One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates encryption of data within a column of a database. The system operates by first receiving a command to perform a database operation. Next, the system parses the command to create a parse tree. The system then examines the parse tree to determine if a column referenced in the parse tree is an encrypted column. If a column referenced in the parse tree is an encrypted column, the system automatically transforms the command to include one or more cryptographic commands to facilitate accessing the encrypted column while performing the database operation.