Chapter Four

Database Security and Authorization

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Introduction
Security is a very broad area that addresses many issues, including the
following
• Legal and ethical issues
 laws governing privacy of information
• Policy issues
 example, credit ratings and personal medical records
• System-related issues
 security function should be handled at the physical hardware
level, the operating system level, or the DBMS level
• The need to identify multiple security levels
 example, top secret, secret, confidential, and unclassified
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 Introduction..
Threats to databases that result loss on security goals
• Loss of integrity
 the requirement that information from improper modification
• Loss of availability
• Loss of confidentiality
 the protection of data from unauthorized disclosure
To protect databases against these types of threats four kinds of
countermeasures can be implemented:
• Access control
• Inference control
• Flow control
• Encryption
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Introduction..
A DBMS typically includes a database security and authorization
subsystem that is responsible for ensuring the security portions of a
database against unauthorized access.
Two types of database security mechanisms:
• Discretionary security mechanisms
 Grant privileges to users (such as read, insert, delete, or update).
• Mandatory security mechanisms
 used to enforce multilevel security by classifying the data and
users into various security classes (or levels)

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Introduction..
A security problem common to computer system is
preventing unauthorized person from accessing the system
itself.
The security mechanism of a DBMS must include provisions
for restricting access to the database as a whole
• This function is called access control and is handled by
creating user accounts and passwords to control login
process by the DBMS.

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Introduction..

 Statistical databases are used to provide statistical information or

summaries of values based on various criteria
 Security for statistical databases must ensure that information about
individuals cannot be accessed
• It is sometimes possible to deduce or infer certain facts
concerning individuals from queries that involve only summary
statistics on groups; this must not be permitted
• The countermeasures to statistical database security problem
are called inference control measures.

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Introduction..

Another security is that of flow control, which prevents information

from flowing in such a way that it reaches unauthorized users.
Channels that are pathways for information to flow implicitly in ways
that violate the security policy of an organization are called covert
channels.

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Introduction..
A final security issue is data encryption.
• which is used to protect sensitive data (such as credit card
numbers) that is being transmitted via some type communication
network.
• The data is encoded using some encoding algorithm.
 An unauthorized user who access encoded data will have
difficulty deciphering it, but authorized users are given
decoding or decrypting algorithms (or keys) to decipher data.

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Database Security and the DBA
The database administrator (DBA) is the central authority for
managing a database system.
• The DBA’s responsibilities include
 granting privileges to users who need to use the system
 classifying users and data in accordance with the policy of
the organization
The DBA is responsible for the overall security of the database
system.

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Database Security and the DBA ..
The DBA has a DBA account in the DBMS
• Sometimes these are called a system or super-user account
• These accounts provide powerful capabilities such as:
1. Account creation
2. Privilege granting
3. Privilege revocation
4. Security level assignment
• Action 1 is access control, whereas 2 and 3 are discretionary and 4
is used to control mandatory authorization

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Access Protection, User Accounts, and Database Audits

 Whenever a person or group of persons need to access a database

system, the individual or group must first apply for a user account.
• The DBA will then create a new account id and password for the
user if he/she deems there is a legitimate need to access the
database
 The user must log in to the DBMS by entering account id and
password whenever database access is needed.

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Access Protection, User Accounts, and Database Audits..

 The database system must also keep track of all operations on the
database that are applied by a certain user throughout each login session.
• When a user logs in, the DBMS can record the user’s account number
and associate it with the computer or device from which the user
logged in
• To keep a record of all updates applied to the database and of the
particular user who applied each update, we can modify system log

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Access Protection, User Accounts, and Database Audits..

If any tampering with the database is suspected, a database audit

is performed
• A database audit consists of reviewing the log to examine all
accesses and operations applied to the database during a certain
time period.
A database log that is used mainly for security purposes is
sometimes called an audit trail.
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Discretionary Access Control Based on Granting and
Revoking Privileges

The typical method of enforcing discretionary access

control in a database system is based on the granting and
revoking privileges.

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Types of Discretionary Privileges
 The DBMS must provide selective access to each relation in the
database based on specific accounts; Operations may also be
controlled
• having an account does not necessarily entitle the account holder
to all the functionality provided by the DBMS
 There are two levels for assigning privileges to use the database
system:
• The account level:
 the DBA specifies the particular privileges that each account holds
independently of the relations in the database.
• The relation level (or table level):
 the DBA can control the privilege to access each individual relation
or view in the database
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Discretionary Privileges…
The privileges at the account level apply to the capabilities provided
to the account itself and can include
• the CREATE SCHEMA or CREATE TABLE privilege, to create
a schema or base relation;
• the CREATE VIEW privilege;
• the ALTER privilege, to apply schema changes such adding or
removing attributes from relations;
• the DROP privilege, to delete relations or views;
• the MODIFY privilege, to insert, delete, or update tuples;
• and the SELECT privilege, to retrieve information from the
database by using a SELECT query.
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Discretionary Privileges..
The second level of privileges applies to the relation level
• This includes base relations and virtual (view) relations.
The granting and revoking of privileges generally follow an
authorization model for discretionary privileges known as the access
matrix model where
• The rows of a matrix M represents subjects (users, accounts,
programs)
• The columns represent objects (relations, records, columns, views,
operations).
• Each position M(i,j) in the matrix represents the types of privileges
(read, write, update) that subject i holds on object j.
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Discretionary Privileges..
 To control the granting and revoking of relation privileges, each relation R in

a database is assigned owner account, which is typically the account that was

used when the relation was created in the first place.

• The owner of a relation is given all privileges on that relation.
• In SQL, the DBA can assign an owner to a whole schema by creating the

schema and associating the appropriate authorization identifier with that

schema, using the CREATE SCHEMA command.

• The owner account holder can pass privileges on any of the owned

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Discretionary Privileges..
 In SQL the following types of privileges can be granted on each individual
relation R:
• SELECT (retrieval or read) privilege on R:
 Gives the account retrieval privilege.
 In SQL this gives the account the privilege to use the SELECT
statement to retrieve tuples from R.
• MODIFY privileges on R:
 This gives the account the capability to modify tuples of R.
 In SQL this privilege is further divided into UPDATE, DELETE,
and INSERT privileges to apply the corresponding SQL
command to R.
 INSERT and UPDATE privileges can specify that only certain
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attributes can be updated by the account.
Discretionary Privileges..
 In SQL the following types of privileges can be granted on each
individual relation R:
• REFERENCES privilege on R:
 This gives the account the capability to reference relation R
when specifying integrity constraints.
 This privilege can also be restricted to specific attributes of
R.
 Notice that to create a view, the account must have SELECT
privilege on all relations involved in the view definition.

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Specifying Privileges Using Views
 The mechanism of views is an important discretionary
authorization mechanism in its own right.
 Example:
• If the owner A of a relation R wants another account B to be
able to retrieve only some fields of R, then A can create a view
V of R that includes only those attributes and then grant
SELECT on V to B.
• The same applies to limiting B to retrieving only certain tuples
of R; a view V’ can be created by defining the view by means
of a query that selects only those tuples from R that A wants to
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allow B to access. 21
Revoking Privileges

 In some cases it is desirable to grant a privilege to a user

temporarily.
 Example:
• The owner of a relation may want to grant the SELECT privilege
to a user for a specific task and then revoke that privilege once
the task is completed.
• Hence, a mechanism for revoking privileges is needed.
• In SQL, a REVOKE command is included for the purpose of
canceling privileges.

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 Propagation of Privileges using the GRANT
OPTION
 Whenever the owner A of a relation R grants a privilege on R to another
account B, privilege can be given to B with or without the GRANT OPTION.
 If the GRANT OPTION is given, this means that B can also grant that
privilege on R to other accounts.
• Suppose that B is given the GRANT OPTION by A and that B then
grants the privilege on R to a third account C, also with GRANT
OPTION. In this way, privileges on R can propagate to other accounts
without the knowledge of the owner of R.
• If the owner account A now revokes the privilege granted to B, all the
privileges that B propagated based on that privilege should automatically
be revoked by the system.
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Example

• Suppose that the DBA creates four accounts

• A1, A2, A3, A4
• and wants only A1 to be able to create base relations.
• Then the DBA must issue the following GRANT command in
SQL
GRANT CREATETAB TO A1;

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 Example
User account A1 can create tables
Suppose that A1 creates the two base relations EMPLOYEE and
DEPARTMENT
• A1 is then owner of these two relations and hence all the
relation privileges on each of them.
• Suppose that A1 wants to grant A2 the privilege to insert and
delete tuples in both of these relations, but A1 does not want A2 to
be able to propagate these privileges to additional accounts:
GRANT INSERT, DELETE ON
EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT TO A2;
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Example
Suppose that A1 wants to allow A3 to retrieve information from either
of the two tables and also to be able to propagate the SELECT privilege
to other accounts.
A1 can issue the command:
GRANT SELECT ON EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT
TO A3 WITH GRANT OPTION;
A3 can grant the SELECT privilege on the EMPLOYEE relation to
A4 by issuing:
GRANT SELECT ON EMPLOYEE TO A4;
• Notice that A4 can’t propagate the SELECT privilege because
GRANT OPTION was not given to A4
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Example

Suppose that A1 decides to revoke the SELECT privilege on the

EMPLOYEE relation from A3; A1 can issue:

REVOKE SELECT ON EMPLOYEE FROM A3;

The DBMS must now automatically revoke the SELECT
privilege on EMPLOYEE from A4, too, because A3 granted that
privilege to A4 and A3 does not have the privilege any more.

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Example
Suppose that A1 wants to give back to A3 a limited capability to SELECT
from the EMPLOYEE relation and wants to allow A3 to be able to
propagate the privilege.
• The limitation is to retrieve only the NAME, BDATE, and ADDRESS
attributes and only for the tuples with DNO=5.
A1 then create the view:
CREATE VIEW A3 EMPLOYEE AS
SELECT NAME, BDATE, ADDRESS
FROM EMPLOYEE
WHERE DNO = 5;
After the view is created, A1 can grant SELECT on the view
A3EMPLOYEE to A3 as follows:
GRANT SELECT ON A3EMPLOYEE TO A3
WITH GRANT OPTION;
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 Example
Finally, suppose that A1 wants to allow A4 to update only the
SALARY attribute of EMPLOYEE;
A1 can issue:
GRANT UPDATE ON EMPLOYEE (SALARY) TO A4;

• The UPDATE or INSERT privilege can specify particular

attributes that may be updated or inserted in a relation.
• Other privileges (SELECT, DELETE) are not attribute specific.

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Mandatory Access Control and Role-Based Access
Control for Multilevel Security
The discretionary access control techniques of granting and revoking
privileges on relations has traditionally been the main security
mechanism for relational database systems.
This is an all-or-nothing method:
• A user either has or does not have a certain privilege.
In many applications, and additional security policy is needed that
classifies data and users based on security classes.
• This approach as mandatory access control, would typically be
combined with the discretionary access control mechanisms.

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 Mandatory Access Control...
Typical security classes are top secret (TS), secret (S), confidential
(C), and unclassified (U), where TS is the highest level and U the
lowest: TS ≥ S ≥ C ≥ U

The commonly used model for multilevel security, Bell-LaPadula

Model, classifies each subject (user, account, program) and object
(relation, tuple, column, view, operation) into one of the security
classifications, T, S, C, or U:
• Clearance (classification) of a subject S as class(S) and to the
classification of an object O as class(O).
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 Mandatory Access Control...

Two restrictions are enforced on data access based on the

subject/object classifications:
• Simple security property: A subject S is not allowed read
access to an object O unless class(S) ≥ class(O). Or No read
up.
• Star property (or * property): A subject S is not allowed to write
an object O unless class(S) ≤ class(O). Or A person in a higher
classification level, cannot write messages to someone in a lower
classification level, No Write Down.

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 Mandatory Access Control...
To incorporate multilevel security notions into the relational database
model, it is common to consider attribute values and tuples as data objects.
Hence, each attribute A is associated with a classification attribute C in
the schema, and each attribute value in a tuple is associated with a
corresponding security classification.
In addition, in some models, a tuple classification attribute TC is added to
the relation attributes to provide a classification for each tuple as a whole.
Hence, a multilevel relation schema R with n attributes would be
represented as
• R(A1,C1,A2,C2, …, An, Cn, TC)
where each Ci represents the classification attribute associated with
attribute Ai.
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 Comparing Discretionary Access Control and
Mandatory Access Control

Discretionary Access Control (DAC) policies are

characterized by a high degree of flexibility, which makes
them suitable for a large variety of application domains.
• The main drawback of DAC models is their vulnerability
to malicious attacks, such as Trojan horses embedded in
application programs.

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 Comparing….

By contrast, mandatory policies ensure a high degree of

protection in a way, they prevent any illegal flow of
information.
Mandatory policies have the drawback of being too rigid and
they are only applicable in limited environments.
In many practical situations, discretionary policies are
preferred because they offer a better trade-off between
security and applicability.

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 Role-Based Access Control
Role-based access control (RBAC) emerged rapidly in the 1990s as a
proven technology for managing and enforcing security in large-scale
enterprise wide systems.
Its basic notion is that permissions are associated with roles, and users are
assigned to appropriate roles.
Roles can be created using the CREATE ROLE and DESTROY ROLE
commands.
• The GRANT and REVOKE commands discussed under DAC can
then be used to assign and revoke privileges from roles.
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 Role-Based Access Control…
RBAC appears to be an alternative to traditional discretionary
and mandatory access controls; it ensures that only authorized
users are given access to certain data or resources.
Many DBMSs have allowed the concept of roles, where
privileges can be assigned to roles.

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Flow Control
Flow control regulates the distribution or flow of information among
accessible objects.
A flow between object X and object Y occurs when a program reads
values from X and writes values in to Y.
• Flow controls check that information contained in some objects
does not flow into less protected objects.
 A flow policy specifies the channels along which information is
allowed to move.

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Encryption
Encryption is a means of maintaining secure data in an insecure
environment.
 Encryption consists of applying an encryption algorithm to data
using some prespecified encryption key.
 The resulting data has to be decrypted using a decryption key to
recover the original data.
The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a system developed by the
U.S. government for use by the general public.

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Encryption …
DES can provide end-to-end encryption on the channel between
the sender A and receiver B.
The DES algorithm derives its strength from repeated application
of these two techniques for a total of 16 cycles.
• Plaintext (the original form of the message) is encrypted as
blocks of 64 bits

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 Thanks!

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