Re: Looking for advice on database encryption

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 05:06:13PM -0400, Bill Moran wrote:
> I disagree. We're already addressing the issues of security on the
> application level through extensive testing, data validation out the
> wazoo (to prevent SQL Injection and other application breaches). All
> our servers are in highly secure data centers. We have VPNs and
> access restrictions at the IP and the user level to the 9s.
>
> It's still not enough.
>
> My task here is to develop a system to protect the data in the event
> that all of those fail. As a result, I'm looking for general advice.

Mine would be to define what you do trust and not what you don't trust.
I think you need to do that before you can get much further. At the
moment the problem seems somewhat ill defined.

For example; you say that you don't trust the application, yet the user
must trust the application as they're entering their secret into it.
How does the user ascertain that the application they're talking to is
the "real" one and that it hasn't been replaced with a pretend one that
sends their secret off to an attacker who has access to a real version
of the program?

Protecting against this in general is, as far as I know, is impossible.
The get out clause is that you're not trying to solve the general case,
you've got a specific set of use cases that you need to solve.

--
Sam http://samason.me.uk/