If you want read/write access you will have to connect to the database through secure channel
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/secure-connections.htmlthe other solution (which I recommend but don't require)
is to provide direct read only access to the data
data modification is possible but indirect way, here is how it work
1. when someone try to modify/add to the database, your application create an sql file that (when executed) will apply the changes to the database
2. this sql file will be upload to an ftp directory
3. then an admin (anyone who you can trust) should review them first and then decide whether to apply or discard those files