Brian Kelley

Brian Kelley is an author, columnist, and Microsoft SQL Server MVP focusing primarily on SQL Server security. He is a contributing author for How to Cheat at Securing SQL Server 2005 (Syngress), Professional SQL Server 2008 Administration (Wrox), and Introduction to SQL Server (Texas Publishing). Brian currently serves as an infrastructure and security architect. He has also served as a senior Microsoft SQL Server DBA, database architect, developer, and incident response team lead.

Interests: Chess, Reading, Soccer (Football), Baseball, Animals, Theology

Just Say No to Social Engineering Memes

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

These memes, from a security and privacy perspective, are nothing but trouble. Here’s an example I just saw a friend...

2017-08-11

1,435 reads

#TSQL2sday: Interviewing Patterns

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

This T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Kendra Little.
I’ve been told interviewing is an art. Perhaps it is. I view it...

2017-08-08

322 reads

Remember What It’s Like to Be a Rookie

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

File this under “soft skills.” Let me start with a recent experience.
Last week I was leading a team of youth...

2017-08-08 (first published: 2017-07-20)

1,695 reads

Geek Sync on Wednesday: Taking Control of Your Organization’s SQL Server Sprawl

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

This Wednesday, July 26th, at 12 PM EDT, I’ll be giving a presentation through Idera’s Geek Sync series. You will...

2017-07-24

298 reads

Security Basics: The Principle of Least Privilege

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Whenever I’m asked about creating a security model for an application or database, I tell folks to follow the Principle...

2017-07-17 (first published: 2017-06-30)

2,953 reads

The Three A’s: Auditing

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Authentication and Authorization, the first two of the three A’s of security, control who gets access to what. However, at...

2017-07-13 (first published: 2017-06-28)

1,630 reads

The Three A’s: Authorization

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Having covered authentication yesterday, let’s move on the second A, authorization. Authentication was about proving identity. Now that we know...

2017-07-10 (first published: 2017-06-27)

1,671 reads

The Three A’s: Authentication

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

When I start talking with folks about security, one of the areas of confusion I often find has to do...

2017-07-05 (first published: 2017-06-26)

1,830 reads

Recording of PASS Security VC Webinar

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

If you were unable to attend this month’s PASS Security Virtual Chapter webinar, The Dirty Business of Auditing, it has...

2017-06-29

567 reads

#SQLChat on Performance Issues

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Twitter can often be a great source of information for the SQL Community, especially with the #SQLHelp hashtag. Another resource...

2017-06-23

379 reads

Blogs

Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents

By Eduardo Pivaral

A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...

Car Update: August 2026

It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to...

Microsoft Fabric OneLake Shortcuts: When to Use Them and When Not To

An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...

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Forums

Backing Up a DMK

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK

The Quiet Part

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Quiet Part

BIT_COUNT in SQL Server

Comments posted to this topic are about the item BIT_COUNT in SQL Server

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Question of the Day

Backing Up a DMK

In SQL Server 2025, I have a database with a Database Masker Key (DMK). I want to back up this key and keep a copy offline. When do I have to open this key before running the backup?

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