SQL Server Security Auditing Best Practices
By Tom Nonmacher
In the world of data management, security stands as a paramount concern. With SQL Server 2022, Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric, Delta Lake, Databricks, and OpenAI + SQL, we have a plethora of powerful tools that can help us ensure the safety of our data. In this post, we'll delve into some of the best practices for SQL Server Security Auditing, providing guidance on how to use these technologies to keep your data secure.
To begin with, SQL Server 2022 has a built-in feature called SQL Server Audit, which can be used to track events occurring in the server or database. SQL Server Audit uses Extended Events to help you monitor and collect data about these events. It's crucial to regularly review these audit logs to detect any suspicious or unauthorized activities. Here's an example of how to create a Server Audit and Database Audit Specification:
-- Creating a Server Audit
CREATE SERVER AUDIT ServerAudit
TO FILE (FILEPATH = 'D:\AuditLogs\')
WITH (QUEUE_DELAY = 1000, ON_FAILURE = CONTINUE);
GO
-- Creating a Database Audit Specification
CREATE DATABASE AUDIT SPECIFICATION DatabaseAudit
FOR SERVER AUDIT ServerAudit
ADD (SELECT ON dbo.YourTable BY dbo)
WITH (STATE = ON);
GO
In the realm of cloud, Azure SQL provides a service called Azure SQL Auditing, which helps you maintain, manage, and comply with regulatory requirements. It provides an extensive set of security and compliance features that are easy to enable and don't require any changes to your application. Additionally, with Azure SQL Auditing, you can send your audit logs to Azure Log Analytics, which simplifies the process of analyzing large amounts of audit data.
Microsoft Fabric is a distributed systems platform that provides a rich set of security features. It supports certificate-based security for securing inter-node communication within a cluster. The service fabric also provides role-based access control and Azure Active Directory integration. These features are significant in creating a secure environment for running your microservices or containerized applications.
Delta Lake on Databricks is an open-source storage layer that brings reliability to data lakes. It provides ACID transactions, scalable metadata handling, and unifies streaming and batch data processing. When it comes to security, Delta Lake provides features like data encryption, network isolation, and robust access control mechanisms. You can use Apache Ranger or Privacera for centralized policy management across all data.
Lastly, OpenAI has developed an AI model called Codex, which can be used to write SQL queries. When combined with secure practices, this can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of your SQL code, reducing the chance of security vulnerabilities resulting from human error. However, it's important to remember that AI should complement, not replace, your existing security procedures.
In conclusion, employing the best practices for SQL Server Security Auditing can go a long way in safeguarding your data. With the right use of SQL Server 2022, Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric, Delta Lake, Databricks, and OpenAI + SQL, you can create a robust and secure data environment that is resilient to threats.