Emerging Trends in Database Security: Evolving Threats and Advanced Mitigation Strategies

Cloud configuration errors, ransomware, and insider threats are all becoming more and more of a problem for database security, which raises operational and financial risks. Despite improvements, vulnerabilities still exist because of complex data systems and changing cyberthreats. In addition to analysing mitigation techniques like post-quantum cryptography, AI-driven anomaly detection, and zero-trust architectures, this review looks at new threats to database security. Utilizing research articles from Google Scholar, Scopus, ResearchGate, IEEE, and reports released by the US Government, Microsoft, IBM, and Verizon between 2015 and 2024, a thorough literature review was carried out. The study classifies six major threats, noting that ransomware attacks was increased by 30% in 2024 and that 25% of breaches were caused by cloud misconfigurations. With a 15–30 day reduction in breach detection times, AI-based security solutions have shown promise. The results highlight the need for multi-layered security architectures that incorporate proactive risk management, encryption, and artificial intelligence. To improve database security resilience, future research should concentrate on adversarial AI threats and quantum-resistant cryptography.