Database (DB): what it is and how it is attacked
Stores the organised information an application depends on.
Also known as
- DB
- SQL server
- data store
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It is usually the thing an attacker actually came for, and the thing a regulator will ask about.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Queries built from untrusted input
- Backups readable by people who cannot read the live database
What reduces it
- Use parameterised queries, so untrusted input is bound as a value and never becomes part of the query text. Table and column names cannot be parameterised, so those need an allow-list
- Protect backups with the same controls as the live data, since they hold the same content
- Record reads, not only changes, or the size of a loss cannot be established afterwards
Where it sits
- Group
- Servers · Machines that run something for other machines.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- database
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in servers
- Serverhost · machineA computer that runs something for other computers.
- Web serverHTTP server · websiteThe computer that sends your website to anybody who visits it.
- Application serverbackend · business logic tierRuns the working parts of an application, behind the website.
- Mail serveremail server · Exchange · SMTPSends, receives and stores the organisation's email.
- Name serverDNS · domain name serverTranslates names like example.com into network addresses.
- File serverSMB server · network shareHolds shared documents everyone can reach over the network.
- Virtual machine hosthypervisor · ESXi · Hyper-VOne physical server pretending to be many.
- Jump hostbastion · jump box · hardened admin hostThe single controlled machine administrators go through to reach sensitive systems.
- Backup serverbackup · Veeam · backup controllerMakes and manages the spare copies of your data that let you recover after something goes wrong.
- Update serverWSUS · patch server · software distributionDistributes software updates to every machine.
- Build pipelineCI/CD · Jenkins · GitHub ActionsThe automated production line that turns written code into the software the business actually runs.
- Phone systemVoIP · PBX · telephony serverRuns the organisation's telephone calls over the network.
The servers group lists all 13 of them side by side.
Database on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type DB. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker