Various techniques are described for processing externally encrypted data by database management system. Specifically, techniques are described for incorporating encrypted data stored in a first database that was encrypted by a first database management system into a second database where the encrypted data is accessed by a second database management system. When accessing externally encrypted data incorporated into the second database, the second database management system can decrypt portions of the data as needed. Because of the manner of incorporation of externally encrypted data into the second database, specifically because the externally encrypted data need not be decrypted before being incorporated into the second database, the computational overhead and security concerns associated with conventional approaches for migrating encrypted data from one database management system to another are avoided.