Re: can I just encrypt tables? what about the app?

On 2/29/2016 3:13 PM, Reindl Harald wrote:
>
>
> Am 29.02.2016 um 20:54 schrieb Gary Smith:
>> On 29/02/2016 19:50, Reindl Harald wrote:
>>>
>>> cryptsetup/luks can achieve that way better
>>>
>> Only to a degree.
>
> no - not only to a degree - when the question is "not store anything
> unencrypted on the disk" the is no degree, but or if
>
>> Once the disk is unencrypted, you've got access to the
>> filesystem. If you've got physical access to the machine, then anything
>> which gives you console access gives you (potentially) access to the
>> underlying database files. If you can get those, it's trivial to get
>> access to the dataset that they contain.
>>
>> However, if TDE is employed, then you've got another significant
>> obstacle to overcome: The data is only encrypted (aiui) once it's in
>> memory. At this point, you're needing to do attacks on RAM to get access
>> to the data - and even then, you're unlikely to get 3 bars for a jackpot
>> payout of the whole database schema, assuming a decent sized database.
>
> in theory
>
> in reality you don't need to hack around in the RAM - mysqld needs to
> have access to key for operate with the data and so you need to find
> only that piece
>
> the same for encryption on the application side before send data to the
> db-layer - see the start and subject of that thread how far people are
> away from understanding how and on what layer things are encrypted and
> what excatly is protected in which context....
>
> there is no "turn this on and you are safe" without deeper understanding
>

Correct. As long as the key and the lock are on the same machine, there 
will be some way of opening that lock. It's just a matter of how hard 
can you make it to find that key. No data is perfectly safe. No crypto 
is unbreakable. Ever.

Maybe the key only exists in memory while the daemon runs? You can hack 
the memory to find the key.

Maybe the key is retrieved from another key service daemon. If you have 
the credentials to impersonate a valid retriever, you are in the money.

The purpose of any encryption system is not to make it impossible to 
read the data. It's purpose is to make it impractically hard for any 
unauthorized parties to read it.

-- 
Shawn Green
MySQL Senior Principal Technical Support Engineer
Oracle USA, Inc. - Integrated Cloud Applications & Platform Services
Office: Blountville, TN

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