Organisations must contain millions of data, and database activity monitoring is introduced to monitor these data activities. From access to monitoring, this solution keeps its eye on everything. But why is this monitoring system required? One of the most important resources of an organisation is the “database.” So, it protects your database from cyberattacks.
Furthermore, these resources contain some of the most sensitive and confidential information related to the organisations. Cyberattacks are the most common thing you can see on the internet. According to Forbes reports, in 2023, 2,365 cyberattack cases were registered, with over 343,338,964 victims. So, organisations need to protect and monitor their database and their activity.
What is Database Activity Monitoring?
Database activity monitoring (DAM) is a cybersecurity solution that tracks and analyses an organisation’s data activity. It identifies fraud and illegal data access in a database. It tracks the activities related to sensitive data, such as accessing, copying, and deleting. The database monitoring can record all database transactions, store the data in separate databases, and generate alerts if a violation occurs.
Furthermore, it audits the database activities separately, such as transactions or user activity. It also stores the data under security so that authorisations can access it only. If the violation occurs it alerts the security and hence can be saved from exploitation.
Benefits of Database Activity Monitoring
The solution has many benefits. Not only does it protect the information, but it also monitors the vulnerability of a system. Let’s check out the major benefits:
1. It tracks the database activities in real time, which includes monitoring data access, usage of data copies, and deleting data. It is important to monitor the data because the chances of cyberattacks are high. So, it finds and fixes the vulnerabilities before the attack.
2. It also measures and tracks the database usage and trends. If unusual data usage occurs, forecast the database improvements based on the database trends. With the tool the organisation’s potential outages and issues can be tracked.
3. It allows you to track the performance insight, which can be discussed with the team. It improves collaboration and helps in protecting the organisation’s data from cyber crimes.
4. DAM is useful to prevent data breaches and other malicious activities in the database. With the help of log analysis and database auditing, it protects the database from cyberattacks.
Top 10 Database Activity Monitoring Tools
Here are the top 10 best database activity monitoring tools, that are important for businesses are:
- ManageEngine Applications Manager
- Dynatrace
- Datadog
- SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
- Prometheus
- New Relic Database Monitoring
- AppDynamics Database Monitoring
- SQL Diagnostic Manager
- Foglight for Databases
- Redgate SQL Monitor
What is the Difference Between DLP and DAM?
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a technique that protects an organisation’s sensitive data. Organisations have moved to cloud-based services, so the chances of cyber-attacks increased. Data can be leaked due to configuration errors, so in such situation, DLP works. It not only protects the data from leaking but also protects it from data breaches. DLP is useful for data security.
On the other hand, Data Activity Monitoring (DAM) is a cybersecurity solution which tracks and analyses the data access, copying, and deletion from the database. It captures and records the database in real-time. It also detects unusual and unauthorised activities to protect the database from potential threats. DAM also provides visibility on data usage. With the help of DAM tools, companies cna protect their data from breaching.
How Does Database Activity Monitoring Work?
Database Activity Monitoring is useful for protecting your data and showing its usage. It also allows the control to access the database according to its requirements. The database audit solution depends on its application level, such as the infrastructure or storage level. It monitors the database activity of all types and stores the activity outside the monitoring database.
If any policy breach is identified, an alert will be created. DAM takes the database activities from multiple database management systems. The database administrators control the administrators’ activities and protect the database.
Bottom Line
Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) is an essential cybersecurity tool for organisations. It monitors, analyses, and controls data access, utilisation, and changes. Cyberattacks are rising year after year, and so are prevention methods. DAM and DLP are helpful for the prevention and protection of an organisation’s information.
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