Database Security (part 3 of 4)

By Ashwin Venugopal -

 



To read part 1 please click here
To read part 2 please click here
To read part 4 please click here


Vulnerability Assessment

SQL Vulnerability Assessment is an easy-to-configure service that can discover, track, as well as help you remediate potential database vulnerabilities and provides visibility into your security state. It can help you:

  • Meet compliance requirements that require database scan reports.
  • Meet data privacy standards.
  • Monitor a dynamic database environment where changes are difficult to track.

Vulnerability assessment is a scanning service built into Azure SQL Database and its rules are based on the Microsoft's best practices and focus on the security issues that present the biggest risks to your database and its valuable data. The results of the scan includes actionable steps to resolve each issue and provide customized remediation scripts wherever applicable. 

View the report

When your scan is finished, your scan report is automatically displayed in the Azure portal which presents an overview of your security state. The results includes warnings on deviations from the best practices and a snapshot of your security-related settings, such as database principles and roles as well as their associated permissions while the report also provides a map of sensitive data discovered in your database including recommendations to classify that data by using data discovery and classification.

Scan results are shown below:


  Set your baseline

As you review your assessment results, you can mark specific results as being an acceptable baseline in your environment and the results that match the baseline are considered as passing in subsequent scan. After you have established your baseline security state, Vulnerability Assessment only reports on deviations from the baseline which helps you to focus your attention on the relevant issues.

Advanced Threat Protection

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for single and pooled databases detects anomalous activities indicating unusual and potentially harmful attempts to access or exploit databases while easily identifying the Potential SQL injection, Access from unusual location or data center, Access from unfamiliar principle or potentially harmful application, and Brute force SQL credentials. 

ATP provides a new layer of security, which enables customers to detect and respond to potential threats as they occur by providing security alerts on anomalous activities. 

Advanced threat protection alerts

ATP for Azure SQL Database detects anomalous activities indicating unusual and potentially harmful attempts to access or exploit databases and it can trigger the following alerts:

  • Vulnerability to SQL injection- This alert is triggered when an application generates a faulty SQL statement in the database. There are two possible reasons for the generation of a faulty statement, either it is a defect in application code that constructs the faulty SQL statement, or, the application codes or stored procedures don't sanitize user inputs when constructing the faulty SQL statement, which may be exploited for SQL injection.

  • Potential SQL injection- This alert is triggered when an active exploit happens against an identified application vulnerability to SQL injection. This means the attacker is trying to inject malicious SQL statements using the vulnerable application code or stored procedures.

  • Access from unusual location- This alert is triggered when there is a change in the access pattern to SQL server, where someone has logged on to the SQL server from an unusual geographical location. 

  • Access from unusual Azure data center- This alert is triggered when there is a change in the access pattern to SQL server, where someone has logged on to the SQL server from an unusual Azure data center that was seen on this server during the recent period. 

  • Access from unfamiliar principle- This alert is triggered when there is a change in the access pattern to SQL server, where someone has logged on to the SQL server using an unusual principle (SQL user). 

  • Access from a potentially harmful application- This alert is triggered when a potentially harmful application is used to access the database. 

  • Brute force SQL credentials- This alert is triggered when there is an abnormal high number of failed logins with different credentials.       

ATP is integrated with Azure Security Center to detect and respond to the potential threats as they occur. 


To read part 1 please click here
To read part 2 please click here
To read part 4 please click here







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deployment (Part 3)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here To read part 2, please click  here Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA) MMA is used across multiple Microsoft solutions and has undergone a few name changes as its features and functionality have evolved. If it is being considered to be used, then following areas should be covered during a Microsoft Sentinel deployment project: Consider the timelines and the strategy for a migration to AMA (Azure Monitor Agent) before the MMA end-of-life.  Consider the central deployment and management methodology for MMA. Determine which endpoints are in scope for deployment as these affect the log ingestion volume significantly.  Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) Organizations with MMA as the main Microsoft Sentinel agent should start planning the migration to AMA as soon as possible to avoid a rushed migration. One of the main advantages of AMA is the ability to control the log collection policy centrally and apply different policies against different...
Read more

Deployment (Part 1)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 2, please click  here To read part 3, please click  here Azure Resources Microsoft Sentinel needs following resources to be created: Subscription (if a dedicated subscription(s) will be used) Resource group(s) Log Analytics workspace(s) Automation rules/playbook Alert rules Workbooks Microsoft Sentinel offers hundreds of alert rules, workbooks, and automation playbook templates along with hunting scripts. The templates can be used to activate/deploy schedule alerts, create customized dashboards, create automation playbooks and perform threat-hunting activities. Generally, once deployed, the resources created have to be adjusted to match the existing environment, configure local credentials, etc. Methods of deployment: Manual- Administrator can manually configures the Microsoft Sentinel resources with the help of Azure portal. Any manual process has the inherent risks of human operator error, lack of compliance with potential change control procedures, and u...
Read more

Project Resourcing (Part 2)

By Ashwin Venugopal -
Image
  To read part 1, please click  here Engineering - SIEM The SIEM engineers configures Microsoft Sentinel, including Log Analytics, Logic Apps, workbooks, and playbooks. They are also responsible for the following high-level tasks: Initial configuration of Azure tenant, including provisioning required resources, assigning access roles, and configuring workspace parameters like log retention, resource tagging, and blueprints.  Deployment and configuration of syslog/CEF log collection agents in appropriate locations to collect logs from on-premises devices. Generally, it will be joint effort of both system engineer and SIEM engineer, involving configuration and potential troubleshooting.  Working with system owners to enable log forwarding and configuring any required parsing of log data in Log Analytics.  Working with security operations to create and deploy KQL analytic rules to offer detections for SOC/Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSRIT) use. Tuning...
Read more