Encryption In Transit Using Transport Layer Security

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss using Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt data in transit. When we talk about encryption in transit, we are talking about encrypting data as it is transferred across the network from one machine to another. This is an important aspect of encryption to implement as unencrypted data could be intercepted. The so-called “man in the middle” attack is an example of this, where an attacker might position themselves in the middle of the communication between an application and SQL Server, perhaps impersonating a network router, in order to intercept messages passed between the two. In addition to data, this would also include queries passed, which would give the attacker information about the database design that could allow them to fashion further attacks.