Encryption: What It Is, and How It Works

Keeping your data protected is a huge concern nowadays, with more and more safeguards needed to prevent it from being exfiltrated. Encryption is a great way to prevent your data from being any good to those who might steal it. Let’s review what encryption is, and delve into how it works in practice.

What is Encryption?

We’ve all heard of codes and ciphers, like the Caesar cipher where you take the original letters and shift them a set amount down the alphabet. For instance, the Caesar cipher with a shift of nine could result in the following:

“Vjwjpnm bnaerlnb jan cqn bdyanvn xycrxw oxa j kdbrwnbb bnntrwp jbbrbcjwln frcq cqnra RC.”

While it is a relatively simple thing to decode if you have the key to it, lacking the key makes it effectively indecipherable—or inde-cipher-able, if you will. Encryption works in effectively the same way… albeit in a far more complicated manner. Encryption software takes data and puts it through a complicated algorithm that scrambles it up, with a key provided to help unscramble it when needed. Until that time, the data remains private, whether it's being stored or transmitted.

Encryption can be used to secure a website, a hard drive, or an individual email. What’s more, it really should be used whenever available to help secure your data.

When is Encryption Needed?

Encryption should be utilized whenever sensitive data is involved, so whether your data is sitting in storage or is being shared via email, it should have all protections available to it… including encryption.

Want help incorporating encryption into your business’ protections? We’re here.

Give us a call at 607.433.2200 to discuss your needs and how we can help you meet them. We’re here to help you secure your business and its data.