Encryption of the whole database

Hello
I just want make sure: There is no encryption of the whole database.
I assume this, because I have found only the themes "encryption for connections" and "encrypted columns"

Why this question:

A lot of customer ask for this (maybe without further knowledge) We've got a merge replication with offline laptops.
So, if one of this laptops get lost, it would calm people if the data were encrypted.

I'd be very thankful for a fast reply, as my boss is in a meeting with such customers.

Kind regards
Aline

Hi

I'm no expert but I havent heard of encryption for whole DB eitheir (at least not for sql server). It would be quite useless since usuallye there is no need to encrypt everyting just some part of database (like card numbers or something).

The laptop thing: well if the one who steals your laptop dosent have login name and password he wont be able to connect directly to db anyway (but there ofcourse are other ways of getting data from db). Still if data is encyrpted with strong password it would make pretty hard for someone to get the encrypted data even if he or she has login name and password.

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Basic issue is this: IF someone has the laptop, even if the database is encrypted, the encryption keys are on the laptop (or else the laptop user would not be able to access the database.)

You CAN encrypt a database in one of several methods, for example, using Windows EFS.

You should investigate the newer laptops where there is encryption for the entire hard drive. So even if the hard drive was moved to another computer, it would not be useable.

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Hi Aline,

Although this feature is not included in SQL Server 2005, we are planning on including full database encryption in the next release. Please let me know if you have any further questions and I would be happy to try and answer them for you.

Thanks,

Sung