Symantec Press Publishes Cryptography in the Database

Symantec Press Publishes Cryptography in the Database

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced “Cryptography in the Database – The Last Line of Defense,” (Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0321320735, $44.99), published by Symantec Press. Author Kevin Kenan, leader of Symantec’s IT application and database program, wrote the book for IT managers and administrators responsible for protecting sensitive information in a database. The book covers database security, the attacks databases face, database cryptosystem design, and development practices necessary to implement a cryptosystem securely, including working code examples.

Databases serve as a vital and powerful repository for critical consumer and business data, supporting a huge range of online information and commerce activities, such as banking, shopping, healthcare, and travel services. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, there have been almost 100 reported data breaches (databases hacked or compromised) this year at prominent corporations, universities, and government agencies. As a result, more than 51 million Americans have had their personal information compromised since February 2005.

Symantec Corporation noted in its most recent Internet Security Threat Report that 75 percent of the top 50 threats in 2005 targeted confidential information. From an attacker’s point of view, cracking a database is far more lucrative than the alternative: eavesdropping on network connections. Cracking a database yields refined information in one accessible location. An attacker with database access might be able to simply query the database and retrieve every item of interest, from credit card numbers to customer or employee information.

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