In a world where data breaches happen on a daily basis – involving everything from device theft to vulnerability exploitation and open AWS buckets exposed for the world to see – businesses and home users alike should educate themselves and employ encryption software where they can protect their personal data or information they have become controllers of – and, therefore, may be legally liable if records are stolen or leaked.
Encryption can help protect information stored, received, and sent between systems, such as between transfers in enterprise networks or in simple browser sessions. Readable information is scrambled through the use of encryption keys, and then algorithms that can sort through this text and return it to a readable format. For example, today, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) using 128- and 256-bit key lengths are commonly used worldwide.
If strong encryption and security practices are not in place, businesses are not only opening themselves up to potential cyberattacks, but also the loss of corporate and customer information, fines for non-compliance with laws including HIPAA and GDPR, financial damage, and the loss of reputation. At home, encryption can protect your personal files and communication and keep them safe from prying eyes and from theft.
Below, we list our favorite encryption solutions, suitable for home users, SMBs, and enterprise players.
Pros
FreeUser-friendly interface
Cons
Not fully available on Home versions of the Windows operating system
Encryption services are included for corporate data, alongside data discovery and classification, vulnerability scans, data activity monitoring, analytics, and compliance reports, among other features. IBM Guardium for File and Database Encryption can be used to encrypt on-premise files and databases by leveraging the hardware encryption capabilities of host CPUs. Data can be encrypted on the go without taking business applications offline, levels of encryption can be enabled to match user access rights, and keys can be managed from a central platform. IBM says GDE “equips organizations with powerful tools to help combat external threats, guard against insider abuse, and establish persistent controls, even when data is stored in the cloud or an external provider’s infrastructure.” A useful accompaniment to IBM encryption is access policies that can be set to identify anomalous behavior such as mass copy and deletion of files and directories. FIPS 140-2 certified cryptographic keys can also be generated for cloud key management. IBM Guardium is a subscription-based service provided on request and is most suitable for enterprise companies willing to invest in a one-stop-shop solution for data management and protection. Pros
Can be used for GDPR, CCPA, PCI DSS, and HIPAA compliance and report generationScale to 10,000+ agents
Cons
Some users report that graphical interfaces could be improved
Pros
Free
Cons
Entry-level encryption but not suitable for business use
Pros
Simple user functionalityCloud storage encryption
Cons
Outdated lookSome users report friction with the mobile apps
Pros
Flexible encryption options across different mediaCentralized policy managmement
Cons
Some clients report the need for process and interface streamlining
There is a high demand for encryption solutions able to protect corporate, sensitive data that may be accessed remotely by workers and hosted either in the cloud or in company networks. Strong encryption is now necessary when files must be shared with others not only to maintain corporate privacy and compliance over networks, but home use, to also ensure data does not end up in the wrong hands. One challenge faced by businesses, however, is protecting data both in storage (at rest) and when information needs to be decrypted while in use (in transit). Quantum and homomorphic data encryption are being explored by technology vendors, but we aren’t there quite yet when it comes to commercial rollouts.
