Managing network security

Security is a complex thing and we have to approach this topic systematically to ensure success. One of the key aspects is network security, which is the first topic we want to focus on. However, before we dive head-on into network security, it makes sense to find a mental model to handle PostgreSQL security in general.

Here is my personal mental model, which has served me well over the years:

• Bind addresses: listen_addresses in the postgresql.conf file
• Host-based access control: The pg_hba.conf file
• Instance-level permissions: Users, roles, database creation, login, and replication
• Database-level permissions: Connecting, creating schemas, and more
• Schema-level permissions: Using a schema and creating objects inside a schema
• Table-level permissions: Selecting, inserting, updating, and more
• Column-level permissions: Allowing or restricting access to columns
• RLS: Restricting access to rows

In order to read a value...