Public Key encryption, private key encryption, encoding, SSL, VPN! Is your head hurting yet? One of the greatest challenges with encryption is trying to understand what it is that you need in your environment. This is going to be a brief overview of the different types.

File Level encryption

File level encryption is one of the most basic forms, which translates to encrypting a file or directly level object. Got a word document of sensitive data? Encrypt it. A password list? Encrypt it. A directory full of employee data? Encrypt it. These are all examples where file level encryption comes into play. The upside is that the most basic kernel of information on your hard drive gets protected. The downside is that most of the solutions are manual, and require you to make a decision about what needs to be encrypted. Here is a great blog post on file encryption that can help you better understand what it is all about.

Disk level encryption

Disk level encryption is the equivalent of a super pad lock on your front door. It basically encrypts all the data on the system, putting everything under protection. Some solutions allow you to keep all data encrypted unless it is being accessed by a trusted application, which will then decrypt the data before it is used and encrypt after it is done. The upside to these solutions is that is provides a better overall level of protection. The Downside is speed. All of that extra work will definitely slow things up.

Email Encryption

Email encryption is really file level encryption for emails. Most systems that are effective rely on a public/private key method. Public/Private key encryption can best be described like putting a deadbolt on a door. Anbody can close the open lock, but only one person with the key can open it. The down side to public/private key is that the sender has to have everyone’s public key to send them a message. Safe, but not always easy to implement. There are other solutions that allow for one time encryption methods, that while not as secure, are sufficient to keep most prying eyes from looking at your email.

SSL

SSL is an encryption based service that allows for secure communication across a web browser. Basically, one system comes up with a decoder key, encrypts it, sends it to the other system, who then decrypts it and uses the decoder key to read all the traffic that comes across. Fortunately, this is natively supported in most browsers, so the user does not have a lot to do. If the site begins with a “https” then you can be assured that SSL is in place, and that encryption is occurring as your data is moved across the net.

VPN

Virtual Private Networks are sort of like SSL, in the fact that they create a secured connection between two places. In Fact, SSL is considered a form of a VPN, along with others like IPSec, OpenVPN, etc. The real key is to determine if you are using a Trusted VPN, or a Secured VPN. A Trusted VPN relies on special port communicaiton between two devices, only allowing devices with a certain key to access that port. of the two, Secured VPN’s provide more protection.

Which Encryption solution is best for me?

The only way to know that is to work with encryption experts. Take the time to sit down with a value added reseller that can understand what is going on in your environment.