drop encryption key

Allows key owners to drop the named encryption key.

drop encryption key [[database.][owner].]keyname

The syntax for explicitly dropping an external login password service key is

drop encryption key syb_extpasswdkey
	with password encryption downgrade

The syntax for explicitly dropping a hidden text service key is:

drop encryption key syb_syscommkey_dddddd

Or:

drop encryption key syb_syscommkey with text encryption downgrade

syb_extpasswdkey: name of the service key

When you specify with password encryption downgrade, Adaptive Server resets external login passwords with the algorithm used in versions earlier than 15.7, and the Replication Agent password, and the CIS and RTMS external login passwords are reset to an invalid value.

After the key is dropped, the administrator must reenter the passwords manually to resume using the corresponding services.

syb_syscommkey_ddddddd: is the explicit name of an individual syscomments service key to be dropped.

syb_syscommkey with text encryption downgrade: Adaptive Server reencrypts all the hidden text in syscomments with the algorithm used in versions earlier than 15.7.

Drops the encryption key cc_key:

drop encryption key cust.dbo.cc_key

If the key has key copies, the copies are dropped along with the base key.
The command fails if any column in any database is encrypted using the key.
drop encryption key cannot check databases that are archived, suspect, offline, unrecovered, or currently being loaded for columns encrypted by the key. The command issues a warning message naming the unavailable database, but does not fail. When the database is brought online, any tables with columns that were encrypted with the dropped key are not usable. To restore the key, the system administrator must load a dump of the dropped key’s database from a time that precedes when the key was dropped.

The key owner and the system security officer can drop encryption keys.

Values in event and extrainfo columns of sysaudits are:

Event	Audit option	Command or access audited	Information in extrainfo
109		drop encryption key	Roles – current active roles Keywords or options – NULL Previous value – NULL Current value – NULL Other information – NULL Proxy information – original login name, if set proxy is in effect