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

All authors

Watch out for your own confirmation bias

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

First, a true story: I was a senior in high school, applying for college. One of the colleges I applied for was the Naval Academy. As part of the...

2020-06-08 (first published: 2020-05-22)

351 reads

New Webinar with Kevin Kline: Learning from Data Breaches, a Deeper Dive

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I’ve done a follow-on to my webinar with Kevin Kline on Learning from Data Breaches. Here we’ll talk about some specific technologies that come out of the box with...

2020-05-12

28 reads

New Article: Understanding SQL Server Ownership Chaining

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Back in January I gave a presentation to a small group of folks on foundational SQL Server security items. The last thing I covered was the concept of ownership...

2020-04-21

47 reads

Upcoming Webinar: Learning from Data Breaches

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Recently I partnered up with Kevin Kline (SentryOne blog | twitter) and SentryOne to record a webinar on learning from data breaches. We start by talking about Mitre’s ATT&CK...

2020-04-13

28 reads

Cross-Post: Learning From Technology’s Past

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Cross-posted from the ISACA Now Blog: “This is the song that doesn’t end. Yes it goes on and on, my friends.” – Lewis, S., “The Song That Never Ends,” Lamb-chop’s...

2020-03-20 (first published: 2020-03-11)

210 reads

Webinar Postponement and #SQLPASS group leaders heads up

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Yesterday I wrote about three upcoming webinars I’m giving, which you don’t need to be in attendance for. Unfortunately, the one scheduled for next week with Idera and BankDirector...

2020-03-13

22 reads

SQL Server Security and Performance Webinars – March 17 – April 8, 2020 #FlattenTheCurve

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, we’re seeing folks react smartly by cancelling or rescheduling events where a large number of folks gather together. We have even seen...

2020-03-12

33 reads

Let’s Call It What It Is: Complexity Debt

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Technical debt get deprioritized too often because business sees the word, “technical.” It doesn’t matter what the true meaning is. And it’s a big problem. It really needs proper...

2020-03-09 (first published: 2020-03-02)

596 reads

Midlands PASS: SQL Server Security Basics

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Midlands PASS (Columbia, SC) will be meeting on March 3, 2020, for our monthly user meeting. We’ve been on hiatus since the holidays but we should be meeting regularly...

2020-02-27

45 reads

Renewed as a Friend of Red Gate

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I recently received the news that I’ve been renewed as a Friend of Red Gate. I’ve been a big fan of Red Gate since the days when SQL Compare...

2020-02-25

18 reads

All authors

Brian Kelley

Watch out for your own confirmation bias

New Webinar with Kevin Kline: Learning from Data Breaches, a Deeper Dive

New Article: Understanding SQL Server Ownership Chaining

Upcoming Webinar: Learning from Data Breaches

Cross-Post: Learning From Technology’s Past

Webinar Postponement and #SQLPASS group leaders heads up

SQL Server Security and Performance Webinars – March 17 – April 8, 2020 #FlattenTheCurve

Let’s Call It What It Is: Complexity Debt

Midlands PASS: SQL Server Security Basics

Renewed as a Friend of Red Gate

Blogs

Restore SQL Server Database to an OrbStack Container

Day of Data Baton Rouge Slides and Code

Using Claude Code as a Database SRE Agent with the Everpure Fusion MCP Server

Forums

PowerBI Question - Data Sources

SQL Server Certificates

Connect an Azure Function to Azure SQL database Using a Managed Identity

Question of the Day

SQL Server Certificates