What is Database Access Management?
Database Access Management (DAM) refers to the process by which privileged access to an organization's database is controlled and managed. This involves identifying who (or what) can access information within a database, when they can access it, the way in which access is achieved, and what actions they can perform within the database. Implementing robust database access management protects an organization’s sensitive information from unauthorized access and maintains data integrity and confidentiality.
Database Access Management vs. Data Access Management
Database access management and data access management are adjacent, but distinctly different practices. Database access management focuses on monitoring and controlling how identities perform database-level actions, while data access management implements security controls and policies at the data-specific level, monitoring how users across the organization are using data regardless of its location.
Why Database Access Management Matters
DAM exists to safeguard data integrity, privacy, and availability. Without the proper access controls, the risk of unauthorized personnel entering a database and then corrupting / stealing data increases substantially. Illicit database access can ultimately lead to financial and reputational losses, or non-compliance with regulatory standards. Effective DAM protocols and policies are crucial to reducing these risks.
Database Access Risks
If not properly managed, database access introduces risk for organizations, particularly those in sectors such as fintech, healthcare, and e-commerce. This is because databases in these verticals handle vast amounts of sensitive data such as financial records, personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), and more. Top risks that undermine database access security include:
Credential sharing: When privileged database users share credentials amongst themselves, it minimizes the ability for organizations to answer important questions: who logged onto the database, when did they do so, how long, and for what purpose. Credential sharing also increases the likelihood of risks such as credential stuffing, and makes it far more challenging to revoke access after someone changes roles / leaves the company. This opens up the possibility of insider threats and other types of intentional / unintentional misuse.
Standing access: Persistent (24/7) access to privileged databases increases the window of opportunity in which a bad actor could enter an organization’s systems and log into sensitive databases. It also increases the chances of intentional or unintentional insider abuse. An employee could log into the database at any time of the day, for any reason, and their activities could go unnoticed by the security team.
Password misuse: The misuse of database passwords also poses a significant threat to organizations. Long-lived or improperly stored passwords can become a risk factor, as an attacker could more easily steal and misuse the credentials over time, potentially going undetected if they use a legitimate credential for illegitimate purposes.
Lack of visibility: IT and securityteams often have incomplete visibility and understanding into who or what has privileged access into a database. A human identity might gain unintentional access to a database via inherited permissions or group membership, or a non-human identity such as an AI agent might be granted overly permissive privileges within a database for training, workflow automation, etc. Without knowledge of these indirect or unexpected connections, organizations might not properly secure these pathways into their databases, leaving them open to threats.
Database Access Management Best Practices
Proper management of database access involves a few practices related to the management and monitoring of privileged access, credentials, sessions, and permissions. Organizations must ensure that proper access controls are established for both human and non-human identities (e.g., agentic AI, machine identities, service accounts). AI agents, in particular, are often connected to databases to ingest company data for training, performing tasks autonomously, etc.
Here are some best practices for enabling secure database access across your organization:
1. Using an Access Control Model (RBAC, ABAC, PBAC)
There are a few different access control models that teams rely on for proper database access management, including:
Role-based access control (RBAC), which assigns database permissions based on a user’s role or job function. By assigning role-specific permissions, RBAC prevents overly broad access or inconsistent permission management.
Attribute-based access control (ABAC), which uses attributes such as user type, location, device, environment, or other contextual details about the access request to determine whether or not a user should have access to a given database.
Policy-based access control (PBAC), which applies defined access policies to determine who can access a database and which actions they can perform. By using automated policies, PBAC prevents manual access decisions, which can lead to inconsistencies and configuration drift over time.
2. Applying Zero Trust Access Controls
Proper database access management also involves zero trust access controls, such as enforcing the principle of least privilege (only granting the minimum permissions that each identity actually needs for their approved roles). By removing excessive privileges and following the zero trust concept of “never trusting, always verifying”, teams minimize unnecessary exposure to sensitive records.
Just-in-time access can help support zero trust by granting verified database access for a specific task or time window, then removing it as soon as this time-bound event is over.
3. Regularly Reviewing Database Privileges
Teams should also review all database privileges regularly, ensuring that the scope of database access and permissions still makes sense for each human and non-human identity’s current role / responsibilities. If not, teams should remove access in line with the principle of least privilege. By regularly reviewing database access, teams can proactively catch issues such as dormant accounts, stale permissions, and privilege creep, before they become an active risk.
4. Monitoring and Auditing Database Activity by Session
Even if a user can provide legitimate login credentials for getting into a database, are they performing legitimate actions once inside? This question is best answered with detailed session monitoring, which offers full visibility and control into who accessed the database, the nature of the access, and which actions occurred. By logging activity over time, teams can gain visibility into what’s “normal” for the database, and then identify any unusual, unauthorized, or policy-violating behavior. Additionally, creating a complete, reviewable audit trail enables teams to easily view activity, investigate incidents, and support compliance needs.
5. Implementing Privileged Password Management
It’s also important to apply privileged password management best practices for databases, such as using credential rotation to eliminate long-lived credentials and storing any static privileged passwords in a vault. Additionally, automating credential injection puts the credentials directly into every session without exposing them to the end-user. This prevents account sharing because the user never sees the username / password in the first place.
How Database Access Management Relates to PAM
Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a solution for securing, controlling, and monitoring all privileged access, including privileged database access. The PAM sub-discipline of Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM), specifically, offers several controls that play a significant role in securing database access. A few examples of PASM features that support database access management include:
Discovering and onboarding all privileged accounts and credentials, including those used for database access
Offering enterprise password management, with controls such as storing credentials within a vaultand regularly rotating passwords
Enabling shared accounts via PAM brokering, which provides built-in approval workflows and a set process for users to check out credentials and inject them directly into the session. These features allow users to have the convenience of shared accounts without compromising on security.
Monitoring and auditing every privileged session, whether involving a human or non-human identity
Learn more about BeyondTrust Total Privileged Account and Session Monitoring (PASM), which offers the best-in-class session management across any OS, plus automated privileged asset discovery and onboarding.
FAQs
Database Access Management (DAM) refers to the process by which access to an organization's database is controlled and managed. It includes controls such as an access-control model (e.g., role-based access control, attribute-based access control, policy-based access control), least privilege, and database activity monitoring.
Database access management is important because database privileges often sit close to sensitive records, business systems, and regulated data. With proper access management, teams can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized database activity.
Database access management applies controls to database systems and database-level actions. Data access management is broader and can cover access policies across repositories, applications, files, analytics platforms, cloud storage, and other data locations.
Database access management supports auditability by recording all database activity by session, including who accessed it, the nature of the access, and which actions occurred.
The strongest database access control best practice is to make access specific, time-bound, and reviewable. Teams should avoid broad default permissions, remove unused access, document approval decisions, and verify that database privileges still match each identity’s current role.
Database access management supports least privilege by ensuring that only the right users access the right databases at the right time, and can only take actions that adhere to their roles. It does so through controls such as just-in-time access, session monitoring, and periodic user reviews.
Database access management relates to Privileged Access Management because several PAM best practices apply to managing database access, including discovering and onboarding the privileged accounts / credentials used to access databases, properly managing privileged passwords, and monitoring the privileged sessions that occur within a database.