This post is my entry for Adam Machanic's T-SQL Tuesday #004, hosted this time by Mike Walsh. I was at the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week discussing database encryption options in SQL Server 2008 and one question seemed to keep coming up. The question concerns FILESTREAM and Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), but first a little ...

I ran into an issue the other day and I needed a solution for automically configuring my SSIS packages from securely stored DBMS connection strings. Problem is that most DBMSs don’t support Integrated Authentication—they require a username and password. Storing the username/password combo in the connection string in plain text is a security risk, ...

The encryption features in SQL Server 2005 and 2008 provide the ability to create asymmetric encryption key pairs (RSA public/private key pairs) using the T-SQL CREATE ASYMMETRIC KEY statement. One feature that was left out, however, is the ability to backup and restore asymmetric key pairs generated on the server. Once an asymmetric key pair has ...

It's well-known by now that SQL Server 2005 and 2008 include new encryption-related statements that allow you to create and administer encryption keys. You can use CREATE CERTIFICATE to create or import a certificate or DROP ASYMMETRIC KEY to remove an asymmetric key from the database, for instance.  One of the interesting ommissions ...