Encryption
Why does the small and medium business (SMB) need Encryption?
Here is a startling fact – no matter how great your computer security, there is some expert who can break it. Not very comforting, is it? So what can you do to ensure that your data stays private – make it impossible to read!
Data thieves go after what they know they can still that has value. Encrypted data can be very difficult to access, making it the safest way to not only move information around and outside of your network, but to ensure its privacy while it is stored. If you think about it, most data only needs to be accessed for a limited period of time. By encrypting your most important files, you ensure that even if they are stolen there is a greater chance the information will be protected.
And with the ever increasing risk of laptop theft, why not do everything you can to cover your tracks and protect your data with encryption!
What is Encryption?
From wikipeida.com:
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. Encryption has long been used by militaries and governments to facilitate secret communication.
Encryption is now used in protecting many kinds of civilian systems, such as the Internet e-commerce, mobile telephone networks and bank automatic teller machines. Encryption is also used in digital rights management to restrict the use of copyrighted material and in software copy protection to prevent against reverse engineering and software piracy.
File and Disk level Encryption
Filesystem-level encryption, often called file or folder encryption, is a form of disk encryption where individual files or directories are encrypted by the file system itself, in contrast to full disk encryption where the entire partition or disk, where the file system resides on, is encrypted.
The advantages of filesystem-level encryption include more flexible file-based key management and access control with public-key cryptography and the fact that cryptographic keys are only kept in memory while a file using them is opened.
Disk Encryption software encrypts data stored on a computer’s mass storage and transparently decrypts the information when an authorized user requests it: no special action by the user (except supplying a password or passphrase at the beginning of a session) is required. Some also provide plausible deniability with deniable encryption techniques.
The volume-level encryption is particularly suited to portable devices such as laptop computers and thumb drives. If used properly, someone finding a lost device will have access only to meaningless encrypted files. A strong passphrase (e.g. five or more diceware words) is essential for full security.
Although disk encryption software can transparently operate on an entire disk volume, a directory, or even a single file, it is important to differentiate it with (non-transparent) file encryption software which encrypts or decrypts only individual files and always the whole file (the decrypted file is stored in a temporary file in an unencrypted form).
Email Encryption
Email encryption relies heavily on public key encryption. Think of it like an ATM card. Is used to encrypt a message, which the reader uses his secret PIN to open it up. There are many great email solutions that interact directly with leading email solution software. This is a great as it makes it very easy to integrate encryption into everyday email practices, ensuring that your messages are being read only by the people that you want!
Contact CopiaTECH to see how we can help you today with Encryption products.