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Open source databases safer than proprietary

Proprietary database servers are almost twice as likely to have suffered a security breach in the last year compared to open source database servers, new research has revealed today.

According to Evans Data's Fall 2005 Database Development Survey, this security advantage has help push up open source database deployments are up more than a fifth in the last six months. The report noted that MySQL use, for example, has increased by more than 25 per cent in six months and is approaching a majority in the database space, with 44 per cent of developers using the open source database.
The most likely security breach for a proprietary database was found to be a network intrusion and, for open source databases, the most likely breach was a user authentication breach. (https://www.evansdata.com/cgi/relocate.php?key=db2005_2_3)
"We continue to see the maturation of open source databases reflected by the continually increasing levels of adoption," said John Andrews, Evans Data's president.
"In a number of our ratings categories, we're seeing open source databases meeting or exceeding proprietary databases."
The October 2005 survey of more than 400 database developers also found that more than 60 per cent of respondents say their company can recover mission-critical data systems in under an hour. One in five said access to the data could be restored in under five minutes. However, 8 per cent admitted it would be more than 12 hours to restore mission-critical data.
The report also found that three out four database developers have mobilisation plans with a third either currently deploying or expecting to deploy mobile database applications within the next six months. Almost 70 per cent of developers indicated that they have plans to deploy embedded databases, while 24 per cent are currently deploying embedded databases.


 

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