This article discusses the process of encrypting data. It is intended for individuals interested in protecting sensitive information via encryption. The article is structured to address what encryption is, how it works, the benefits and drawbacks of using encryption, and ideal ways to implement and adopt data encryption.

This stub has been created using an article written by Fred Moore in the book 'New Horizons' from Horison Information Strategies.

What is data encryption?

Data encryption is the process of making stored information unreadable unless and until it is made readable by the intended recipient of the data. Data encryption is used to protect sensitive, mission critical or secret information including military records, medical and financial information, and sensitive or confidential corporate data.

How does data encryption work?

Intrinsic mechanics

In 1977, the Data Encryption Standard (DES) was adopted in the United States as a federal standard. A newer encryption standard, known as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) has more recently been introduced. There are two broad types of data encryption, Symmetric and Asymmetric. Symmetric encryption encryption works using a key system where both the sender and the recipient share the same key and are able to keep the key secret from other sources. Asymmetric encription uses a different key to encrypt than to read the information.

This key-based encryption works by making obscure or scrambling a block, file or other data set in a way that the original information is hidden. The scrambled data is called cyphertext. In theory, only the person or machine doing the scrambling and the recipient of the cyphertext know how to decrypt or unscramble the data, since it was encrypted using an agreed-upon set of keys.

Technology dependencies

Skills dependencies

Organizational dependencies

Benefits and drawbacks of encryption

As businesses store increasing amounts of information in distributed locations, encryption can offer powerful protection reducing risk, protecting assets and minimizing the unauthorized use of important information. The process is not without drawbacks, including costs, complexity and the necessity to carefully manage key information.

Implementing and adopting encryption

Storage security appliances are the most common method of implementing encryption today. These appliances are placed between storage devices (disk and more typically tape) and the server running applications (requesters of encrypted data). The appliance encrypts all data going to storage and decrypts data going back to the applications as it monitors all file access attempts. Stored data is encrypted and hence unreadable if the data is lost or stolen.

Implementing encryption has been done selectively in the past and can be difficult.