Encryption Benefits

Encryption has garnered quite a lot of attention in recent years as cyber criminals have leveraged encryption to lock organizations out of their data through ransomware attacks. Many companies have learned the hard way that encryption is very effective and difficult to break without the correct key. Organizations should take their queue from cyber criminals and leverage encryption themselves to protect their data from unauthorized access. Encryption costs very little to implement, but does require that a process be developed and implemented to manage encryption keys and ensure that multiple business owners have access to encryption keys. Encryption is required by many data protection regulations, such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, which levy heavy fines for violations. The migration to remote work requires an efficient, encrypted communication system, such as a VPN to protect data in transit.

Encrypting everything is not practical, since personnel still need to be productive. Developing a strategy for encryption can go a long way towards protecting data and saving the organization from costly data breaches and fines.