Tag Archives: security

Backing up the Service Master Key

Posted on December 26, 2011 by way0utwest

Making a backup of your Service Master Key (SMK) should be one of the first things that you do if you are enabling encryption. This key encrypts and secures your other keys, and it will be needed when you have … Continue reading →

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Pride and Security

Posted on December 20, 2011 by way0utwest

The weakest link in most security schemes is the human. We know that there are regular breaches of trust by employees, mistakes made (fat fingers, misconfigurations and more), and supposed favors done by someone with trusted access that send data … Continue reading →

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Creating a Service Master Key in SQL Server

Posted on December 19, 2011 by way0utwest

The basis for all the encryption in SQL Server is the Service Master Key, which is the top of the encryption hierarchy. You can see the image below from Books Online of how this is setup. The service master key … Continue reading →

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Be careful with your smartphone

Posted on December 15, 2011 by way0utwest

More and more tech professionals I know are carrying smartphones. There seems to be a split among technical people between iOS, Android, or WP7 platforms, but it seems that all the mobile OSes are extremely handy for system administrators. I … Continue reading →

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