities will be addressed.