Six steps to secure sensitive data in MySQL

If you're using MySQL, there are some easy things you can do to secure your systems and significantly reduce the risk of unauthorised access to your sensitive data. The most valuable asset for technology-based organisations is usually the customer or product information in their databases. And so, a critical part of database administration in such organisations consists of securing these databases against outside attack and hardware/software failures.

In most cases, hardware and software failures are handled through a data backup regimen. Most databases come with built-in tools to automate the entire process, making this aspect of the job relatively painless and error-free. What's not so simple, however, is the second half of the puzzle: making sure that outside hackers can't get into the system and either steal or damage the information contained therein. And unfortunately, there usually isn't an automated way to solve this problem; rather, it requires you, the administrator, to manually put in place roadblocks and obstacles to trip up would-be hackers and to ensure that your company's data stays secure.