It was late in 2008 and I had been blogging for over a year in my dusty corner of the Internet on various SQL Server topics when an opportunity arose to move my blog to Simple-Talk.com. With this opportunity I decided to focus my blog topic to security of sensitive data which had become a passion of mine. Through this opportunity another was born: to author a book.

Writing a book, technical or otherwise, has been a bucket-list (items to do before I "kick the bucket") item of mine for as long as I can remember. I have attempted to begin the process on various topics throughout the years. Some attempts we no more than an idea scribbled on a napkin; others actually got as far as a first draft of an introduction. There was even a failed attempt to author a fiction novel that would be something similar to the stories written by Dashiell Hammett.

It was early 2009. My latest attempt of fleshing out of a book idea was an outline on the subject of securing sensitive data. This outline had been periodically molded and reshaped over the past year. It was beginning to look somewhat interesting. So much so, I began to seek some advice from other authors in regard to the publishing process. It was through a conversation with Brad McGehee in which I expressed an interest in authoring a book. I mentioned my outline to him and he encouraged me to contact Simple-Talk Publishing to see if they would be interested in pursuing it. To my surprise they were very interested!

With the encouragement from my editor, Tony Davis, and valuable feedback from Brian Kelley the outline was finalized and the writing process began. Over the next six months I spent many hours in the evening and on the weekends researching, writing, scripting and revising. There were times where the sentences flowed like water; other times like molasses. There were chapters submitted for first draft review that were completely re-written on the second draft. There were chapters that were spawned from other chapters and the book was re-organized a time or two. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process.

There were a few versions of the title for my book. Originally, it was the overly lengthy "A Pocket Guide to Protecting Sensitive Data in SQL Server". Later it was shortened to "Protecting Sensitive Data in SQL Server". Some early notifications of my book listed this version of the title. Finally, the search-optimized and more concise "Protecting SQL Server Data" was selected as the final version of the title.

There were a few concepts tossed to-and-fro for the image that would be presented on the cover of the book. Simple-Talk Publishing uses a general theme of images of gates which is a play off of their affiliation with Red Gate Software. An early suggestion that I provided was the ironic image of a man locking a gate while getting pick-pocketed. The wisdom of the artists at Simple-Talk Publishing presented an alternate option of a gate at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. It was an image that was complimentary to the topic. The image to the left is the final cover for my book. It is one in which I am very pleased.

On September 21, 2009 an eBook version of my book will become available for download. Shortly afterwards a hardcopy version on my book will be available at Amazon.com for purchase. It is my hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as I did writing it.

Below is the list of chapters for my book Protecting SQL Server Data:

Chapter 1: Understanding Sensitive Data
Chapter 2: Data Classification and Roles
Chapter 3: Schema Architecture Strategies
Chapter 4: Encryption Basics for SQL Server
Chapter 5: Cell-level Encryption
Chapter 6: Transparent Data Encryption
Chapter 7: One-way Encryption
Chapter 8: Obfuscation
Chapter 9: Honeycombing a Database
Chapter 10: Layering Solutions