---
title: Column Level Encryption Enterprise walkthrough
description: This walkthrough shows you how to encrypt a field in your instance using Field Encryption Enterprise with the Key Management Framework \(KMF\). It also shows you how to use your own key.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/platform-security/column-level-encryption-enterprise-walkthrough-2.html
release: australia
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 4
breadcrumb: [Column Level Encryption Enterprise examples, Using Column Level Encryption, Column Level Encryption, Encryption]
---

# Column Level Encryption Enterprise walkthrough

This walkthrough shows you how to encrypt a field in your instance using Field Encryption Enterprise with the Key Management Framework \(KMF\). It also shows you how to use your own key.

## Before you begin

**Note:** This procedure only applies to Column Level Encryption Enterprise functionality. See [Activate Column Level Encryption Enterprise](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/activate-platform-encryption-2.md) for more information on obtaining Column Level Encryption Enterprise.

Role required: admin or security\_admin

**Note:** security\_admin is a privileged role, for details on using privileged roles, see [Elevate to a privileged role](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/t_ElevateToAPrivilegedRole.md)

## About this task

This walkthrough starts with an instance where you have already created and uploaded your personal cryptographic key. You could use the ServiceNow key, but this example uses a customer-supplied key.

After the key has been stored in a cryptographic module, you can start configuring fields in your instance, such as salary or social security numbers that have limited access from certain users. In the Encrypted Field Configuration, specify which authorized personnel can access sensitive data.

This task demonstrates two scenarios. One example encrypts the **Short Description** field in an Incident for users who are not authorized to view the sensitive data.

Attachments can also be encrypted and only visible to users who are granted access, or is visible to all users that are not restricted from viewing the data. See [Attachment encryption walkthrough](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/attachment-encryption-walkthrough.md) to encrypt an attachment.

## Procedure

1.  Make sure that Column Level Encryption Enterprise is enabled.

2.  Create a cryptographic module for column\_level\_encryption.

    See [Create cryptographic module for Column Level Encryption](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/create-PE-cryptographic-module-2.md) [Create a cryptographic module](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/platform-encryption/create-cryptographic-module.md) for more information.

3.  Navigate to **System Security** > **Encrypted Field Configurations**.

4.  Click **New**.

5.  On the form, fill in the fields.

    |Field|Description|
    |-----|-----------|
    |Type|**Column** is required to use your personal key.|
    |Table|Table that stores the sensitive information. For this example, select **Incident \[incident\]**.|
    |Column|Column, or specific information, that represents the sensitive date to be encrypted. For this example, select **short\_description**.|
    |Active|Option to mark **Active** to use the field configuration.|
    |Algorithm Equality Preserving|The option is automatically selected.|
    |Crypto module|Module that you created to use with the personal key.|
    |Method|The **Single Module** option is used to apply the policies for one module. **Multiple Modules** is used to apply the policies across multiple modules.|

    \[Omitted image "cleexample.png"\] Alt text: Shows a completed Encrypted Field Configuration.

6.  Click **Submit**.

    Establish a Module Access Policy to assign access to the cryptographic module. See [Create a module access policy](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/platform-encryption/create-module-access-policy.md) for additional information.

7.  Navigate to **Key Management** > **Module Access Policies** > **** > **Create New** > **.**

8.  On the form, fill in the fields.

    |Field|Description|
    |-----|-----------|
    |Policy name|Name for the policy, such, as `short description`.|
    |Crypto module|Crypto module that you created to encrypt your key.|
    |Type|Type of access designation for the crypto policy. Use **Role** to grant access to the encrypted field to only those users that have the assigned role.|
    |Target Role|The role that has access to the encrypted field. For this example, select **Admin**.|
    |Active|Option to activate the Module Access Policy.|
    |Result|The **Track**option enables the access to the field for the selected role. \(To restrict access to that field for the selected role, select **Reject** or**Strict Reject**.\)|

    \[Omitted image "moduleaccesspolicyexample.png"\] Alt text: Shows the completed module access policy form.

9.  Click **Submit**.

10. As a user with the sn\_kmf.admin role, navigate to **Incident** > **New**.

    \[Omitted image "seeshortdescriptionasadmin.png"\] Alt text: Shows the visible Short description data.

    You can now view the Short description field based on the module access policy configuration.

    **Note:** The sn\_kmf.admin role was granted user access to the encrypted field, Short description, by setting the module access policy to **Track**. Notice the lock icon \(\[Omitted image "lock-icon.png"\] Alt text: Lock icon.\) under the field name indicating that the field is an encrypted field.

    You can now access the **Incidents** module as an end user to test the encrypted field configuration.

11. Log in as a user to be restricted from viewing the encrypted data in the configured field.

    \[Omitted image "encryptedfieldleveldata.png"\] Alt text: Shows no value in the Short description after encryption.

    When you access the incident number, the data in the Short description will not be visible.


## Result

You have successfully used your symmetric key to control access to a specific field using Column Level Encryption Enterprise.

**Parent Topic:**[Column Level Encryption Enterprise examples](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/kmf-walkthroughs-tutorials-2.md)