Encryption - importing keys

Is it possible to load data into MSSQL 2005 that has been encrypted externally with a symmetric key algorithm, such as AES, and then import the key to SQL Server? After browsing through Books Online, I don't see any way to import a symmetric key from an external file, but maybe I'm missing something.

No, at this time, it is not possible to do that. You would have to decrypt the data and then encrypt it again using SQL Server's encryption functions.

Thanks
Laurentiu

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If your primary concern is protecting data in transit, you should be able to use SSL to accomplish this:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189067.aspx

Sung