2025-10-15
159 reads
Security
The Security of Old Tech
Older technology can introduce security issues, along with performance ones. Keeping your systems somewhat up to date is important for security.
2025-09-12
118 reads
Password Guidance
Passwords are essential and also a problem in many organizations. Guidance has changed over the years and Steve has a few thoughts on what's recommended today.
2025-09-10
162 reads
Zero-Trust Architecture for Cloud-Based AI Systems
Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA) emerges as a strong security paradigm for cloud-based AI systems, fundamentally operating on the principle of “never trust, always verify.” Unlike conventional security models, ZTA assumes potential compromise exists within the network and requires continuous verification of every access request regardless of origin.
2025-07-09
Cloning Master Admin User Permissions in Amazon RDS for SQL Server with Fine-Grained Control
This article explores how to securely clone the master user permissions in Amazon RDS for SQL Server using a custom stored procedure, usp_rds_clone_login. It outlines a step-by-step process to generate, review, and apply a script that replicates server- and database-level access from the master user to a new login without directly exposing elevated credentials. The guide emphasizes the principle of least privilege, supports named account management, and enables transparent, auditable permission handling for DBAs and applications. Designed for secure and scalable environments, this solution enhances operational security while maintaining administrative flexibility in Amazon RDS.
2025-07-09
1,236 reads
Are Data Breaches Inevitable?
Steve examines the idea that we might all have a data breach at some point.
2025-05-16
102 reads
More Supply Chain Attacks
Code is vulnerable to supply chain attacks, which aren't something many of us think about.
2025-03-21
126 reads
Lower Your Attack Surface Area
We all know security is important, but we sometimes make the job harder when we don't handle data appropriately.
2025-03-19
218 reads
List the Databases To Which You Have Access
Explanation: sys.databases contains information about all databases on the SQL Server instance. • HAS_DBACCESS(name) = 1 filters out the databases you dont have access to. •ORDER BY name sorts the result alphabetically.
2025-03-04
438 reads
Is Ransomware Fading?
There is a report that less ransomware ransom is being paid. Perhaps that's a good sign for all of us.
2025-02-19
90 reads
Blogs
T-SQL Tuesday #203: Risk and Reward
By Steve Jones
This is timely, as I’m currently on a boat in the Adriatic taking a...
dataMinds Connect 2026 – Slides & Scripts
You can find the slides and SQL scripts for my session “Spice up your...
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later)
By SQLPals
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later) Updated...
Forums
Using CHOOSE()
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Using CHOOSE()
Re-Seeding a Broken Log Shipping Secondary (Without Touching the Primary)
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Re-Seeding a Broken Log Shipping...
The DBA is Dead! Long Live the !
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The DBA is Dead! Long...
Question of the Day
Using CHOOSE()
We have this code that sets some status values and then queries them using the CHOOSE() function in SQL Server 2025.
CREATE TABLE Status
(
StatusID INT,
StatusDescription VARCHAR(20)
);
GO
INSERT dbo.Status
(
StatusID,
StatusDescription
)
VALUES
(0, 'Uncategorized'),
(1, 'Active'),
(2, 'Inactive'),
(3, 'Temp');
GO
SELECT CHOOSE(StatusID, 'Unknown', 'Active', 'Inactive', 'Temporary')
FROM Status;
When the SELECT runs, what is returned? See possible answers