• TDE is entire database encryption. Transparent encryption, data encrypted on disk, decrypted in memory. It protects against the theft of the data files or the backups. It doesn't protect columns.

    To encrypt a column, you want to use the encryption functions, like EncryptByKey and DecryptByKey when you're inserting/updating/deleting data.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

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