What is typically frowned upon are ad hoc distributed queries.

Ad Hoc Distributed Query Option

The reason this type of access is typically bad is it could potentially allow a user to...

SQL Server only supports what the Windows operating system supports (and this only started in SQL Server 2005). Neither the operating system nor SQL Server supports increased delays in logging...

Are they coming in with accounts that are in some way members of the sysadmin fixed server role? Either directly, or through a group, this is possible. For instance, BUILTIN\administrators...

This is one of the reasons that we typically ensure the accounts that manage security and the like have master set as the default database. I've faced this same problem...

On SQL Server 2005 SP2 you can track login activity (when they connect) using Login triggers. Otherwise, your only option is, as previous stated, using SQL Server Profiler or a...

If you log in with a different account you see the rest of the databases, etc.? Hrm, I've not seen that one before. What happens if you open up a...

It sounds like he granted EXECUTE rights against the dbo schema. If so, you'll need to check the permissions on the schema itself. If you are using SQL Server Management...

NGS has SQuirreL for SQL Server which will do password recovery on SQL Server 2000. It uses the algorithm they developed and put into NGSSQLCrack, which is a separate product....

In general, SQL Server runs as a Windows service. It stops the same as any other controllable service, such as IIS Admin, WWW Publishing Service, etc. As to what else...

John Ranger (5/28/2008)

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One important point I had forgot in my first post: Make sure that the SQL Server Resource is dependent on all its LUNs (Physical Disk resource) in a...

Is the BUILTIN\Administrators group still a member of the sysadmin fixed server role?

How is the user coming into the database? Through an application? Using a service account?

I like Matt's solution a lot because it ensures you don't have multiple instances of the AV engine running to do scans. Of course, I've never been a big fan...

If you're talking about for customers who have servers which you have no control over, you can't. That's the bottom line. As you indicated, even if you use encryption, they...

Piggy-backing on what's already been said here:

Introduce your users to The Principle of Least Privilege. It's a security principle that says you give the users the rights they need and...