What is encryption and how does it work?
Why is data encryption necessary?
Privacy: Only the owner and recipient can read the data, preventing attackers, ISPs, and even governments from obtaining sensitive data.
Security: Encryption helps prevent data breaches; If a corporate device is lost or stolen but its contents are encrypted, the data will still be safe.
Data integrity: Encryption also prevents malicious behavior such as in-transit attacks (interception of information during transmission) because encrypted data cannot be viewed or tampered with along the way.
Regulations: Many industry and government regulations, such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR, require companies to encrypt user data. US government agencies and contractors must use FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards).
Encryption algorithms
An encryption algorithm is the way data is converted into ciphertext. The encryption key is used by the algorithm to manipulate data consistently. So even if it looks random, the decryption key can easily convert it back to plaintext. Common encryption algorithms include AES, 3-DES, SNOW (all symmetric), and elliptic curve cryptography and RSA (both asymmetric).
Like all asymmetric encryption, RSA uses prime factorization (multiplying two very large prime numbers). This is very difficult to crack because the prime numbers used must be determined. This is also mathematically quite difficult. It is almost impossible to crack an RSA key with brute force.
Brute force
If a computer makes millions or even billions of attempts to crack a password or decryption key, it is called a brute force attack. Modern computers can implement these possible permutations with incredible speed. Modern encryption must be resistant to such attacks. The field of cryptography is a constant arms race between those developing faster ways to break encryption and those developing more sophisticated encryption methods.
Other types of encryption
Encryption is a method of scrambling data so that it cannot be read by anyone other than authorized parties. The encryption process converts plaintext into ciphertext using a cryptographic key. A cryptographic key is a set of mathematical values known and accepted by both the sender and the receiver.
Anyone with the right key can decrypt or transform encrypted data. That's why cryptographers are constantly developing more advanced and complex keys. More secure encryption uses keys of sufficient complexity that hackers would consider extensive decryption (also known as 'brute force') to be functionally impossible.
Data can be encrypted 'at rest' (in storage) or 'in transit' (transmitted). There are two main classifications of encryption: symmetric and asymmetric.
- Symmetric encryption has only one key and all parties use the same secret key.
- Asymmetric encryption gets its name from having more than one key: one for encryption and one for decryption. While the encryption key is public, the decryption key is private.
Cloud data storage encryption: data or text is put into cloud data storage after being converted by encryption algorithms. It is similar to on-premises encryption, but the customer needs to understand how the provider's different encryption levels match their needs in terms of security/data sensitivity.
Deniable encryption: encryption with more than one possible encryption method; It is used for the possibility of data being intercepted during transmission or for misinformation if there is such a purpose.
FDE (full disk encryption): encryption at the hardware level. Data on a hard drive is automatically encrypted and cannot be read by anyone without the appropriate authentication key. The hard drive is useless in any computer without the key.
BYOE (Bring Your Own Encryption): A cloud computing security model that allows customers to view a virtual instance of their encryption software alongside their cloud-hosted applications. Also known as BYOK.
EaaS (Encryption as a Service): a subscription service for cloud customers who cannot manage their own encryption. FDE includes database encryption or file encryption.
E2EE (End-to-End Encryption): Protects data in transit. Like WhatsApp, messages are encrypted by client software, transferred to a web client, and then decrypted by the recipient.
Field-level encryption: data in encrypted fields on the specific web page (e.g., SSNs, credit card numbers, health/financial data). All data in a selected area will be automatically encrypted.
Column-level encryption: An approach in which all cells in the same column have the same password for access and read/write.
Connection-level encryption: Encrypts data as it leaves the host, decrypts it on the next connection, then re-encrypts it as it is sent again. Not every connection has to have the same key/algorithm.
Network-level encryption: At the network transport level, encryption services are implemented through Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), which creates a proprietary framework for communication over IP networks.
Homomorphic encryption: Converting data into ciphertext, which allows it to be analyzed and studied as if it were unencrypted. It is useful in mathematical studies that can be done without breaking the encryption.
HTTPS: Allows website encryption by running HTTP over the TLS protocol. In order for a web server to encrypt the content it sends, a public key must be established.
Quantum cryptography: uses quantum mechanics to protect data. Quantum encoded data cannot be measured without changing the values of these properties (position and momentum). Any attempt to copy or access data will also alter the data, alerting authorized parties that an attack has occurred.
How can encryption help your company?
Cybersecurity strategies need to include data encryption, especially as more businesses begin to use cloud computing. Encryption can support company operations in a variety of ways.
Email encryption: Because email is the basis of organization-wide communication and business activities, malicious actors can attack it or accidental disclosures can occur. Industries such as financial services or healthcare are highly regulated, but enforcement can be difficult, especially in email where end users often resist change to standard operating procedure. Operating systems and common email clients can be strengthened with encryption software. In this way, sending an encrypted email can be made as easy as sending an unencrypted email.
Big data: Continuous data protection for privacy compliance, secure cloud analytics, encryption and tokenization technology for cloud transfers; and encryption can streamline multi-cloud operations by centralizing data-centric protection. Every time sensitive data passes through multi-cloud environments, it will be encrypted by these technologies.
Payment security: In order to comply with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and data privacy laws, merchants, payment processors and businesses face great challenges in securing high-value sensitive data such as payment card holder data. However, encryption software can protect retail POS, web and mobile e-commerce transactions.
In addition to the above services and protections that encryption offers, it provides confidentiality (encoding the content of a message), authentication (verifies the source of a message), non-repudiation (prevents credible denial that an encrypted message was sent), and integrity (proves that the message content has not been altered).
Are there any disadvantages to encryption?
Encryption is designed to prevent unauthorized individuals or entities from understanding maliciously obtained data. However, in some cases, it may cause the data owner to be blocked. Key management is difficult for businesses because the key has to sit somewhere and attackers are often savvy about looking for them. Key management makes backup and restoration more complex, as it takes time to retrieve keys and add them to backup servers in case of disaster. For administrators to protect the key management system; It should have a plan, such as a separate backup that is easy to roll back if a large-scale disaster occurs.
Software such as key wrapping is available to facilitate key management. These encrypt an organization's encryption keys individually or in bulk. They can be unlocked when necessary, usually with symmetric encryption.
Although brute force attacks are ineffective against high-bit keys, security vulnerabilities also exist. Many attempts focus on gaining unauthorized access to keys through social engineering methods. That is, the attack is not directed at the system, but at the people who maintain the system and interact with it. Phishing, malware, BadUSB attacks: There are many ways hackers can bypass security measures put in place to protect networks from external attacks by taking advantage of people's potential for deception.
Software-based encryption is also considered less secure than hardware-based encryption. Software-based encryption is also referred to as 'removable encryption' because it can potentially be bypassed by bad actors using physical attacks. Hardware-based encryption is generally considered more secure because it includes physical defenses to prevent tampering.