We're seeing more and more GDPR-style laws coming out from various governments. With the GDPR starting to do enforcement at long last, it's pretty clear that privacy and protection is a growing thing. Add to this the fact that SQL Injection is still an issue along with all the other ways you can get hacked. Let's face it. We have to secure our servers better.

SQL Census

The Redgate Foundry is pretty much what it sounds like, a place to build tools. Basically, it's where pie-in-the-sky style experimentation takes place at Redgate. That's not to say that we don't also do very down-to-earth experimentation. In fact, for this whole privacy and protection thing, we're working on a number of tools. The one I want to draw your attention to right now is SQL Census.

Basically, this is a tool to get the security on your SQL Server instances under control and under management. SQL Census will help you set best practices, understand what permissions you're dealing with now, and put together reports for auditing or even a Data Impact Assessment (a requirement for GDPR compliance).

You can get a copy of this tool right now to try it out and to help us set direction on it. Follow the SQL Census link above to learn more. You can also see the tool in action this week, Wednesday, December 12, at SQL in the City Streamed, so make sure you put some time aside.

Security has moved from a nice-to-have afterthought that we'll get to LATER. Security, privacy, and protection are now fundamentals of the legal underpinnings of data management. Your business cares about security (or soon will), so you have to as well.