Re: When should I use MySQL's encryption functions

[Steve OA]

The answer to your question is, you should always use the server-side encryption.
Server-side encryption is the most secure and transparent solution. Your organization wide security policies are easy to enforce at a single-point rather than at multiple client-points. Clients continue to run transparently as before.

You can use loopback encryption to implement the encryption on server side. But it has its own limits. There is some product called Security-GENERAL from Packet General Networks. (http://www.packetgeneral.com) that offers a comprehensive MySQL security solution including MySQL data encryption.