Data Encryption: Protect your Sensitive Information

Data encryption is one of the most effective safeguards to protect sensitive information from cyber threats. We analyze how data encryption acts as a virtual shield and ensures that sensitive data is inaccessible to unauthorized entities.

Discover how data encryption ensures the security of your information.

Data encryption is as essential as having the right tools to ensure information protection. With the Cloud & Cybersecurity by aggity suite of solutions, aggity is at the forefront of cybersecurity and ensures companies that their data is protected at all times.

But what is data encryption? This is a cybersecurity process by which data is transformed into an unreadable code, so that only those computers or users with the appropriate decryption key will be able to access the data. In information protection, data encryption uses encryption algorithms to encode the original information. Below, we analyze some of the key elements that make up this type of information protection:

Encryption methods

There are two fundamental encryption technologies to ensure the protection of sensitive data. These two methods are symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption. Symmetric encryption uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt data. It is fast and efficient, but requires secure key distribution.

Asymmetric encryption, however, uses two keys: one public and one private. The public key is widely shared, while the private key is kept secret. This is a more secure method in terms of data security.

Encryption algorithms

Encryption algorithms are the set of instructions that enable data encryption. They are essential in encryption methods and there are several types. On the one hand, there are symmetric encryption algorithms, which use a single key to encrypt and decrypt data. Their main advantage is that they are very efficient and fast, so they are the most commonly used for encrypting large volumes of data.

Asymmetric encryption algorithms use a public and a private key to add an additional layer of security. In this case, its main application is in the protection of confidential information, from secure online transactions to private communication.

Key security

Here we discuss the importance of secure generation, storage and management of encryption keys . Passwords play a key role in preventing cyber threats and reducing security vulnerabilities because they control who can access information.

There are two important aspects to consider in the keys to ensuring digital security. The first is that strong and unique keys must be generated. We can often see this for ourselves when we are asked to create a long password containing uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters when registering for a particular service.

This point is fundamental, the passwords must be complex and long to make unauthorized access to the data more difficult. A simple key does not protect against malware. But just as important as creating a strong key is its proper management, which involves changing keys or properly managing who has access to encrypted data.

Communication encryption

This involves encrypting information that is transmitted over the Internet or private corporate networks. By encrypting the message that circulates through the networks, we ensure that the data circulates securely and online privacy is guaranteed.

There are different encryption protocols used, for example, in e-commerce portals or banking applications. Encryption of communications not only protects users against espionage and data theft, but also ensures the integrity of transmitted information and the protection of privacy.

Encryption of data at rest

This is another digital security approach to the management of sensitive data and is often used to prevent unauthorized access in the event of device theft, as well as the unauthorized access to servers or databases. Encryption of data at rest is used in various sectors, such as banking for the protection of financial data or healthcare for the encryption of medical data.

Regulatory compliance

Incorporating data encryption allows, finally, to help comply with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI DSS or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the US. This ensures the protection of data privacy and the prevention of security breaches, helping to avoid costly fines and reputational crises in the company.