RE: Encrypted storage

["Browne, Derek" <Derek.Browne () emergis com>]

Jeffrey,

 It would be suicide to attempt to encrypt all the data in the
database...not only would there be a huge performance hit but how would
you ever perform a search?

There are a few good commercial options 
        1) Oracle Obfuscation kit
        2) DBEncrypt
        3) NAE network attached crypto resource
        4) MS SQL 2004?2005?2006? Whatever will likely have column
encryption as well

Data classification is paramount and must be done a case-by-case basis.
It is very hard (impossible?) to state that data of type X must always
be protected with this control. You just have to choose what is
appropriate for the task - sorry to waffle.

The big problem - as with all crypto - is the key management issue.  

Also, most solutions protect the data at rest - when you start using it
a cleartext view is created for performance reasons - it makes sense but
you must be aware that your 'protected data' is clear in memory and in
the swap file.


Thanks
Derek
____________________________
Derek Browne, CISSP        derek.browne () emergis com
Senior Security Consultant, CISO
BCE Emergis                    905-707-4001 x4787

NOTICE : This e-mail is confidential, privileged and intended for the
exclusive use of the addressee. Any other person is strictly prohibited
from disclosing, distributing or reproducing it. If you have received
this e-mail by mistake, please notify us immediately by telephone and
delete all copies


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Koniszewski [mailto:jkoniszewski () kronos com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 4:39 PM
To: webappsec () securityfocus com
Subject: Encrypted storage



I was wondering (because customers have asked me) whether anyone is
configuring their database to store all information encrypted. Databases
have this capability but the overhead can be so heavy that vendors don't
recommend using it generically. Also, if most of the data is not
sensitive it is a lot of work to protect small amounts of data. Is
anyone aware of someone using this capability? Under what circumstances?
What's the performance hit? What other gotchas? How about encrypted
communication to the DB from the app server?