Database security today: Five questions to ask to stay ahead

Escalating cyber threats and stringent compliance requirements are putting CIOs and CTOs under pressure to ensure comprehensive database security.

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Data drives every decision and interaction in our digital economy. Databases, whether on-premises, in the cloud or spread across hybrid environments, are at the core of business operations – and that means database security is not just an IT concern, but a boardroom-level priority too.

As cyber threats become more sophisticated and compliance requirements tighten, CIOs and CTOs face growing pressure to ensure their database environments are secure, resilient, auditable and future-ready. But knowing where to start can be overwhelming. With so many risks to manage and tools to evaluate, it helps to take a step back and focus on the fundamentals. Asking the right questions – the kind that can expose gaps and highlight priorities – is critical to this process.

1. Do I know where my data is located?

Visibility is the first step to control, yet many IT leaders don’t have a full picture of where sensitive data resides across development, test and production environments. According to the Ponemon Institute, only 42% of organisations have an asset inventory programme.

Without clear governance, data often spreads across multicloud services, SaaS platforms and departmental systems – and it’s more common than you think… developers may clone production databases for testing; sales teams may export customer records into spreadsheets; and marketing teams may duplicate data in CRM tools. Unless this sprawl is discovered and managed, critical assets remain exposed.

If you don’t know where your data is located, you can’t protect it – and attackers could find it first.

2. Do I know what is happening to my data?

Hackers often exploit gaps where database activity isn’t closely tracked. It’s not enough to create logs for later review: you need continuous monitoring to detect anomalies, prevent breaches and ensure operational integrity, as well as query-level visibility to spot unusual patterns of access, such as bulk downloads or schema changes by privileged users.

Alerts must also flag when your data is moved unexpectedly, particularly to external locations, which is often an early sign of exfiltration. The stakes are high: IBM reports that organisations with internal detection capabilities shortened the data breach life cycle by 61 days, reducing both financial losses and reputational damage.

If you don’t know what is happening to your data as it happens, you can’t stop a breach.

3. Do I know who is accessing my data?

Knowing who is accessing your organisation’s sensitive data – and why – is central to reducing risk. Identity and access management that relies solely on usernames and passwords is no longer adequate in a world where credential misuse, credential theft and privilege escalation are so common. Last year, 48% of organisations reported an increase in insider attacks, which means the risk is almost as likely to come from within your company as from external hackers.

Effective controls must enforce least-privilege principles, limit access to only what each role requires and use just-in-time authorisation for elevated accounts. Multi-factor authentication should be standard and privileged sessions should be recorded to provide a verifiable audit trail. Offboarding discipline is equally important to ensure that contractors, consultants and former employees lose access the moment their engagement with you is over.

Without strict access controls, the doors to your most sensitive data stay open.

4. Do I know if my data is private and secure?

Encryption and secure configuration are fundamental to ensuring your database security, but they’re only part of the picture… patches and updates should be applied as soon as possible to minimise your vulnerability. Backups should be encrypted and stored securely. Sensitive data used in development and testing should be masked or tokenised to ensure that real customer information isn’t inadvertently exposed.

Local laws, like the Protection of Personal Information Act, and industry regulations, like PCI-DSS, require demonstrable privacy and security controls – and the fines for non-compliance can reach into the millions. Organisations must be able to prove that data-protection methods are comprehensive, current and aligned with best practices.

Privacy and security are no longer optional: regulators and customers both demand proof.

5. Can I report properly on my data security posture?

Being able to show the effectiveness of your database security is almost as crucial as having the controls in place. Boards, investors, regulators, auditors and even customers expect complete transparency and swift responses from you. Manual reporting is slow, consumes valuable staff time and leaves room for human error. Automation is key, as it ensures that reporting is accurate and timely.

Precise reporting mechanisms can help you satisfy your auditors, strengthen trust with your stakeholders and enable faster, more informed business decisions throughout your organisation.

If you can’t generate reports that stand up to boardroom and regulatory scrutiny, then you risk being unprepared when it matters most.

Despite making investments in data security, many organisations continue to face challenges. From shadow systems to slow processes, these are the most common issues we’ve seen customers struggle with:

• Untracked or unmanaged databases. Teams often spin up databases for projects, analytics or testing without routing them through central IT. These “hidden” systems can store sensitive data but receive no updates, monitoring or access controls, making them prime targets for attackers.
• Inconsistent access controls. With operations spread across different cloud providers and business units, access policies can vary significantly. Contractors may retain access after projects end, or employees may hold more privileges than they need. These inconsistencies create exploitable gaps in protection.
• Delayed detection of suspicious activity. Without real-time alerts, attackers have ample time to exfiltrate data, escalate privileges and establish a foothold in systems before being discovered.
• Poor patch and configuration management. Databases are often left running with default settings, weak encryption or delayed security patches. This makes them easy entry points, especially as attackers increasingly automate scans for unpatched systems.
• Limited integration with wider security frameworks. Database security is frequently treated as a siloed effort, disconnected from enterprise SIEM, SOAR or zero trust initiatives. This lack of integration reduces visibility, slows response efforts and prevents organisations from enforcing consistent policies across the whole IT estate.

Together, these challenges increase risk, reduce resilience and erode confidence among stakeholders and regulators.

Modern database security solutions are designed to address these challenges directly, embedding protection into the very fabric of the database environment. Compared to legacy tools, which often rely on periodic scans, siloed logs and manual oversight, today’s solutions deliver continuous monitoring, intelligent automation and seamless integration across hybrid estates.

Key capabilities include:

• Local activity monitoring on each database server.
• Real-time alerts and automated responses to malicious behaviour.
• Comprehensive audit trails and compliance-ready reporting.
• Compatibility with cloud and virtualised environments.
• Integration with SIEM and SOAR platforms for improved visibility.

When databases are actively protected, organisations gain resilience, efficiency and competitive advantage. Proactive monitoring reduces downtime by identifying and containing threats before they disrupt operations; automation accelerates incident response, freeing skilled IT staff from repetitive manual tasks to focus on in-depth work; and demonstrable governance strengthens trust with regulators, partners and customers.

Strong database security is not simply a defensive measure; it’s a strategic enabler that protects revenue, accelerates agility and builds lasting trust. The organisations that will thrive tomorrow are those that treat database security not as an afterthought, but as a foundation for innovation and growth. Start by asking the five questions highlighted – and if the answers aren’t clear, it’s time to act.