>>>>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I am wondering if it is a good idea to encrypt user name and email address of users in User and Password Table? Of course, I encrypt password field entry. But I am not sure of what is a good practice with regards to User Name and Email Address columns. TIA for any input.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Probably yes as well - if you don't want spammers to e-mail your users.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>This is a table in SQL Server so no "spammers" will have access to the table. The only people that will see this table (outside of the application) are DBA. And the DBA probably already knows all users user names and emails.
>>>>>
>>>>>You never know who and how can access the data. In other words, the fact you stored your data in the SQL Server doesn't automatically prevent someone from stealing the data. So, if there is a risk of disclosing the data (and the risk always exists) you may want to minimize it by encrypting emails also.
>>>>
>>>>Thank you.
>>>
>>>Check http://forum.lessthandot.com/viewtopic.php?p=60226#p60226
>>>
>>>So far the consensus is to not encrypt emails.
>>
>>Thank you. I will not encrypt email but I am still thinking if I should encrypt user ID (the ID that goes together with Password). The reason I don't think I should encrypt the user ID is that it gets populated in many different tables (not encrypted) anyways so I am seeing not much reason to encrypt it in the Password table.
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>
>>> The reason I don't think I should encrypt the user ID is that it gets populated in many different tables
>
>The user Id is just a key - right ?

No, the user ID is actually a name; something like JOHN SMITH. But this is not a name you would see on email message but a name associated with the password. And as I said, this ID/name gets inserted in many tables as a way to audit trail (track who did what). So encrypting it does not make much sense.