Database Security: Application Access Assessment

Most users do not access a database by directly logging into the database system.

Instead they access the database through an application program.

A simple tool, known as a security (or CRUD) matrix can be used to explicitly identify the required access rights needed by an application program.

Specifically, the security matrix provides a visual depiction of the correlation between the operations or authorizations needed for database objects and input/output sources such as forms and reports.

Operations depicted in a security matrix include Select, Create (insert), Update,and Delete.

The top row of the matrix lists database table objects.

Application programs are listed in the left-most column.

The letters C, R, U, D are placed in intersecting cells to identify the type of access required by a particular program.

Any given cell may contain any combination of these letters or none at all.

An empty cell denotes that a program does not need access to the intersecting table.

Conversely, a cell with all four letters, CRUD, needs full access to the table.