Companies have to get more involved in actually encrypting their data before entering it into the database. For every web app I create, especially when sensitive information is exposed, I try to encrypt as much data as possible. With all the leaks and hacks.. it only makes sense to add some encryption method in there.
The real issue is, companies should not touch, and especially not store data unless absolutely necessary, and only store it for as long as it's needed and not longer.
There is a German word for that. Datensparsamkeit.
Actually, and probably for the first time ever, I completely agree with Fowler:
"Datensparsamkeit isn't just about bad people stealing data, it's also about your relationship with the primary company themselves. The default attitude at the moment is that any data you generate is not just freely usable by the capturer but furthermore becomes their valuable commercial property. Privacy advocates, including me, think this assumption needs to be changed. Companies should only capture what they need and the burden of demonstrating need should fall on them. In addition, of course, they must be completely transparent about what they capture, what they store, and who they share their data with."
This, I believe, needs to be enforced by regulations, worldwide. Businesses won't do it themselves, because it's a clear case of conflicting social and monetary interests.
If you do the decryption in your business logic, and store the key separately (Amazon KMS for example), then if somebody hacks the database directly the data is (slightly more) secure.
Agreed though. Encryption is only a stopgap and the DB should never have been public in the first place.
