Re: Column Redaction

From: Claudio Freire <klaussfreire(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com>
Cc: Rod Taylor <rod(dot)taylor(at)gmail(dot)com>, Stephen Frost <sfrost(at)snowman(dot)net>, Thom Brown <thom(at)linux(dot)com>, Damian Wolgast <damian(dot)wolgast(at)si-co(dot)net>, Heikki Linnakangas <hlinnakangas(at)vmware(dot)com>, PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: Column Redaction
Date: 2014-10-15 20:03:15
Message-ID: CAGTBQpYxpXG+durmgwM2VdqqfJEBjfxx6b9O-M09j-tEh2PLKw@mail.gmail.com
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On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 4:59 PM, Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> On 15 October 2014 20:41, Claudio Freire <klaussfreire(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>> On Sat, Oct 11, 2014 at 4:40 AM, Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
>>> On 10 October 2014 16:45, Rod Taylor <rod(dot)taylor(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>>> Redaction prevents accidental information loss only, forcing any loss
>>> that occurs to be explicit. It ensures that loss of information can be
>>> tied clearly back to an individual, like an ink packet that stains the
>>> fingers of a thief.
>>
>> That is not true.
>>
>> It can only be tied to a session. That's very far from an individual
>> in court terms, if you ask a lawyer.
>>
>> You need a helluva lot more to tie that to an individual.
>
> So you're familiar then with this process? So you know that an auditor
> would trigger an investigation, resulting in deeper surveillance and
> gathering of evidence that ends with various remedial actions, such as
> court. How would that process start then, if not this way?

I've seen lots of such investigations fail because the evidence wasn't
strong enough to link to a particular person, but rather a computer
terminal or something like that.

Unless you also physically restrict access to such terminal to a
single person through other means (which is quite uncommon practice
except perhaps in banks), that evidence is barely circumstantial.

But you'd have to ask a lawyer in your country to be sure. I can only
speak for my own experiences in my own country which is probably not
yours nor has the same laws. Law is a complex beast.

So, you really want actual information security in addition to that
deterrent you speak of. I don't say the deterrent is bad, I only say
it's not good enough on its own.

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