MySql and security

[cyclic]

I am considering moving an offline database to my server which is shared. The database has customers' details and stock levels but nothing more commercially sensitive.

I want to do this so my client has access from any of his three branches. Is this a good idea or does it have serious security implications?

[bastien]

sure, your server might not be up to date with new security patches, there might be holes in your code that can be xploited to allow hackers to access/change data...

you might conisder using only ssl to connect to the database online, using login, passwords, cookies and tracking the IP of the user, logging the user activities, etc

[Tracer]

I have been trying to do this for some time...My problem however is that while I have a MySQL 4.0.13 server compiled with openssl running on a linux box...The box serving out PHP is on a windows machine...Unfortunately, all windows versions of PHP are compiled against the MySQL 3.x API's so you can't use SSL....

If anyone knows differently, please let me know!