Will McAfee's push for better database security prompt other firms to enhance their offering as well? We can only hope the arms race steps up. Recall that in its pursuit of an end-to-end security solution, Intel's McAfee has purchased database security and compliance firm Sentrigo for an undisclosed amount.

McAfee had been selling Sentrigo solutions under an OEM agreement for about six months, and liked what it saw. Customers were apparently quite responsive, underscoring the demand for such security. The Sentrigo firm now reports to the McAfee Risk & Compliance business unit, headed by Stuart McClure, senior vice president and general manager.

The deal enhances McAfee's marketing story when it comes to cloud-based database security as well as compliance, auditing, reporting and other aspects of IT GRC.

With adoption of cloud services ramping up, database security in general has become an even bigger issue. As if to underscore the point, Expedia-owned Trip Advisor announced that its databases were recently breached, allowing hackers to steal email addresses of customers. No PII appears to have been taken, but this is certainly cause for concern.

Firms across the board are concerned about SQL injection attacks among other possible hacker techniques. Oracle and IBM are among the large vendor companies that offer services in this area.

Sentrigo hopes its vPatch will make an even bigger splash.

For more:
- here's a Database Journal article
- here's the release

Related Articles:
Database security a brewing crisis?
Hackers step up attacks on security firms
IBM purchases database security vendor