Search code examples
sql-servertde

Can I dump memory to get decrypted data that encrypted with TDE in SQL Server?

I want to know how much data is secured in SQL Server that enabled TDE. I read some articles about TDE in SQL Server like https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb934049.aspx

Note that this part:

Encryption of the database file is performed at the page level. The pages in an encrypted database are encrypted before they are written to disk and decrypted when read into memory.

Does this mean if I dump the SQL Server memory, I can access decrypted data? If somebody just runs select statement on some table, can I dump the whole table data?

Solution

  • TDE encrypts data at rest, not in motion. Both a memory dump or select statement will return clear data.