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Application Security Inc. is upgrading DbEncrypt for Microsoft Corp.s SQL Server database to enable it to lock down databases faster and tighter.
DbEncrypt for SQL Server 2.1, which will be unveiled this week, takes far fewer round trips between its encryption engine and a SQL Server database, resulting in a fivefold-to-tenfold performance increase over earlier versions, according to officials at New York-based ASI.
Other new features in Version 2.1 include encryption for applications that have been customized with embedded database features using Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine and templates that enable database administrators to build encryption procedures using a point-and-click user interface. The upgrade provides the ability to create public or private keys for a group and to quickly grant or revoke access.
Advanced auditing capabilities in DbEncrypt for SQL Server 2.1 allow DBAs to audit encrypted data; encrypt audit logs; and view all related transactions, procedures and subsets.
Scalability enhancements support encrypting by group rather than just by single user, and an enhanced recovery mechanism provides lost- password restoration.
Margarita Muratova, a DBA at regional accounting company Richter, in Montreal, said she welcomes anything that improves DbEncrypts performance.
Muratova now works with DbEncrypt for SQL Server 2.0.2. She started out with the products first version—a version that crawled, Muratova said.
“It was very, very slow in the processing of encryption,” Muratova said. “It took a really long time to take two or three tables from SQL Server. Its fast now. You can select tables, exactly what you want, as opposed to the previous versions, where you had to download all SQL Server tables.”
As far as making it easier to use, however, Muratova said thats not necessary, since DbEncrypt is already a snap to learn. “Its very simple,” she said. “We have an administrator in our human resources department [who uses it]. Theyre not technical people, and theyre very comfortable with this software.”
DbEncrypt for SQL Server 2.1 can be downloaded now from the companys site. Pricing starts at $9,995 per database.