Many business leaders have no idea what their most valuable corporate asset is. While they might respond that it’s the firm’s expensive real estate holdings or the pricey capital equipment, they would be wrong.

Information is the most important asset a company can possess. As such, businesses need to protect it from hackers and criminals. Data encryption is by far the security solution with the highest level of effectiveness.

What Is Encryption?

When you encrypt information, you turn it into a nearly unbreakable code. Unless someone has the code, he or she will simply be looking at gibberish.

Why would anyone need to turn information into a string of characters no one else can understand? Data has a very high value, higher than many companies realize. Proprietary information, such as formulas or recipes, are worth a fortune to a business’ competitors.

Customers’ personal information, such as addresses, birthdays and any numbers associated with government identification, are even more prized on the black market. Criminals can create new identities with this data and apply for credit cards or mortgages in someone else’s name.

Moreover, encrypted information will provide certain details, which are vital to maintaining digital security. These details include whether or not a message’s origin can be verified, proof that a message’s contents are unchanged since it was sent, and the message’s sender can’t deny having sent it.

Why Are Encryption Codes Important?

You might be asking yourself, “If data is encrypted and no one else can read it, then it’s completely safe, isn’t it?” The answer to that question is, yes, as long as the right people have the tools to break the code.

In order to break the encrypted code, you need what are called encryption keys. The keys translate the code from gibberish back into something comprehensible.

Let’s say that an employee who was unauthorized to obtain encryption keys was able to get his hands on them. He could use them to access customer data and sell it for a huge profit on the black market. This situation is a nightmare for the firm: it has many clients who would feel their privacy was violated and it could be facing federal or even international monetary penalties for failing to secure sensitive information.

That’s why managing encryption keys is crucial. Key management ensures that only authorized personnel have access to encryption keys. If an employee with access to the encryption keys should leave, the IT department will take measures to make certain that he or she can’t use them again.

Who Uses Encryption?

It wouldn’t surprise you that governments and intelligence agencies are the foremost users of encryption technology. They have a great deal of classified data they wish to keep away from those who aren’t authorized to access it.

However, there are many businesses that use encryption to protect their sensitive information. The data they encrypt may be proprietary or customer-related. Companies choose encryption technology as a security tool because it is very effective at keeping information safe.

How to Find an Encryption Specialist

Do you want to know how encryption can protect your firm’s data? Call WinMagic today at 1-888-879-5879 to learn more our award-winning products.

Since 1997, WinMagic has consistently produced the highest quality encryption software on the market. There are currently over five million WinMagic users in more than 80 countries. Find out why they feel so secure with this software, and how you will feel the same way.