MySQL's lighter-weight database system may also fit into Sun's ambitions of becoming a major player in "utility computing, " a model of information technology infrastructure that pipes in software applications, processing and storage over the Internet rather than from a company's own data centers.

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Over time, cost pressure has led the IT organizations to consider open source for mission critical components such as database management systems (mySQL) or the operating system itself (Linux).

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Imagine if the problem had been first identified in November via a process to audit related systems based on the one reported intrusion into the internal chat application, or if an intrusion detection system had started firing red based on the exfiltration of their entire MySQL database.

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