How do database pros guard against data breaches? A quick overview of database security essentials: authentication, encryption, user access, and more. Some time ago, I came across WIRED's article on the data breach at Vastaamo, a Finnish mental health provider network. It read like a cyberthriller: someone hacking into a massive database of patients' deepest, darkest secrets and using them to blackmail the company, the individual patients, and the community as a whole.