How secure is a PostgreSQL database if my server is stolen?

Posted by orokusaki on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by orokusaki
Published on 2010-05-12T16:32:36Z Indexed on 2010/05/12 16:34 UTC
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Filed under:

security

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database-security

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database

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cracking

If I have a server with a database if top secret data in PostgreSQL and my password is practically impossible to crack (128 character string of all sorts of weird chars, generated by hand). The server password is also uncrackable in theory (basically, ignore the possibility of a password crack on the DB).

Aside from a password crack, how easy is it to get the data out of this database?

Assumptions:

Only the DB exists on the server. There is no password in a PHP script or anything like that
The person who has the server is a computer / DB / hard-drive recovery expert
I'm not using any hard-drive encryption or anything out of the norm for protection

I'm trying to understand the risks involved with somebody gaining physical access to my server's hard-drives.

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