Why encryption is needed

Technology is supposed to make our daily lives easier and more efficient. Of course, if you fail to understand modern technology or realize the importance of data security, you and your company will be vulnerable to cyber attacks. Two important reasons why you must encrypt your data are because of how easy and how important it is.

Encryption and data security are becoming easier for IT pros, as more and more organizations implement it. We all understand how important safeguarding personal information and data is to customers, which is why all documents must be encrypted.

But what does this actually mean? Encryption is the process of converting information or data into an indecipherable code while in transit or storage. The next blog post in the series will focus on authentication , the process of determining if an entity-user, server, or client app-is who it claims to be.

Blog Cybersecurity. Your first tool: Encryption Encryption is the process through which data is encoded so that it remains hidden from or inaccessible to unauthorized users.

How to encrypt data The process itself is fairly straightforward. Symmetric and asymmetric encryption Symmetric There are two types of encryption algorithms: symmetric and asymmetric.

Asymmetric In asymmetric algorithm encryption, two separate but mathematically linked encryption keys are used. However the more complicated it gets, the longer it takes to process the data, making general internet usage a lot slower. Why do we need encryption? Asset Posted on 23 August by Beaming Support. So, why do we need encryption and how does it work? But how does the receiving host, i. The U. Due to advances in technology and decreases in the cost of hardware, DES is essentially obsolete for protecting sensitive data.

RSA takes its name from the familial initials of three computer scientists. It uses a strong and popular algorithm for encryption. RSA is popular due to its key length and therefore widely used for secure data transmission.

Twofish is considered one of the fastest encryption algorithms and is free for anyone to use. This keeps attackers from accessing that data while it is in transit. You should make sure that your emails are being sent over an encrypted connection, or that you are encrypting each message.

Most email clients come with the option for encryption in their Settings menu, and if you check your email with a web browser, take a moment to ensure that SSL encryption is available. Many of the large-scale data breaches that you may have heard about in the news demonstrate that cybercriminals are often out to steal personal information for financial gain.

Encryption helps businesses stay compliant with regulatory requirements and standards. It also helps protect the valuable data of their customers. For instance, targeted ransomware is a cybercrime that can impact organizations of all sizes, including government offices. Ransomware can also target individual computer users. How do ransomware attacks occur? Attackers deploy ransomware to attempt to encrypt various devices, including computers and servers. The attackers often demand a ransom before they provide a key to decrypt the encrypted data.

Ransomware attacks against government agencies can shut down services, making it hard to get a permit, obtain a marriage license, or pay a tax bill, for instance. Targeted attacks are often aimed at large organizations, but ransomware attacks can also happen to you. Here are some tips to help protect your devices against ransomware attacks and the risk of having your data encrypted and inaccessible.