Database software like Microsoft Access?

I have a database of client information, which is quite valuable to us. My business is going to be using an out of office third-party who will need to use this database. Currently we have it just stored in Excel - so we don't want to just hand it over to them in this format since they can easily copy it.

I've worked with Microsoft Access in the past and know that I can at least make it a bit difficult for them to entirely copy the database - and to make it at least secure.

Are there any good database programs I should be looking at? Hopefully there's something really simple that I can just build a template and feed in the CSV file. It would be also ideal if the database can be exported onto the web, so the database isn't physically on their machine.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

I was thinking I could create a separate App that just had a database interface with limited privileges (such as no export). I'm sure I could do something similar with Access.

Though I think I'll just go down the route of publishing the database on the web for now.

It's also quite easy to form an understanding of trust between external companies, but so many things can and do go wrong. Our database has quite a high monetary value and for us to just hand it over in a raw format is not something we want to do, hence my exploration for secure alternatives.