Choosing the right database security solution isn’t just about protecting data; it’s about balancing security, compliance, and productivity across complex environments. Whether you’re in security, DevOps, or database administration, the risks are the same: credential sprawl, unmonitored sessions, and sensitive data exposure.
This guide lays out a clear framework for evaluating database security solutions, focusing on the risks they mitigate, the controls they deliver, and the outcomes they enable. From access and auditing to encryption, posture management, and recovery, we’ll highlight the best solutions and how they fit together.
Who This Guide Is For
To help you make informed decisions, we examine the best database security solutions for:
- Security and compliance engineers
- DevOps and platform teams
- Database administrators
- Privileged Access Management (PAM) administrators
- Organizations operating in a multi-cloud, hybrid, or on-premises environment
- Businesses operating under regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, and SOX
How To Choose Database Security Solutions (Evaluation Framework)
We created a scoring rubric with three major categories that decision makers should consider when selecting database security software.
| Primary Risks |
First, we measured database security tools against the biggest security risks:
- Access risks: Credential sprawl, standing privileges, lateral movement
- Operational risks: Unmonitored sessions, misconfigurations
- Data risks: Sensitive data exposure, weak encryption, and poor backup practices
|
| Decision Criteria |
Then, we evaluated the practical factors:
- Coverage: Breadth of supported database types and protocols
- Control: Least privilege, just-in-time (JIT) access, auditability
- Visibility: Data Security Posture Management, such as discovery, clarification, exposure detection, lineage, and redemption
- Performance: Scalability, latency, developer experience
- Governance: Compliance mapping, total cost of ownership (TCO)
|
| Outcome Lens |
Finally, we scored each solution on the outcomes it enables:
- Security: Reduce breach likelihood
- Compliance: Speed audits
- Resilience: Improve mean time to recovery
- Productivity: Unblock engineers with secure access
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Here are the 10 best database security tools to consider.
1. StrongDM: Access and Control Plane for Databases
StrongDM offers comprehensive, privileged access management for databases, powered by fine-grained, dynamic authorization. It serves as an access and control plane for databases that centralizes zero-trust access without exposing credentials to users.
Since it separates authentication from authorization and routing, it enforces least-privilege access with:
- Role-based policies
- Attribute-based policies
- Temporary, JIT access
- Approval workflows
Beyond access and control, StrongDM also offers full session logging and query-level auditing to simplify compliance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
StrongDM’s key capabilities
| Capabilities |
What You Get |
| Control plane architecture |
Brokered connections to ensure users and services never see or handle direct database credentials |
| Fine-grained access |
Enforced least privilege-access at the database, schema, or role level with just-in-time provisioning |
| End-to-end auditing |
Full session replay and query-level logging that provide detailed compliance evidence |
| Broad database support |
Native support for Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, MSSQL, Oracle, Redis, MongoDB, Snowflake, Redshift, and more |
| Enterprise integrations |
Single Sign-On and Multi-Factor Authentication support, plus Policy-as-Code, and Terraform for seamless workflows |
| High availability |
Built-in redundancy and low-latency routing for reliable global access |
Use case: How Axos Financial secured and streamlined database access with StrongDM
Axos Financial, a fast-growing digital bank, faced the challenge of managing 200,000+ database permissions annually. Each technical hire required access to approximately 50 different databases, resulting in significant administrative overhead.
The digital bank deployed StrongDM’s control plane and centralized all requests into a single, role-based workflow. This new solution eliminated direct credential exposure and offered a unified audit trail for compliance. The burden of manual approval dropped significantly, as SVP Raghu Valipireddy explains:
“New users don’t even need to enter a password because it is AD (Active Directory) authenticated. So, once they log into the computer, they can interact with databases.”
2. Secrets Management Database Security Tools (for Apps and Services)
A secrets manager is the system of record for non-human credentials: database usernames/passwords, API keys, TLS certs, SSH keys, OAuth tokens, signing keys, and cloud credentials. It stores, generates, distributes, rotates, and revokes those secrets with auditability and policy.
Examples: HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, Google Secret Manager.
Why it matters
Without a dedicated secrets layer, credentials end up hard-coded in repos, baked into images, sprinkled across CI variables, and shared in tickets/chats—leading to:
- Secret sprawl and copy-paste reuse across services
- Stale, never-rotated credentials
- No visibility into who/what used a secret and when
A secrets manager centralizes lifecycle (create → use → rotate → revoke) and gives you forensics and control.
How StrongDM complements it: Apps obtain ephemeral secrets via a secrets manager; humans access via StrongDM, removing shared credentials from wikis/CI logs.
3. Key Management and Encryption Solutions
A Key Management Service (KMS) is a specialized system that centralizes and secures the lifecycle of encryption keys used to protect data. Instead of scattering keys across systems, a KMS provides centralized, encrypted storage to keep data encrypted at rest and in transit.
Examples: AWS KMS, Google Cloud KMS, Azure Key Vault (KMS), Thales CipherTrust
Why It Matters
Databases hold highly sensitive information, and encryption only works as well as the key behind it. A KMS offers a centralized way to:
- Encrypt data at rest with strong managed keys
- Use customer-managed keys (CMKs) to maintain control over sensitive workloads
- Apply envelope encryption for layered protection and easier key rotation
- Maintain a detailed log for compliance and audits
How StrongDM complements it: KMS encrypts database data, while StrongDM governs and audits access. Even if your database ever got compromised, KMS-encrypted data remains protected, and access is traceable to specific users.
4. Data Discovery, Classification, and Masking Tools
Data discovery, classification, and masking tools scan your database to identify sensitive data. Once identified, they will classify the data according to its sensitivity and apply masking or row-level security policies.
Examples: BigID, Immuta, OneTrust, Privacera
Why It Matters
You can’t protect what you can’t see. Without automated discovery and classification, sensitive fields remain hidden in sprawling datasets and create risks such as:
- Blind spots in compliance reporting
- Analysts running queries against unmasked raw data
- Exposure of sensitive values during testing or analytics
A discovery and masking tool centralizes visibility and control. You can identify sensitive data in your database, such as personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), or Payment Card Industry (PCI) data. You can then enforce masking so that teams can run queries and analytics without exposing raw values.
How StrongDM complements it: Discovery and masking tools define what data users can see, while StrongDM governs who can access the databases in the first place. Together, they minimize accidental exposure and enable secure, data-driven work.
5. Database Activity Monitoring and Threat Analytics
Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) tools provide continuous visibility into how your database is being utilized. They capture and analyze SQL activity to flag suspicious behavior and generate compliance-ready audit reports.
Examples: IBM Guardium, Imperva DAM, Oracle Audit Vault
Why It Matters
Without DAM, risky behaviors can go unnoticed until after a breach. A DAM solution lets you:
- Monitor SQL in real-time so you can spot insider threats and compromised accounts
- Detect anomalies from unusual query patterns before they escalate
- Generate compliance-ready audit trails
How StrongDM complements it: DAM software monitors database activity, but its accuracy relies on identity context. StrongDM ties every query and session to a verified user, enriching DAM logs with precision.
6. SIEM and Observability
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and observability platforms centralize security and operations telemetry across your company's infrastructure. They ingest logs, metrics, and traces to provide a comprehensive view of activity across your infrastructure.
Examples: Splunk, Datadog, Elastic SIEM, Sumo Logic
Why It Matters
Investigating database anomalies and proving compliance requires the right telemetry. SIEM and observability tools help you:
- Correlate logs from multiple systems to detect threats faster
- Centralize StrongDM audit logs with database telemetry to correlate alerts across your entire infrastructure
- Simplify compliance reporting with standardized audit trails
How StrongDM complements it: SIEMs analyze the data you feed them. StrongDM ties every activity to a verified user, enriching database telemetry and making it easier to investigate suspicious activity. This identity-bound logging enhances SIEM to support UEBA and streamlines compliance reporting.
7. Cloud Security Posture and Vulnerability Management
Cloud Security Posture and Vulnerability Management tools scan your database and cloud setup for vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit. They look for insecure configurations or risky network paths so you can fix them before they become a problem.
Examples: Wiz, Palo Alto Prisma Cloud, Lacework, Qualys DB scanning, Rapid7
Why It Matters
Even with airtight access control, a misconfigured or unpatched database remains exposed. Cloud security posture and vulnerability management help you:
- Find misconfigurations that leave databases exposed
- Identify known common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) in the database engine before malicious actors can exploit them
- Reduce the overall attack surface and strengthen compliance
How StrongDM complements it: Cloud security posture and vulnerability management tools show you where the risks are, while StrongDM controls who can reach the database. Paired, you get secure access and visibility into vulnerabilities.
8. Backup, Disaster Recovery, and Ransomware Resilience
Backup and disaster recovery (DR) solutions give your database a safety net. They protect against ransomware and catastrophic failure by ensuring you can quickly restore data to a known good state.
Examples: Veeam, Rubrik, AWS Backup, Azure Backup
Why It Matters
Without resilient backups, a single accidental deletion, system failure, or ransomware attack could permanently wipe critical data, which can impact your company’s operations. Backup and DR tools provide:
- Point-in-time recovery to roll back to safe states
- Immutable backups that attackers can’t alter
- Automated restore testing to validate recoverability
- Ransomware detection to spot malicious activities early
How StrongDM complements it: While StrongDM secures and audits database access, backup and resilience tools ensure you can recover if things go wrong. Paired with StrongDM, backup and resilience tools provide both prevention and recovery. Together, you get a security posture built on the principle of “assume breach” and the confidence to prove recoverability when it matters most.
9. Data Loss Prevention and Tokenization
DLP and tokenization tools prevent sensitive information from leaving controlled environments and substitute high-risk values with secure placeholders. Tokenization prevents the exposure of raw sensitive fields like card numbers or PHI in downstream systems while DLP blocks attempt to exfiltrate that data.
Examples: Symantec DLP, Protegrity, Voltage SecureData
Why It Matters
Without DLP and tokenization, sensitive data can leak through exports or compromised queries. DLP tools:
- Block unauthorized transfers of regulated data outside of the database
- Replace raw values with tokens for safer use in analytics and testing
- Reduce exposure when sharing data across systems or environments
How StrongDM complements it: StrongDM restricts access, while DLP and tokenization govern what can be accessed or transferred outside your database. Together, they enforce least privilege at the identity and data level to minimize chances of leaks.
10. Database-Native Security Features
Modern databases feature built-in controls. From Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption and native role management to row-level security, you can enable and configure these features as part of your database security strategy.
| Database Type |
TLS Encryption |
Native Roles |
Row-Level Security |
IAM Integration |
Audit Logs |
| Postgres |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| MySQL |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Limited |
| MSSQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Oracle |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| AWS RDS / Redshift |
Yes |
Yes |
Depends on the engine |
Yes |
Yes |
| Azure SQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| GCP Cloud SQL / BigQuery |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited |
Yes |
Yes |
How StrongDM complements it: While each database provides its native set of security features, the challenge lies in standardization. StrongDM eliminates silos and unifies access on top of these native controls, giving you a consistent, standardized way to enforce least privilege access without sacrificing native controls.
The Modern Database Security Reference Architecture
Beyond a set of point tools, a complete database security strategy involves an integrated architecture where each layer reinforces the other. At the center of a database security strategy is an access platform, such as StrongDM. It brokers both human and service access to enforce least privilege and create consistent control across all databases.
Around the access software, you have several solutions to create a well-rounded security model:
- Secrets/KMS
- Data discovery/classification and masking
- DAM
- SIEM/observability
- Posture and Vulnerability Management
- Backup, recovery, and ransomware resiliency
- DLP/tokenization (where needed)
Implementation Roadmap (90-Day Plan)
How do you implement database security solutions?
| Phase |
Days |
Key Steps |
| 1. Access baseline with StrongDM |
0-15 |
- Inventory DBs.
- Map teams and roles.
- Migrate human access to StrongDM.
- Disable shared credentials.
|
| 2. Logging and SIEM |
15-30 |
- Stream StrongDM query and session logs to SIEM.
- Define alerts for suspicious activities.
|
| 3. Secrets and KMS |
30-60 |
- Move app creds to secrets manager or vault.
- Enable CMKs for critical data stores.
|
| 4. Data governance and DAM |
60-90 |
- Implement data discovery and masking.
- Enable DAM on crown-jewel DBs.
- Tune alerts.
- Test backup immutability and recovery.
|
Policy and Control Mapping (Compliance Quick-Wins)
Compliance is a huge part of database security. Some quick practices will align your strategy with the most common compliance standards.
PCI DSS
Enforce strong authentication and least privilege across all users. Segment network and enable Logging (10.x) to monitor activity. While at it, implement Key Management (3.x) for sensitive data.
HIPAA
Apply access control (§164.312) and maintain audit trails. Protect data integrity and secure transmission to safeguard patient information.
SOX/ISO/NIST
Enforce separation of duties and strict change controls. Maintain auditability and prepare for incident response to meet regulatory standards.
StrongDM, combined with complementary tools, can generate audit artifacts on demand to simplify reporting.
Common Pitfalls (and How To Avoid Them)
Understanding common database security mistakes can help you avoid them:
- Relying on VPNs or bastions without identity-bound auditing can leave access untracked. Always tie sessions to individual identities and monitor them.
- Standing DB credentials lingering in wikis/CI logs create hidden risks. Move all secrets to a centralized secret manager and rotate them regularly.
- Inconsistent policies across DB engines lead to gaps. Standardize access and security policies across all platforms.
- Logs are generated but scattered or ignored. Centralize them in a SIEM and review regularly to detect suspicious activity.
- Skipping restore rehearsals risks untested backups. Schedule regular recovery drills to validate backup integrity and procedures.
How StrongDM Ties It All Together
Database security isn’t solved by a single tool—it’s an ecosystem. Secrets managers protect non-human credentials. Key management services lock down encryption keys. Discovery and masking tools safeguard sensitive data. DAM and SIEM platforms monitor usage and feed audit evidence. Backup, DLP, and posture management tools reduce operational and compliance risks.
But stitching these solutions together still leaves a critical gap: who can actually reach the database, when, and under what conditions. That’s where StrongDM becomes the connective layer.
As the unified access and control plane, StrongDM centralizes how humans and services connect to databases. It enforces least privilege with role- and attribute-based policies, brokers just-in-time access with ephemeral credentials, and captures every query and session for complete accountability. And because it integrates with your existing IdP, ITSM, SIEM, and secrets tools, StrongDM doesn’t replace your ecosystem; it makes it work as a cohesive, auditable whole.
With StrongDM, organizations reduce credential sprawl, eliminate standing access, and simplify compliance while keeping engineers productive. It’s the foundation that ties your entire database security architecture together.
Ready to see how StrongDM can unify and simplify your database security? Book a demo today.
