SQL For Dummies®, 7th Edition

Chapter 13. Providing Database Security

A system administrator must have special knowledge of how a database works. That's why, in preceding chapters, I discuss the parts of SQL that create databases and manipulate data — and (in Chapter 3) introduce SQL's facilities for protecting databases from harm or misuse. In this chapter, I go into more depth on the subject of misuse — and preventing it by the savvy use of SQL features.

The person in charge of a database can determine who has access to the database — and can set users' access levels, granting or revoking access to aspects of the system. The system administrator can even grant — or revoke — the right to grant and revoke access privileges. If you use them correctly, the security tools that SQL provides are powerful protectors of important data. Used incorrectly, these same tools can tie up the efforts of legitimate users in a big knot of red tape when they're just trying to do their jobs.

Because databases often contain sensitive information that you shouldn't make available to everyone, SQL provides different levels of access — from complete to none, with several levels in between. By controlling which operations each authorized user can perform, the database administrator can make available all the data that the users need to do their jobs — but restrict access to parts of the database that not everyone should see or change.

The SQL Data Control Language

The SQL statements that you use to create databases form a group known as ...