Microsoft SQL and Oracle Servers Databases open to attack
New research has suggested that thousands of databases could be under threat of security breaches because they lack adequate protection.
Researcher David Litchfield has claimed that as many as half a million database servers have no firewall protection, making them easy prey for hackers to access sensitive information.
Mr Litchfield, who is managing director of NGSSoftware, said in his report into the issue: “There are approximately 368,000 Microsoft SQL Servers… and about 124,000 Oracle database servers directly accessible on the internet.”
Describing the situation as “terrible”, Mr Litchfield urged organisations to tackle poor database security because of the danger and problems it causes for individuals.
He also said that many of the databases were unpatched and commented that the patch levels were “atrocious”.
About 82 per cent of the SQL Server databases that Mr Litchfield studied were using older SQL Server 2000 software, while around 13 per cent of the Oracle servers were running on old versions that did not even receive patches anymore.
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