Database Security

The competitive edge of many companies and public trust in government institutions can often depend on the security of the information held in databases. Breaches of that security — whether deliberate or accidental — can be profoundly damaging. Security is therefore a highly topical issue for both designers and users of database systems.

This book provides an authoritative account of security issues in database systems and shows how current commercial or future systems may be designed to ensure secrecy, integrity and confidentiality.

Features include:

• Comprehensive, in-depth coverage of database security, including models, systems, architectures and standards
• Emphasis on the design of secure database systems
• Coverage of available security mechanisms and protection measures provided by operating systems, DBMS and data-security packages
• Up-to-date trends in database security, including issues of security in object-oriented databases, in statistical databases and in database auditing

This book is suitable for advanced courses on database security, and will be an invaluable reference not only for database administrators and designers, system analysts and developers, but also IT managers responsible for the security of information systems.

1. Information security
1. Introduction
1. Database security
2. A Survey of database concepts
1. Components of a DBMS
2. Data description levels
3. Elements of the relational data model
3. Security problems in databases
1. Threats to database security
2. Database protection requirements
4. Security controls
1. Flow control
2. Inference control
3. Access control
5. Designing database security
1. Databases in government departments
2. Commercial databases
6. Concluding remarks
2. Security models
1. Introduction
2. Harrison-Ruzzo-Ullman access matrix model
1. Authorization state
2. Access modes
3. Operations
4. Commands
5. Administration of authorizations
6. Model implementation
7. Extensions to the model
3. Take-Grant model
1. Authorization state
2. Access modes
3. Operations and transfer of privileges
4. Extensions to the model
4. Acten (Action-Entity) model
1. Access modes
2. Authorizations
3. Entity classification
4. Model structure
5. Consistency and transformation rules
5. Wood et al. model
1. ANSI/SPARC architecture
2. Subjects and objects
3. Access m odes
4. Mapping function
5. Authorization state
6. Access rules at the conceptual level
7. Access rules at the external level
8. Access control
6. Discussion on discretionary models
7. Bell-LaPadua model
1. System state
2. Operations
3. Axioms
8. Biba model
1. Axioms
9. Dion model
1. Subjects and their classification
2. Objects and their classification
3. Axioms
10. The Sea View model
1. The MAC model
2. The TCB model
3. Representation of multilevel relations
11. The Jajodia and Sandhu model
1. Multilevel relations
2. Extensions to the model
12. Smith and Winslett model
1. Basic properties
2. Access to multilevel relations
13. The lattice model for flow control
1. Formal definition
2. Secure model definition
3. Lattice derivation
4. Implicit and explicit flows
14. Discussion on mandatory models
3. Basic security mechanisms and software
1. Introduction
1. Operating systems concepts
2. User identification/authentication
1. Password-based authentication
3. Memory protection
1. Fence address
2. Relocation
3. Register-based protection
4. Paging
5. Segmentation
4. Access control to resources
1. Access control mechanisms
5. Flow-control mechanisms
1. Control mechanisms at rune time
2. Control mechanisms at compile time
6. Isolation
7. Security functions in some operating systems
1. IBM MVS
2. UNIX
3. VAX/VMS
4. IBM VM/SP
5. OS/400
8. Security packages
1. RACF
2. CA-ACF2
3. CA-TOP SECRET
9. Security standards
1. The DoD criteria
2. Classification of some systems according to the DoD criteria
10. Design of secure operating systems
1. Kernel-based approach
2. UCLA Secure UNIX
3. Kernelized Secure Operating System (KSOS)
4. Secure Xenix
5. VAX Security Kernel
4. Database security design
1. Introduction
2. Secure DBMS design
1. Security mechanisms in DBMSs
2. The System R authorization model
3. Secure DBMS architectures
4. Research prototypes
5. Commercial products
3. Design of secure databases
1. Preliminary analysis
2. Requirement analysis and security policy selection
3. Conceptual design
4. Logical design
5. Physical design
6. Implementation of security mechanisms
7. Verification and testing
5. Statistical database security
1. Introduction
2. Basic concepts and assumptions
3. Inference protection techniques
1. Conceptual techniques
2. Restriction-based techniques
3. Perturbation-based techniques
4. A general framework for comparing inference protection techniques
6. Intrusion detection
1. Introduction
2. Automated tools for intrusion detection
3. Expert-systems-based approach: the IDES system
1. Foundations
2. IDES model
3. System architecture
4. The Haystack system
1. Intrusion types
2. Analysis of the audit trail
3. Design principles and system architecture
5. The Multics Intrusion Detection and Alerting System (MIDAS)
1. Rules
2. MIDAS operation
6. Audit in Trusted Database Management Systems (TDBMS)
1. Study results
7. The Wisdom and Sense (W&S) anomaly detection system
1. Approach: the rule base
2. Data model
3. Evaluation of rules for anomaly detection
4. Implementation
8. The Time-based Inductive Machine (TIM) approach
1. Machine Learning (ML)
2. Software engineering techniques
3. Neural naturals
9. Trends in intrusion detection
7. Security models for next-generation databases
1. Introduction
1. Elements of active databases
2. Elements of object-oriented databases
2. Security in active databases
3. Security in object-oriented databases
4. The ORION authorization model
1. Subjects
2. Objects
3. Access modes
4. Authorization
5. Rules for the derivation of implicit authorizations and access control
6. Inheritance hierarchies, composite objects and versions
5. The Bertino-Weigand model
6. Authorization models based on methods
1. The Iris authorization model
2. The data-hiding model
7. The message filter
1. Entities of the new model
2. Information flow
3. Message-filtering algorithm
4. Classification requirement representation
8. SORION model
1. Entities of the model
2. Security policy axioms
3. Classification axioms
4. Classification requirement representation
9. The Millen-Lunt model
1. Entities of the model
2. Axioms
3. Classification requirement representation
10. Modelling multi-level entities through single-level objects
11. Observations on OODBMS security

One of the books you must own. Covers a lot more than just databases. What is surprising is that it is Italians who have written it. Even more surprising (considering the male/female ratio in security) is that three of the four authors are female.

All in all, a very worthwhile book that stands the test of time.