Today, it’s a common practice not to store passwords in plain text in your database. Hashing and salting are relatively simple techniques that help you protect the passwords of your users. But with all the privacy and security regulations, you’re responsible for giving your clients the best possible protection.
Today is pretty standard that you have sensitive data in your database like telephone numbers, email addresses, sometimes credit card numbers or even social security numbers.
You can’t leave those plain text in your database. You want those hidden/encrypted for every database user. You want those encrypted. Also in case of a security breach during an attack you want your data to be protected. You cannot let these values fall into the wrong hands. Luckily Azure SQL has a nice feature called Always Encrypted. Let’s check it out!