Protecting Your Data with Encrypted User Credentials

It seems that everyone in IT is talking about security these days.  And it's hardly surprising, given the recent security breach with VISA and mastercard, everyone in AND out of IT is wary of identity theft and its consequences.

I came across a New York Times article from last summer, that focused on why user credentials should be encrypted, and why you should be losing sleep at night if they are unencrypted.   What's interesting is that given the multiple breaches in data security we have seen in recent years, some folks still prefer to roll the dice and chance it.  And in some cases, they might be chancing it with customer information!

For example, some ODBC drivers to SQL Server do not encrypt user credentials - or they might have a weaker encryption of passwords and absolutely no protection for the user ID.  The New York Times article cites a well-known electronics company that suffered a breach, where their data, including user credentials, was stored and being transmitted in plain text.  A hacker's dream (and an IT director's nightmare)!

DataDirect ODBC Drivers encrypt user id and password information - regardless of which SQL Server authentication method is used.  For additional data protection, DataDirect Connect for ODBC drivers use SSL encryption to encrypt all of the data across the network.  Internet Security Advisors' Group concurs in their evaluation of Progress DataDirect security features:

"Based on our independent assessment, we believe that using Progress DataDirect Connect for database access is one of the best proactive security measures an organization can take to reduce security related losses."

Whether your data is in the cloud (Salesforce.com, database.com, force.com), in a data warehouse (Sybase IQ, Greenplum, Teradata), or in a traditional relational database such as Oracle, DB2, or SQL Server, don't roll the dice on your security strategy, or your company's reputation.  Download DataDirect Connect for ODBC Drivers and ensure best-in-class security for your critical data.