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
9,723 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
5,620 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
4,043 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
5,286 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
1,974 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
3,148 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
From SQL Saturday to Day of Data
By ReviewMyDB
A behind-the-scenes look at Day of Data Jacksonville 2026, the transition from SQL Saturday,...
PostgreSQL 18 Finally Makes BUFFERS the Default. Here Is Why That Matters
You run EXPLAIN ANALYZE on a slow query, stare at the plan, and something...
A New Word: La Guadière
By Steve Jones
la guadière – n. a glint of goodness you notice in something that you...
Forums
non ascii columns in a utf-8 .txt file
hi, we couldnt get our upstream data source developers to supply what is sometimes...
PolyBase Trace Flags
Are there any good articles on all the trace flags that are enabled on...
The Data Model Matters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Data Model Matters
Question of the Day
Running SQLCMD I
I run the SQLCMD utility as follows:
lcmd -S localhost -EI then type this (the 1> is the prompt):
1> select @@version goIf I hit enter, what happens? See possible answers