Re: Article on DB encryption

From: Silvana Di Martino <silvanadimartino(at)tin(dot)it>
To: Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us>
Cc: pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: Article on DB encryption
Date: 2004-03-08 22:43:12
Message-ID: 200403082225.12888.silvanadimartino@tin.it
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Alle 19:19, lunedì 8 marzo 2004, Bruce Momjian ha scritto:
> The user could decrypt it and store it in a temporary table, and join to
> that table in queries, and pass that decrypted password column to
> pg_crypto functions, but do we guarantee that that temp table would not
> be on the disk if the server crashes and is then stolen? Seems
> server-side variables would be a natural, secure use for this that temp
> tables don't supply.

I agree. This "Global Server Password" should not be stored into a database,
not even into a temporary table (because of virtual memory). It should be
stored in memory as a server-wide variable. We just need a way to pass it to
the server at start-up, using a command line parameter, or even to the
running server, using a TCP/IP socket or something like that. Most likely,
this second form would better fit the needs of a server.

See you

PS: Bruce, it's a real pleasure to meet you on the web. Your book on
PostgreSQL is one of the most "chewed" of my collection.

-----------------------------------------
Alessandro Bottoni and Silvana Di Martino
alessandrobottoni(at)interfree(dot)it
silvanadimartino(at)tin(dot)it

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