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

FUD Makes Security Harder

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

The US government’s illogical screeds against better personal encryption for data and communications is well documented. Then comes this reported...

2014-11-20

693 reads

More on that Cyberwar

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

As a follow-up to my post on being at war, cyberwar:
State Department Hacked
If the experts are correct, this trend is...

2014-11-18

589 reads

Generalists vs. Specialists

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I’ve stated quite often that being a generalist has generally been beneficial for my IT career (pun intended). That’s why...

2014-11-13 (first published: 2014-11-06)

7,245 reads

We’re at War – Cyberwar

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

In case you’ve not been following the news with regards to *government* breaches:
White House computers hacked – Russia suspectedUS Postal Service...

2014-11-13

763 reads

Speaking at SQL Saturday #354 – Charleston, SC

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

If you’re looking to warm up for the winter, come on down to Charleston, SC, on December 13, 2014. Charleston...

2014-11-12

661 reads

Consolidating Email Accounts

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I am consolidating my professional email accounts into one place. If you’ve previously contacted me using my linchpinpeople.com or either...

2014-10-21

545 reads

SQL Server Security Benchmarks

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

If you’re not familiar with the Center for Internet Security, here’s the organization’s mission statement:
The Mission of the Center for...

2014-10-20

882 reads

#TSQL2sday #59 – My Heroes

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Here is my list of heroes for #TSQL2sday. None of them are directly tied to technology, much less SQL Server....

2014-10-14

553 reads

Slides and Code for SSIG Talk

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Thank you for those who made it out to the SQL Server Innovators Guild last night in Greenville, SC. I...

2014-10-08

614 reads

The Fallacy of Internal Access Only

by Brian Kelley

Databases – Infrastructure – Security

In the wake of Shell Shock, I’ve seen some vendor advisories indicate that while their product is vulnerable, it’s only...

2014-10-07 (first published: 2014-09-30)

7,121 reads

Blogs

Experimenting with CHOOSE: #SQLNewBlogger

I was looking over the CHOOSE() function while editing an article at SQL Server...

Fighting Procrastination?

By Brian Kelley

Here is another short video (~ 15 minutes). This is by the author of...

A Fun Prize at the PASS Data Community Summit

I had a briefing for the 2026 PASS Data Community Summit, which is just...

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Forums

SQL Server 2025 Server-level Roles

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2025 Server-level Roles

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 29: The DAX Combine & Aggregate Functions

By Bill Pearson

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Stairway to DAX and Power...

AI Is Improving Security

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item AI Is Improving Security

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

SQL Server 2025 Server-level Roles

In SQL Server 2022+, what does the ##MS_DatabaseConnector## role allow?

See possible answers