As a cyber user you cannot really judge from where or at what time a cyber threat may affect you or your online activities. To deal with such a situation, encryption is helpful. Working on core technology, the encryption process changes readable information (plaintext) into unreadable information (ciphertext), which cannot be easily traced. In the recent past, users have been informed that many email providers do not encrypt messages while in transit and this can lead to some serious data theft. In reference to this, Google’s Gmail service has been equipped with Transport Layer Security (TLS) technology, which ensures that only encrypted messages are sent to and from the service.
Read the following article to learn the repercussions of not being encrypted:
Why should you use encryption?
Encryption makes it difficult for an unauthorized party to access data, source, attachments, and content that has been shared over a network or Internet connection. By forming a security shield across your digital content, encryption technology can cause a significant delay in exposing that data to unwanted people, thus giving you enough time to save.
It is obvious to expect that sooner or later security codes will be broken and it will only take seconds for computers and cracking programs to make data available to hackers. Since nothing can be protected with a full proof guarantee, encryption can be considered as a temporary tool to protect data and digital content. Encryption helps you keep your valuable content away from prying eyes, so even if you’re not 100% sure, you should always choose to implement basic security parameters.
What should you encrypt and why?
1. Create a container
The latest encryption products ask you to create an encrypted container, to be stored on your device’s hard drive or other storage device, for all your theft-prone files, folders, and documents. Everything placed in the container is encrypted and will appear like a typical drive or folder, but will require a password to access the contents of the container. This practice will protect your private files from unauthorized access and thus add a lot of security to your digital data.
2. Full disk encryption
When you don’t want to put sensitive information in an encrypted container, you should try getting full disk encryption along with Pre-Boot Authentication (PBA). This technology will prompt the user to enter a password before the operating system (OS) loads to provide access to the encrypted drive or volume. Full Disk Encryption with PBA is an ideal choice for protecting laptops, notebooks, tablets, and other mobile devices.
3. Email encryption
Since physical mail is now outdated, email messages are often used to transmit sensitive information between users, companies, professionals, financial institutions, and others. The internal encryption services provided by the mail client offer both user-initiated encryption and automatic encryption, which uses phrases or patterns to transform sensitive data embedded in a message.
4. File Transfer Encryption
In addition to encrypting the plain text or body composition of an email, users must encrypt many documents or data files that contain sensitive information. As these files are at higher risk, especially when traveling over the Internet, without being encrypted, a secure FTP or SSL solution should be used to confirm the security of your content.
5. Encryption of wireless network connections
Users should not allow their devices to connect to unknown wireless networks, including access points in coffee shops, hotels, public places, and showrooms, without encrypting the connection. Unprotected wireless communication can easily display your information and make it available to anyone on a laptop or handheld device. If you have an urgent need to use a wireless network connection, it is recommended to use a Wi-Fi network with VPN.
The facts listed above are brief descriptions of some of the dangerous situations that can arise if proper encryption techniques are not used. It is a true statement that encryption does not always guarantee 100% results, but it can be seen as an additional layer in your framework of security controls. Offering protection for data in motion, encryption techniques are something to rely on in this highly insecure cyber world. Unlike other technologies, encryption is not an install-and-forget solution, but requires careful ongoing management and frequent updates.
