Azure SQL’s new functionality comes in roughly three categories: encryption, data masking, and access security.

Microsoft introduced transparent data encryption (TDE) when it released SQL Server 2008, adding full database encryption rather than the limited cell-based encryption that debuted in SQL Server ...

1/ In SQL server 2008, there is a new whole database encryption option (TDE). I suspect that using this option will make the backups incompatible with SQL 2005.

The company's Transparent Data Encryption option, borrowed from SQL Server, is now generally available as part of numerous upgrades to its cloud database platform.