Pieter Vanhove

Pieter Vanhove is a Senior Program Manager in the Security & Governance Azure Database Platform team at Microsoft. He is the feature PM for ledger, Always Encrypted and Transparent Data Encryption which is all about bringing the power of Blockchain to SQL Server and data encryption. He has been working with SQL Server since 2000. Pieter has a profound knowledge in data security and loves the new Azure stuff. He is also a regular speaker at Belgian and international events.

Sessions for 2026

Under the Hood of Transparent Data Encryption: Securing Data at Rest in Azure SQL and SQL Server

Flip the switch on TDE! Join our deep dive into how Transparent Data Encryption works in Azure SQL & SQL Server. Learn architecture, performance tips, and CMK integration—plus demos and practical guidance for DBAs and security pros.

When AI meets your database: Securing sensitive data in Azure SQL in an AI-driven world

As AI becomes embedded in every application, protecting sensitive data in Azure SQL is vital. This session explores how to secure sensitive data from AI agents and design a defense-in-depth model using Azure SQL's existing security stack - modern authentication, granular access control, data protection, monitoring, auditing, and more - to confidently use Azure SQL to power AI applications.

Previous Sessions

Navigating Modern Authentication in SQL

Learn about modern authentication and credential management options available for Azure SQL and Arc-Enabled SQL Server, and how to implement best practices for keeping your infrastructure secure.

Confidential development with Always Encrypted using enclaves

Developing applications that use Always Encrypted protected databases requires some special attention, such as using parameterized queries and collations. Join us for this session to learn about this game-changing technology. We will demonstrate the main benefits of Always Encrypted with secure enclaves, discuss the best practices for developing your application the right way, and address the latest Always Encrypted investments in Azure SQL.

How to solve common data security requirements

In this session, you will learn how to solve common security requirements for new or existing applications using Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance. We will cover Authentication and Authorization, Data Protection, Auditing and Security Management. After completing this session, you will understand how to meet specific security compliance standards and best practices.

Protecting data integrity with ledger

Join this session to learn how ledger tables in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server 2022 work and why you should use them in your databases and applications.

Run your DBA morning checklist with Policy Based Management

In this session you will learn how you can perform your DBA morning checklist with Policy Based Management to evaluate your servers and how I configured my setup.

From Here to Azure

Attend this interactive session and learn how to create, deploy, and migrate data from your on-premises instance of SQL Server to Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines and Microsoft Azure SQL Database.