What you'll learn

Upgrading to SQL Server 2025 introduces significant changes to encryption defaults, authentication behavior, and access control surfaces — changes that can silently break existing applications or expose compliance gaps if you don't know where to look.

In this course, Security and Compliance in SQL Server 2025, you'll gain the ability to configure and validate a production-ready security baseline mapped to real compliance frameworks.

First, you'll explore how SQL Server 2025's secure configuration profile changes encryption-in-transit defaults, how TDS 8.0 and TLS 1.3 work, and how to troubleshoot and evidence connectivity compliance using DMVs and logs.

Next, you'll discover how to harden authentication and access control by differentiating logins from user surfaces, implementing least-privilege roles, understanding the PBKDF2 password hashing improvements, and building an access review checklist for upgraded environments.

Finally, you'll learn how to implement a durable compliance baseline using TDE, Always Encrypted, and SQL Server Audit, and how to collect and structure the evidence artifacts your auditors will actually ask for.

When you're finished with this course, you'll have the skills and knowledge of SQL Server 2025 security needed to confidently deploy, harden, and maintain a compliance-ready instance in PCI-DSS, HIPAA, or NIST-governed environments.