Lessons Learned

Aella’s adventure is a perfect example of good data security practices. If you can replicate her example, you will likely avoid a data breach. Let’s break it down into key takeaways and how you can mirror this fictional story in real life.

The Security Event

One day, Aella, guardian of the Sparkle-Bits, noticed something was wrong. A tiny, almost invisible sparkle was missing.

That is one of the most challenging aspects in information security: knowing that something is wrong. Having the indication you need to investigate.

If you don’t know there’s a problem, it will likely continue. That means a catastrophic data breach that spans years.

That is the first place most organizations fail.

Visibility & Data

Aella consulted the digital eyes of Core Audit that tracked every movement. Without those, the Sparkle-Bits would have vanished silently, without a trace.

That is the second challenge that leaves most organizations stumped: having sufficient data about what happened. Without a detailed record of everything, you will never know what happened.

That is why most breach investigations eventually assume everything was stolen. It is also the reason you would not receive a security alert in the first place: there is not enough information to indicate a problem.

Needle in a Haystack

Core Audit showed Aella a long list of all the Sparkle-Bit movements. But then, highlighted a tiny, almost hidden, rarely used pathway.

A detailed record is vital, but raises a new problem: sifting through it. Could you find that single line out of billions that tells you what happened?

Powerful forensic and analysis tools are essential when working with large data volumes. Without them, it is nearly impossible to find what you are looking for.

The End Game

Our story ends with finding Cipher and retrieving the Sparkle-bits. In reality, finding the intruder is unlikely, and recovering stolen data is impossible. That is why we need a clear endgame that prevents a breach.

The key is that the timeline of a breach can take days or even weeks. It takes time for attackers to penetrate the database, locate the data, extract it, and exfiltrate it out of the company.

Receiving an event within an hour and responding within less than a day will prevent data exfiltration. Actually, responding this quickly may avoid the database penetration altogether.

Activity control goes beyond alerts and responses. It includes preventive capabilities, reporting, and more. However, IDS is one of the most powerful capabilities at your disposal.

The reason IDS is critical relates to the theoretical limits on false positives, false negatives, and the security system calibration. The short takeaway is that detection systems can be more sensitive and identify attacks that preventive systems cannot. Also, remember that if you’re not receiving regular alerts from your security system, you will not know when a breach occurs.

From Fiction to Reality

Some stories and movies are divorced from reality, and you may think this is one of those cases. But it’s not. The adventure of Aella and Core Audit isn’t magic – it’s cutting-edge technology. There are four “secret ingredients” that transform that desirable fiction into a reality you can use:

Full Capture is the first bit of magic. It allows Core Audit to see everything without impacting performance. Databases are designed and optimized for performance – to run as many queries as possible as quickly as possible. To capture all those without slowing things down is a significant technological challenge. However, it is a vital core security technology since, without it, no one knows what happens inside that massive database engine. Without this visibility, we cannot know what happens or have control over it.

The Security Repository is the second trick, allowing this story to unfold. Full Capture generates a stream of billions of SQLs that we need to record without massive computers and endless disk space. The data processing efficiency and algorithms of the security repository enable Core Audit to store forensic evidence about everything that happens in the database. That means Aella can always look back and see what happened.

Anomaly Analysis is the third critical piece of this puzzle. It locates the needle in the haystack. With billions of SQLs in the security repository, anomaly analysis will alert you when something is wrong. It constantly looks out for changes in the activity profile and alerts you when there’s something important to look at. That is a critical source of security events.

Proactive and Reactive Forensics are the final piece of the story. These are graphical analysis tools for digging into the Security Repository. They let you slice and dice the information to locate what you’re looking for. These are powerful tools that put the power of the Security Repository at your fingertips.

Final Thoughts

Three common misconceptions evolve from one another:

• It is impossible to protect databases, at least not effectively.
• As a result, securing databases isn’t important, and definitely not vital.
• And the tragic consequence: You can’t prevent a data breach.

All these premises are false. Database security is not only important, but it is a critical foundation of data security. The notion that data security doesn’t need to focus on database security even sounds ridiculous. How can you protect the data by protecting everything except the database where it resides?

Aella’s story is a reminder that you can save the day with diligent work and the right tools. Your security legacy isn’t measured by the number of defenses you deploy but by your ability to avoid a breach. Are you ready to protect what truly matters? Try Core Audit now and discover what it feels like to control your data and the peace of mind that comes with it.