SQL Ledger: Protecting Data in Azure SQL
Learn how you can set up and use Ledger tables in an Azure SQL Database to verify the integrity of your database changes.
2022-09-07
8,889 reads
security
Can We Please Stop Sending Passwords Over the Wire?
While analyzing SQL Server's network protocol, I came across a weird fact: when a database client logs in using SQL Server authentication (as opposed to Windows authentication), it has to send the user's password to the server, in blatant violation of common security guidelines. At first, I couldn't believe it; SQL Server generally does an […]
2022-03-02
5,536 reads
Query control made easy
Overview As we all know, data security is a never-ending battle. Every day, we hear of new data breaches. It's a hard problem, and there is no single solution, other than a defense in depth. Let's look at one of those defenses for databases: query control. Query control is a simple idea: most applications access […]
2022-01-07
4,023 reads
SQL Server Data Classification Comes Alive
Overview Microsoft SQL Server 2012 introduced a feature called data classification, which allows you to mark certain columns with labels, indicating that these columns contain sensitive or special-handling data. For instance, you may want to mark a column containing credit card numbers as "confidential", or sales numbers as "management only". The problem is that you […]
2021-12-10
5,214 reads
SQL Server Data Masking: a comparison with Gallium Data
Introduction In SQL Server 2016, Microsoft introduced a new feature called dynamic data masking, which allows you to mask the values of certain columns and keep that data hidden from certain users, without having to modify your applications. Let's take a look at how SQL Server does data masking, and compare it to the way Gallium Data […]
2021-12-03
1,939 reads
Ransomware: A world under threat
Ransomware has threatened many organizations over the past few years. In this article, Robert Sheldon explains the history of ransomware and what needs to be done to protect against it.
2021-11-22
SQL Server Row-Level Security: A Comparison with Gallium Data
A quick look at how the native SQL Server Row-Level Security compares with Gallium Data's solution for limiting access to rows of data.
2021-11-15
3,119 reads
State of Database Monitoring Report 3
Database professionals are spending 1/3 of their time on security tasks each day and say it’s their biggest professional challenge this year. Learn how 2500+ database professionals are reacting to these unprecedented demands in our third database monitoring insights report.
2021-11-08
Cybersecurity threats
Not a week goes by without news of a new cyberattack. In this article, Robert Sheldon explains the cybersecurity threats in today’s world.
2021-10-29
Azure Databricks Access Controls and Row Level Security
Azure Databricks has a number of Access Controls and Row Level Security options that we will explore in this article.
2021-06-18
Blogs
T-SQL Tuesday #193 – A Note to Your Past, and a Warning from Your Future
By DesertDBA
I haven’t posted in a while (well, not here at least since I’ve been...
Keeping MS Docs Up to Date
By Steve Jones
One of the things that I like about the SQL Server docs (MS Learn...
Patch Tuesday – Where to get more information
By Brian Kelley
For a number of years I have subscribed to Randy Franklin Smith's Patch Tuesday...
Forums
Change Tracking – Troubleshooting
I have change tracking configured in several databases, in QA and production environments, and...
is there a no code way to limit an ssis extract from excel to the 1st 21 rows?
is there a no code way to limit an ssis extract from excel to...
Pivot but preserve all rows on Aggregate column
Hello Need help in pivoting this data set, the Pivot takes MIN/MAX on a...
Question of the Day
What is the PRODUCT
In SQL Server 2025, what does this return?
CREATE TABLE Numbers ( n INT) GO INSERT dbo.Numbers ( n ) VALUES (1), (2), (3) GO SELECT PRODUCT(n) FROM dbo.NumbersSee possible answers