>Hi,
>
>I need to develop a database that contains very confidential information. This data must be accessible to remote sites (using the internet) but must be very secure (it is medical data). I would probably go with SQL Server or POSTGRESQL as the database.
>
>Off the top of my head I see two options for accessing it:
>
>1. database on the web hosted somewhere and web front end to access it. This is probably not very secure.
>
>2. database hosted on company's machine, accessible through a VPN over the internet. Is this more secure?
>
>Are there other options I should consider? Any advice?

If it needs to be secure then I would either choose PostgreSQL or Oracle. SQL Server and MySQL have a lot of security issues.

I would also take a look at Oracle Application Express:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/application_express/index.html

Regards,