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What Is Data Encryption?
Data encryption is an essential security measure that transforms plaintext information into encrypted ciphertext, with only an individual decoding key able to decipher it back.
Encryption services provide two layers of data protection - in transit and at rest - so only authorized users can access your business data. This system also combines authentication services to ensure only approved personnel gain entry to it.
Data Encryption solutions involve transforming data into code or another form such that only individuals with access to its decryption key (also called a decryption key) can read it.
Unencrypted information is commonly known as plaintext. Encryption has become one of the most influential and popular data security techniques organizations use today, and there are two primary types: Asymmetrical encryption (also referred to as public key cryptography) and Symmetrical cloud storage providers encryption.
Plaintext data is encrypted using an algorithm and key, producing ciphertext which can only be decrypted using the correct key.
There Are Two Categories Of Data Encryption:
- Symmetric Encryption: Utilizing one key for encryption and decryption allows all authorized users access to data securely. Symmetric-key cryptography utilizes one secret key for both encryption and decryption purposes. While symmetric-key ciphers tend to be faster than their asymmetric counterparts, the sender must exchange encryption keys with their recipient for them to decrypt. To manage and distribute large volumes of keys securely, many data encryption services employ asymmetric algorithms to exchange their secret codes after using symmetric algorithms for data encryption.
- Asymmetric Encryption: Encrypting and decrypting data requires two separate keys; one is shared publicly while the other is kept confidential by only known to the key generator. While public keys encrypt data, private ones decrypt it. Asymmetric cryptography (commonly called public-key encryption) uses two public and private keys. While sharing a public key may be permitted, its private counterpart must always remain confidential. Its popularity stems from using public and private keys for communication encryption; this ensures confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-reliability - qualities that cannot be compromised via email communications alone.
The Primary Function Of Data Encryption
Data encryption protects digital privacy as data is stored and transferred between computer systems, the internet, and other computer networks.
Modern encryption algorithms have replaced outdated DES encryption standards in IT security and communication networks; they are essential in keeping cloud provider IT systems running securely and communicating efficiently.
These algorithms ensure confidentiality and form the cornerstone of several key security initiatives, including authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation.
Authentication enables verification of message origin while integrity ensures its content hasn't changed since being sent out; non-repudiation two-factor authentication ensures no one can deny having sent it in question.
How Does Data Encryption Work?
Plaintext or cleartext data must be encrypted using encryption algorithms, and mathematical calculations must be applied to raw data to secure it.
Each encryption algorithm differs in terms of application and security index. One needs an algorithm and an encryption key to encrypt plaintext data using these two elements, collectively known as ciphertext, which will then be sent via an insecure communication channel to reach its destination.
Decryption keys allow the recipient to restore ciphertext into plaintext format; decryption keys should remain secret; they don't necessarily need to match those used to encrypt messages - let me illustrate with an example here.
The woman sends her boyfriend an encrypted message that's turned into unintelligible gibberish by software. At the same time, he uses the appropriate decryption key to translate it.
Data Encryption Benefits
Data encryption is an effective means of protecting businesses that transmit large volumes of information from theft.
Businesses sending such sensitive data must encrypt it to prevent serious security breaches that can cost money and the reputation of their counterparts. Reading about its benefits will become apparent how essential data encryption is.
Complete Data Protection
Data encryption provides reliable protection to business owners in every state, no matter how sensitive their information may be.
Firewalls can help keep unauthorized access at bay; if hackers manage to bypass perimeter security measures, however, there's little you can do; hackers would find decoding encrypted data difficult due to encryption technology being ineffective, consequently reducing the chances of brute-force attacks being successful against it.
Multi-Device Security
Businesses must ensure data security as it travels between multiple devices. This is especially vital in today's remote working environments, where employers have limited control over how employees share and access data.
Encryption helps prevent decoding by any threat on these devices, ensuring data remains protected.
Guarantees Data Integrity
Businesses also face the threat of data manipulation or alteration. Attacks against data manipulation may come internally or through cloud services; encryption protects from such manipulation by alerting recipients if their information has been altered.
Compliance Is Ensured
In various industries, some regulations place a strong emphasis on data privacy. HIPAA serves as the cornerstone of data storage regulations in healthcare.
FIPS, FCPA, FERPA, PCI DSS, and FISMA are just some of the many data protection laws businesses must abide by according to their industry. Failing to comply can lead to severe fines.
Intellectual Property Protection
Intellectual property theft remains a pressing problem worldwide, especially trademarks, patents, and copyrights, which must be safeguarded from theft or manipulation.
Data encryption offers one means of protecting such material.
Trust In Consumers: Enhance Consumer Trust
Customers are increasingly worried about their data after recent data breaches, so businesses that care for their customers must adhere to security best practices as part of a good customer experience.
You can quickly gain an edge over competitors by assuring customers that you abide by encryption standards and prioritize privacy; investing in encryption technology may help build customer trust.
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Secure Your Data With These Seven Methods Of Data Encryption
Different encryption techniques depend on the type and length of encryption keys and the size and volume of encrypted data blocks.
Here are the top encryption techniques you can employ in your small business to protect sensitive information.
Advanced Encryption Standard
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric algorithm for encrypting data blocks of up to 128 bits using keys of 128,192 or 256 bits.
A full 256-bit key encrypts in 14 rounds; 128-bit keys take 12 and 10, each including several steps such as substitution, transposition, and mixing plaintext. AES encryption can be used for Wi-Fi encryption, mobile app encryption, file protection, SSL/TLS connections, and web browsing sessions - it could even be helping protect this website's connections right now! Your web browser likely utilizes AES to secure its connection to this one.
AES is an industry-standard encryption algorithm utilized by the United States Government and other organizations.
AES utilizes 128-, 192- and even 256-bit keys for more demanding encryption requirements, and many security experts consider it invulnerable against all attacks except brute force attacks. Many internet security experts believe AES will remain standard practice for the private sector.
Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA)
Rivest-Shamir-Adleman encryption uses the factorization of two large prime numbers as its basis; therefore, its message can only be decoded by someone with prior knowledge of these numbers.
RSA encryption methods are frequently employed to safeguard data transfer between two communication points. However, their efficiency decreases with larger volumes of encrypted information. Still, their unique mathematical properties and complex design make RSA highly reliable when transmitting sensitive data.
Rivest-Shamir-Adleman is an asymmetric encryption algorithm based on factoring the product of two large prime numbers; only individuals familiar with these numbers can decipher messages encrypted using this technique.
While commonly employed for digital signatures, large data sets require faster encryption processes using Rivest-Shamir-Adleman encryption algorithms instead.
RSA stands as the industry standard for public-key encryption of Internet-sent information, producing gibberish that hinders hackers while forcing them to invest much more time and effort in braking systems.
RSA encryption provides reliable protection from hacker attacks due to its complex algorithm, which creates gibberish that frustrates them and results in slower system hacks.
Triple Data Encryption Standard
Triple DES uses a 56-bit encryption key to encrypt data blocks, employing three times the DES Cipher for each data block it protects.
Triple DES can be used to protect ATM pins and UNIX Passwords securely. Popular applications that utilize Triple DES include Microsoft Office and Mozilla Firefox.
TripleDES was devised as a defense against hackers who discovered how to break DES; for decades, it was the primary encryption algorithm for business use; now, however, it is slowly being phased out.
TripleDES uses the DES algorithm to encrypt UNIX PINs and ATM passwords.
Blowfish
Blowfish was developed as a successor to DES; its purpose is to split messages up into 64-bit segments for encryption; Blowfish is fast, flexible, and unbreakable, and the fact that it exists in the public domain only adds to its appeal; you could use Blowfish to protect transactions on eCommerce platforms and email encoding tools or even password managers and backup programs using it as well as password managers or backup programs using Blowfish encryption.
Blowfish was developed as an alternative to DES; its design allows messages to be divided into 64-bit blocks that are encrypted individually, making Blowfish known for its speed, flexibility, unbreakably, and public domain status - qualities which make this algorithm especially appealing in e-commerce platforms or password management tools.
Twofish
Twofish encryption is an asymmetric, license-free technique for protecting 128-bit data blocks and is the successor of Blowfish and Threefish, with crucial size not affecting speed; Twofish is slower than AES but still helpful in protecting folder and file encryption solutions.
Twofish is Blowfish's successor. It offers license-free encryption, decrying 128-bit data blocks within 16 rounds regardless of key size.
It is one of the fastest encryption solutions on both software and hardware environments - and is used by numerous file and folder encryption solutions available today.
Format-Preserving Encryption
Format-Preserving Encryption (FPE) is a symmetrical algorithm that preserves the length and format of your data when encoding it.
FPE would, for example, change a phone number such as 813-244-5901 belonging to one customer to 386-192-4419 with only characters changed to protect its originality.FPE can help protect cloud management tools and software. Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud utilize this method for cloud security - two reputable platforms.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography
Elliptic Curve Cryptography is a more robust alternative to RSA encryption that utilizes shorter keys for faster speeds and can be used with SSL/TLS protocols for enhanced web communication security, email encryption, and digital signatures such as Bitcoin.
Read More: Making Use of Data Encryption Technologies
Four Steps To Creating A Compelling Data Encryption Strategy
Work collaboratively with your management, IT, and operations teams to develop and implement an encryption strategy for data protection.
Here are four simple steps for building a comprehensive data protection encryption strategy:
- Classify Data: When considering which data should be encrypted, determine what should be prioritized for encryption. Analyze and categorize each type of information (credit card numbers or customer records) sent or stored (for instance, credit card numbers or customer databases) depending on its sensitivity, frequency of use, or regulations that govern them.
- Decide upon an effective data encryption tool: Encrypt databases and individual files containing sensitive information using encryption tools. Many standard security apps, such as Email Security, Payment Gateways, and Cloud Security, also include database encryption capabilities.
- Adopt strong encryption essential management practices: Track your keys so no one can access your data, even if compromised. A solution that stores and manages encryption keys may provide this additional safeguard.
- Know the limits of encryption: While it will provide some protection from hackers, additional measures, such as firewalls and Endpoint Protection, must be implemented to enhance its effectiveness.
Future Of Data Encryption
The industry has taken steps to expand encryption in multiple directions. To prevent brute-force decoding, attempts have been made to increase key sizes; others have investigated novel cryptography algorithms.
For instance, the Institute of Standards and Technology is testing an advanced quantum-safe public key algorithm.
Most quantum-safe algorithms on traditional computer systems are inefficient; the industry focuses on developing accelerators to boost algorithms on x86-based platforms to address this issue.
Homomorphic encryption, which enables users to calculate encrypted data before decrypting it, is captivating. Analysts can query databases containing secret information without asking permission or declassifying it first.
Homomorphic encryption safeguards data at rest and when in use or resting on hard drives in the future. Furthermore, its design makes it quantum-safe by employing similar arithmetic to that used by quantum computers.
Do You Use Symmetric Or Asymmetric Encryption?
Symmetric and asymmetric encryption offers various forms of data protection in various scenarios, with data at rest better protected by symmetric encryption.
At the same time, databases must also use some form of encrypting protection to avoid theft or hacking attempts. Data that is only needed temporarily requires symmetric encryption instead of using two keys; when sending to another person via email, it should use asymmetric encryption instead.
An attacker could leverage symmetric encryption of emails to steal or compromise material if they can access the key that encrypts it.
Both parties must ensure that any data encrypted with their public key can only be decrypted using asymmetrical encryption for maximum data protection; additional measures such as digital signing or compression may also be employed for added protection measures.
Businesses Use Encryption For Many Purposes
Businesses can reduce the effects of data breaches by using encryption for documents. Encryption can be an invaluable way to secure sensitive information; however, for it to work effectively, you need to understand which documents need encrypting and how best to use this powerful security tool.
A survey discovered that 45% of companies had an encryption policy across their enterprise. Identify all sensitive sources if you plan to migrate data or services into the cloud encryption solution.
Hence, you know which needs encryption and with what level of protection.
Your organization must enable engineers and manufacturers to collaborate on source code and design files within its cloud-based site while protecting sensitive shared data with end-to-end encrypted protection to keep data safe even if one provider or account becomes compromised.
How To Implement An Effective Encryption Strategy?
Collaboration
Teamwork is essential when developing an encryption strategy. It should be seen as a project by management, operations, and IT members.
Start by gathering essential data from critical stakeholders before identifying laws, regulations, and external forces which could influence purchase/implementation decisions; you may then identify areas of high risk, such as mobile devices, laptops, wireless networks, and data backups.
Define Your Security Requirements
Establishing your security needs is vitally important. A threat assessment will enable you to identify which data needs encrypting, as different encryption systems have different processing requirements and strength ratings; it is necessary to consider this aspect carefully when designing your system.
Choose The Right Encryption Tool
After establishing your security needs, the next step should be finding solutions that meet them effectively. Incorporating data encryption algorithms - SSL can encrypt data sent and received by websites.
At the same time, AES protects stored at rest or backups. Using appropriate encryption technology at each data transmission and storage step will protect company information and increase overall security; encrypted email services or encrypted applications could further boost this effort.
Prepare For A Smooth Deployment Of Your Encryption Plans
As with any significant change within your company, implementing an encryption strategy requires careful preparation.
Your new encryption solution might need to be integrated into the backend of customer-facing apps or extra procedures implemented to integrate your new method with legacy ones. With careful planning, these changes can be implemented smoothly - and may even involve assistance from a third-party IT services provider for a smooth transition.
Introducing your encryption strategy should not overwhelm IT staff too heavily with tasks.
After Installation, Maintain A Security Culture
Data encryption can be an excellent solution to security concerns; however, it should not be considered the sole solution.
To achieve optimal results from data encryption use and fundamental management training for team members. Stored keys on unprotected servers could allow hostile attackers to access encrypted information stored there; experts believe this kind of human error causes 84 percent or more of cybersecurity breaches.
Data encryption must be combined with other measures, including hardware protection, such as firewalls, for optimal protection.
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Conclusion
Data encryption is essential in protecting both transit and stored information. First, numbers, letters, or symbols are scrambled into other characters that the encryption algorithm and critical use to convert human-readable text to unintelligible ones.
