If you’re working on securing data then this Article should give you a good general understanding. I chose to write it as a checklist. This can obviously be used for both, assessing the current data security situation as well as implementing data security measures, step by step.

We’re using these exact steps to secure the data for large Enterprise clients in different industries with high security needs such as health care and finance.

If you’ve worked as a DBA or SysAdmin in a heavily regulated environment, you’re probably familiar with required, regular security assessments. This checklist is also part of our security assessment though there are different routes to achieve specific points… so this isn’t the only way but we found it to be a good way so it will probably work for you, too.

Disclaimer: We’re not responsible for your results implementing data security following our checklist. If you want us to be responsible, you could hire us to do it for you ;-)… anyways, here’s the step-by-step checklist:

1. Determine what Data Needs to Be Encrypted:

• Identify the columns or tables in your SQL Server database that contain sensitive data 

(Personally Identifiable Information (PII), credit card numbers, passwords…)

2. Choose  and combine the Appropriate Encryption Algorithms:

• Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to encrypts the entire database files at rest 
• Cell-Level Encryption where appropriate 
• Always Encrypted ensuring that data remains encrypted during transmission, storage, and processing. Provide functions to your dev team. 
• Ensure Transport Layer Security (TLS) for data in transit (SSL/TLS) 

3. Implement Transparent Data Encryption (TDE):

• Create a master key.
• Create or import a certificate.
• Enable TDE on the database.
• Back up the certificate and private key.
• Implement fine-grained, Column-Level or Cell-Level Encryption and provide the necessary Encryption functions and keys 

4. Use Always Encrypted for Client-Side Encryption:

• sensitive data is encrypted by the client application before it reaches the SQL Server 
• Prevents insider threats even dbas cannot access plaintext data.

5. Ensure Proper Access Controls:

• Only authorized users and applications have access to the decryption keys. We’ll check and adjust your SQL Server’s role-based security and permissions to control access to encrypted data.

6. Ensure Secure Communication with TLS/SSL:

• Check and test that Encryption is properly configured for data in transit (SQL Server uses TLS/SSL for communication between server and clients) 

7. Update and Patch SQL Server:

• Make sure that your SQL Server installation is up to date with the latest security patches and updates to address potential vulnerabilities. 

8. Audit and Monitor Encryption:

• Implement auditing and monitoring solutions to track and detect any suspicious activities related to data encryption. Monitor the performance impact of encryption and adjust as needed.

9. Backup and Recovery Considerations:

• Go over your backup and recovery strategies and make sure that they are adjusted to cover the requirements for encrypted data. This will include, among other things, backing up encryption keys securely to avoid data loss. 

10. Documentation and Compliance:

• Create documentation of your encryption strategy and ensure that it complies with relevant regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).

I hope this checklist helps you. If you’d like help or someone to double-check your work, please get in touch now via our contact page or by booking a consulting package (or data security package) from our products and services pages.

In any case I wish you nothing but success in your task of securing the data!