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

Randomness in Security Configuration

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

We were deploying a new web service. Because of the nature of the service, we wanted it to listen on...

2017-08-24 (first published: 2017-08-14)

1,412 reads

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

1,421 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

319 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)

1,692 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

290 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)

2,942 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)

1,621 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)

1,661 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)

1,825 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

559 reads

Blogs

“We love to debate minutiae”

By Brian Kelley

I am guilty as charged. The quote was in reference to how people argue...

Advice I Like: Knots

Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand....

Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency

As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...

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Forums

Windows logins for users migrated from DomainA to DomainB

Hi, I have a SQL Server instance where users connect to via Windows Authentication,...

Multiple Deployment Processes

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Deployment Processes

How to Use sqlpackage to Detect Schema Drift Between Azure SQL Databases

Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Use sqlpackage to...

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Question of the Day

Upgrading Admin Queries

I have a query from a former DBA that we run on SQL Server 2025 to check on database metadata. This query references sys.sysaltfiles. I want to refactor this code to be more modern. Which DMV should I reference instead?

See possible answers