DBMS have a long tradition in high security. Several
mechanisms needed to protect data (e.g., user privileges, data
encryption, authentication, auditing, etc.) have been
proposed/consolidated in the database arena [3][4][11][13].
However, in most of the DBMS, the effectiveness of the
security mechanisms is very dependent on the actual
configuration chosen by the database administrator.
Moreover, the simple existence of these mechanisms serves
little purpose in terms of security unless they are correctly
used. What actually provides security is the correct
application of accepted security best practices. Security
mechanisms provided by software systems are
implementations that help in the actual execution of these
practices.