Richard Macaskill shows how to use Docker Compose to get SQL Data Catalog up and running in a container, in your SQL Server test lab, and then use it to evaluate its data discovery and categorization capabilities on a containerized SQL Server instance. Read more
This article will explain how to import the data classification metadata for a SQL Server database into Data Masker, providing a masking plan that you can use to ensure the protection of all this data. By applying the data masking operation as part of an automated database provisioning process, you make it fast, repeatable and... Read more
If you plan to make production data available for development and test purposes, you'll need to understand which columns contain personal or sensitive data, create a data catalog to record those decisions, devise and implement a data masking, and then provision the sanitized database copies. Richard Macaskill show how to automate as much of... Read more
Faced with the new challenges of data protection – and increased levels of oversight – many of us working with SQL Server have come to the same conclusion. Quite simply, the column names and free text descriptions available to us to describe the data in our care (or data-containing artefacts like columns, tables and... Read more
I’ve read a lot about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) because I’m interested in it both from a professional and personal perspective. I’ve been working with data, as an IT manager in financial services and as a product manager in a data software company, for over 20 years and in many ways the... Read more
If you’ve read anything about the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you’ll probably have seen the phrase Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) used. It’s similar to the current Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) already in place in countries like the UK and a DPIA is expected to address four areas: A description of the... Read more
SQL Clone 2.4 incorporates a new T-SQL script runner that the team can use to mask sensitive or personal data, or to modify security and other configuration settings, prior to creating a clone. Read more
Updated November 2018 GDPR is here. Initially the articles leading up to the law were industry-focused, talking about the affect it would have on companies and organizations that gather, hold and process data. I also wrote about why DBAs should care about it, and advised that you should start your GDPR journey beforehand by... Read more
Updated November 2018 You’ve no doubt heard at least something about the GDPR, the EU’s new privacy and Data Management law with its greatly increased maximum fines for non-compliance and tighter definitions for acceptable use of personal information. It came into effect in May 2018. If you’ve continued reading past paragraph one of any... Read more
Richard Macaskill describes a lightweight copy-and-generate approach for making a sanitized database build available to development teams, using SQL Clone, SQL Change Automation and SQL Data Generator. Read more
Compliant Database DevOps
Standardize team-based development
Automate database deployments
Monitor performance and availability
Optimize test data management
Richard Macaskill