How can VIEW be used to provide security layer for your app?

MySQL views can be effectively used as a security layer in applications by providing controlled access to data. Here are several ways in which views contribute to enhancing security:

1. Data Abstraction

A view acts as a virtual table that presents specific data retrieved through a SQL query. By using views, you can restrict the data visible to the end-user, thereby abstracting the underlying database schema. This abstraction helps protect sensitive data because the user does not directly interact with the base tables or see their structure[9].

2. Controlled Data Access

You can design views to show only certain columns from the database tables or to display results of specific queries. For instance, if certain users should only access a subset of data, you can create views that encapsulate the logic to restrict data accordingly. This is particularly useful in multi-user environments where different users have different access rights[4][9].

3. Read-Only Access

Views can be set to be inherently read-only. This means users can query views but cannot use them to insert, update, or delete data directly. This is achieved by creating views with the TEMPTABLE algorithm or by not including any updatable columns in the view. This ensures that operations through the view do not affect the database integrity[1][2].

4. Simplification of Permissions Management

Instead of setting complex permissions on multiple base tables, you can simplify security management by assigning permissions on views. This reduces the complexity of your security model and makes it easier to manage. You can grant a user access to a view without giving them access to the underlying tables[3][5][6].

5. Masking Sensitive Information

Views can be used to mask sensitive information. For example, if you have a table with employee data, you can create a view that excludes sensitive columns like social security numbers or personal contact details. Users querying the view will not be able to see or access the excluded data[4][9].

6. Enforcing Row-Level Security

You can implement row-level security using views by incorporating conditions in the view’s definition that filter data based on user context or attributes. For exam...