An executive forgets their laptop in an airport lounge as he rushes to board a plane.
A sales manager leaves their mobile phone unattended in a café and finds it missing when he returns to his seat.
A USB containing important patient information is lost after exchanges from three different employees.
Organizations face security challenges every day. The above scenarios can happen to anyone and while they can’t be avoided, these situations can be managed to ensure the confidential data residing on these devices are safe even when the devices aren’t. With technological advances, hackers and thieves prowling online and offline, what is the best way to protect data at rest?
The best way is encryption, the process of encoding information in such a way to ensure unauthorized parties cannot access private data, therefore safeguarding the device. Even if someone obtains the physical device, the unauthorized user cannot access the data on the device unless they have the right key and credentials.
How Does Encryption Help Me and My Organization?
- Data Protection–Encryption helps safeguard confidential data at rest so that even if the device is lost or stolen, the data is protected and access is restricted from unauthorized users.
- Risk Mitigation – As measures are taken to protect company data with encryption, there are usually no hefty fines or negative public relations consequences to deal with.
- Increase IT Productivity – A good encryption solution shouldn’t employ a complex install process for their IT staff. This allows faster turnaround time with more protection on company devices.
- Reduce Total Cost of Ownership–Some encryption providers offer additional features such as pre-boot network authentication abilities to help reduce the time that IT departments spend on resetting passwords and provisioning devices.
Tune in next week as we address some of the encryption myths that many companies have come to believe about encryption and what the truth is behind them.
