Alliance Key Manager supports Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) in Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Standard Edition. 

Townsend Security today announced Alliance Key Manager, its affordable FIPS 140-2 compliant encryption key manager, supports Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Standard Edition.  Users of Microsoft SQL Server Standard Edition can now easily meet compliance (PCI DSS, GDPR, CCPA, etc.) and protect private data like customer PII and intellectual property without modifying existing applications or the database.  By using the database’s Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), coupled with Townsend Security’s Alliance Key Manager for SQL Server, organizations can protect their private data at a lower cost.

Alliance Key Manager, a FIPS 140-2 compliant encryption key management solution, allows enterprises to effectively encrypt data and meet security requirements in less time with a flexible, centralized offering. The solution provides full life-cycle management of encryption keys for a wide variety of applications, including Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise and Standard editions.

“We were pleased to see Microsoft announced that SQL Server 2019 Standard Edition would support TDE and EKM, bringing encryption and proper key management without application changes to their popular Standard Edition. By lowering the technical and financial bar to protecting private data, companies of all sizes can easily protect private information,” said Patrick Townsend, Founder and CEO of Townsend Security.  “Since the initial release of TDE and EKM in Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise ten years ago, we have been proud to offer an affordable, industry leading solution - and now extend that to SQL Server Standard users.”

Microsoft SQL Server users can deploy Alliance Key Manager as a hardware security module (HSM), VMware virtual machine, or in the cloud as a native AWS EC2 instance or Microsoft Azure virtual machine. Alliance Key Manager supports seamless migration and hybrid implementations, providing Enterprise’s with options for their high availability strategy. 

“By providing both on-premise and cloud solutions, Enterprise's can easily rely on a centralized key manager to protect their data regardless of where it resides or will in the future. Further, while key management solutions offered by CSPs provide convenience, they leave an organization’s encryption keys accessible to third-party administrators - increasing the risk to their security posture,” continued Townsend. “Our simplified licensing model that avoids charging by the number of endpoint databases and number of keys, makes the upgrade to SQL Server 2019 Standard Edition a no-brainer for many Microsoft users. Microsoft has really done well by its customers.”

Alliance Key Manager for SQL Server is available for a free 30-day evaluation.