Microsoft secures SQL Server 2008 R2

NEW DELHI: SafeNet, Inc., a player in information security, announced that its Luna SA and Luna PCI Hardware Security

Modules (HSM) help secure Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. The SafeNet HSMs work with the database management system to provide organizations with a highly secure platform for storing and managing sensitive data. This combination delivers enhanced cryptography and encryption as well as high-speed and seamless installation.

The integration, as per a press release, of SafeNet’s Luna SA with SQL Server 2008 R2 allows storage of the server’s master cryptographic keys - the foundation of any robust security solution - and provides greater application security and performance by separating select key management functionality. When embedded directly into the database server, the Luna PCI provides added security, as well as accelerated cryptographic performance and CPU offload.

“SafeNet’s Luna SA and Luna PCI provide organizations using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 with additional security features to help meet today’s ever-evolving data threats and compliance mandates,” said Rana Gupta,

Director, India & SAARC, SafeNet India. “Organizations can add a layer of security technology that helps protect keys to be separate from the data it protects while accelerating complex features such as key rotation.”

In addition to providing greater security, the updated technology will allow many end users to meet compliance regulations, battle e-privacy issues, and operate more efficiently and at a lower cost.

Luna EKM, which is used to set up Extensible Key Management (EKM) for SQL Server 2008 R2. The Luna EKM Configuration Utility allows the flexibility to set parameters required by the EKM module and allows for the encryption of

data using encryption keys on the external Luna EKM module.

The relationship with Microsoft dates back to the development of the Luna HSM. This latest collaboration continues the strong history of working together to provide more secure products and operating environments.

“In some performance testing, I found the Luna SA hardware implementation was able to decrypt data that was a previously encrypted with a 2048 Bit RSA key over 200 times faster than the CryptoAPI software implementation in

Microsoft SQL Server,” stated Michael Coles, Microsoft SQL Server MVP and consultant.