pretty excited with the new MYSQL integration but i have similar doubts like OP. With a remote connection to the server ,we can implement a simple Licence check using the database command. bot will send a request to db and checks if user is valid. But is it safe to do something like this ? Ubot team have definately taken security into consideration while developing a feature like this. ,Maybe someone from the dev team clarify this or provide some input to securely communicate with remote server using DB commands. If people have any other advices on securing the remote DB connection ,