What Are Data Leaks?
Data leaks occur when sensitive data is unintentionally exposed from within an organization. Data leaks can refer to both the leakage of digital data, meaning anything that can be transmitted through the internet, as well as...
Encryption technology is vital to securely sharing information over the internet. An estimated 1.145 trillion MB of data is created every day, and encryption prevents sensitive information from being intercepted, read or altered by the wrong recipients.
Not sure what encryption is or how it works? Keep reading to learn more about data encryption, its purpose and benefits.
In cybersecurity, data encryption is the conversion of data from a readable format into ciphertext, which consists of blocks of random characters that neither human readers nor computers can make sense of until it’s been decrypted using an encryption key—a random string of bits used to decrypt the data back into its original form.
The purpose of encryption is to ensure that sensitive data isn’t stolen, read or altered by an unauthorized user. Data must be encrypted both in transit (e.g., login credentials being transmitted through a login form) and at rest (e.g., the emails sitting in your inbox).
Data encryption helps ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data at rest and in transit. This is commonly known as the CIA triad:
Theoretically, it is possible to hack encrypted data. However, doing so is incredibly difficult and requires a lot of time, effort, technical knowledge and computing power. The easiest way to “hack” encrypted data is to compromise the decryption key, which is why it’s so important for users to store their decryption keys securely and only share them with authorized recipients.
The two main types of encryption widely used today are symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption (aka public key cryptography).
In symmetric encryption, the same cryptographic key is used to both encrypt a plaintext message and decrypt the ciphertext. Anyone seeking to transfer the key to another recipient must find a secure delivery method to do so.
Asymmetric encryption uses a key pair. One key is used for encryption while another is used for decryption. One key is called the private key and must be kept secret by the owner. The other key is the public key, and it’s shared freely with authorized recipients. Asymmetric encryption makes it very difficult for an unauthorized user to access the encrypted data since it can only be decrypted with the correlating private key.
Some of the most popular encryption algorithms include:
The fundamental purpose of data encryption is to prevent unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data at rest and in transit. However, in addition to ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, encryption technology offers other benefits:
Many regulatory and industry compliance frameworks require organizations to encrypt data at rest and in transit. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, requires healthcare providers to encrypt electronic protected health information (ePHI).
While the GDPR doesn’t specifically require organizations to encrypt consumer data, GDPR Article 32 (1) requires data controllers and processors to “implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk.” Therefore, if an organization does not encrypt their data, and a breach occurs, they risk EU data protection authorities penalizing them for not taking “appropriate” measures to prevent data breaches.
Encryption adds a layer of data security to today’s distributed workplaces. According to Keeper’s 2022 US Census Report, 40% of respondents highlighted remote and hybrid work as a top cybersecurity concern. With the influx of remote workers and digital nomads, organizations should be brushing up on the top cybersecurity hygiene practices for remote employees.
Security is a top priority when organizations evaluate Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers. Customer data was listed as the top encryption priority among enterprises surveyed in Entrust’s 2021 Global Encryption Trends Report. However, only 42% of respondents use encryption to secure their customer data.
Keeper is a zero-trust, zero-knowledge security provider that uses AES 256-bit encryption to protect data from cyberthreats. Organizations such as banks and governments use AES encryption, as it is considered virtually unbreakable. This ensures that our customers enjoy the highest levels of data security available today.
Register for your 14-day free business trial to see how Keeper can protect you and your organization from data breaches and cyberattacks. Get in touch with a member of our team for more information on how our services can protect your company’s passwords, secrets and connections with zero-trust and zero-knowledge security.