Silos-Connect Technologies CEO Tony Cannizzo says notorious data breaches are leading people to overemphasize endpoint security, when it is equally important to secure data at its database source. Cannizzo says protecting data in databases goes beyond static encryption and requires a flexible approach to data obfuscation.Thieves
making off with laptops, hackers planting a Trojan in a store kiosk to send
data to the Ukrainethese
are the data breaches that gather the headlines. The result is an overemphasis
on endpoint security, according to Tony Cannizzo, CEO
of Silos-Connect Technologies, a distributor of database technology in Atlanta.
Securing
the perimeter may be job one, but at least equally important is securing data
at its sourcein the enterprise database. To that end, Cannizzo asserts that
protecting data in databases requires a flexible approach to data obfuscation,
not simply the use of static encryption.
Since
April, Silos-Connect has been distributing data obfuscation technology from
ActiveBase, an Israeli company founded in 2002 by several Oracle veterans. With
about 50 implementations in Europe, ActiveBase offers
three complementary products: ActiveBase Security, ActiveBase Performance and
ActiveBase Priority.
To read more about data obfuscation, click here.
The
key ActiveBase technology is software that inspects database requests prior to
execution. Policies can identify requests for sensitive data and mask data from
specified individuals.
"We're
like the toll booth," Cannizzo said. "Even with database encryption
and existing data obfuscation tools, there is still a version of the databasethe
sourcethat you can't encrypt.
"Our
sweet spot is controlling privileged user access to that," he said,
adding, "ActiveBase Security recognizes production DBAs and hides
sensitive data from unauthorized privileged users."
ActiveBase customers use ActiveBase to hide
confidential customer information in its databases from the eyes of offshore
outsourcing partners.
ActiveBase
now works only with Oracle databases, but Cannizzo said plans are in place to
support DB2 and SQL Server databases in early 2010. ActiveBase is licensed
according to the number of CPU cores and servers monitored.