Understanding the Security Measures in Power BI's Connection to Microsoft SQL Server

[manoj_0911]

Dear Power BI Community,

I'm currently exploring the process of connecting Power BI to a Microsoft SQL Server database and would like to gain insights into the security measures and data protection mechanisms involved.

Could you please provide a detailed explanation of the steps involved in establishing a connection between Power BI and SQL Server, highlighting the security protocols and data encryption methods utilized to safeguard sensitive information during transit and at rest?

Additionally, I'm interested in learning about any best practices or recommendations for ensuring secure data access and user authentication within Power BI when accessing SQL Server data.

Your expertise and insights into the security aspects of this integration would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your valuable contributions.

Best regards,
Manoj Prabhakar

[v-huijiey-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @manoj_0911 ,

First, the steps to establish a connection between Power BI and SQL Server:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and navigate to the Get Data option.

2. Select "SQL Server" as the data source.

3. Enter the Server Name and optionally a specific database name.

4. For Authentication, choose between Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication.

Windows Authentication uses the current Windows user credentials, while SQL Server Authentication requires the username and password to be set in SQL Server.

5. Once connected, you can select data to import into Power BI for reports.

If you want to learn more about connecting to SQL Server, check out the following documentation:

Tutorial: Connect to on-premises data in SQL Server - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Second, security protocols and data encryption methods that protect sensitive information during transmission and at rest:

All data requested and transferred by Power BI uses the HTTPS protocol.

By default, Power BI uses Microsoft-managed keys to encrypt data at rest.

Finally, recommendations for ensuring secure data access and user authentication in Power BI when accessing SQL Server data are:

Implement row-level security (RLS) in Power BI Desktop to control access to data based on user roles. This ensures that users only see the data they have permission to see.

Assign roles in the Power BI Service is workspace to manage who has permission to edit or view content securely.

If you want to learn more about RLS, check out the following documentation:

Row-level security (RLS) with Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me.

Best Regards,
Yang
Community Support Team

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