There are two basic kinds of encryption solutions: Those for data at rest and data in transit.Īt rest, data is information that is stored such as on servers or a computer hard drive. Individuals should encrypt sensitive personal data like their medical histories and social security numbers. Businesses should encrypt data that could damage their financial results if it were breached. Many technology services encrypt and decrypt your data so it will be safe when they use it. In fact, you might be using encryption without even knowing it. You don’t have to be a secret agent to want to keep your data confidential. The phrase, “Hi, how are you?” might encrypt into a ciphertext that reads, “8363, 5017, 11884, 9546.” To get back to “Hi, how are you” requires a process of decryption.ĭecoding information from ciphertext to plaintext is called decryption and involves the same algorithmic “key” that data encryption uses. Like the secret decoder ring found in your child’s cereal box, the cipher algorithm transforms normalized data (i.e., plaintext) into a sequence of ostensibly random, unrecognizable characters known as “ciphertext.” Encryption works through a complex mathematical algorithm known as a data encryption cipher. The word ‘encryption’ is a blend of English and Greek that means “in hidden” or, more loosely, “in hiding.”. Modern data encryption is a form of cryptography, an ancient technique of hiding information by substituting one character for another. Data security is all about keeping our data safe from unauthorized access, ransomware lockup (which is a malicious form of encryption), breach, or malicious corruption, i.e., changing data to make it useless. Data encryption is part of a broader class of cybersecurity countermeasures known as data security. It can be an email message, the contents of a database, or a file stored on a laptop. Data encryption consists of hiding information from malicious actors or anyone else with prying eyes.ĭata is information.
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