What security benefits are provided by using stored procedures to access data?

Question

I have seen some guidance which recommends that you secure a database by layering all data access through stored procedures.

I know that for SQL Server, you can secure t

Answer 1

In most (all?) RDBMS's you can 'GRANT' access on specific tables to specific users. A stored procedure can run as a different user, one with greater access. But the Stored procedure is not the same as giving access to the whole table, rather it could first check some things and only return rows that match your particular security concerns.

You might be able to do similar checks with a view but stored procedures are usually much more flexible since they can run almost any SQL - compare the results and decide what rows to return.