Enterprises Need Encryption to Secure Private Data
January 9, 2012
Security experts urge users and enterprises to adopt full disk encryption and proper key management to secure sensitive data from accidental exposure.
Concerns about data breaches and privacy violations would spur enterprises to adopt encryption and use it effectively, according to security experts.
Organizations are beginning to assume that the firewall has already been compromised and are relying on ubiquitous encryption to protect data across the enterprise, according to Jeff Hudson, CEO of Venafi. In the past, security measures assumed that firewalls and other perimeter defenses were enough to keep the bad guys out. Recent high-profile data breaches proved that attackers were able to still get into the network, and had free rein because the data was not protected at all, according to Hudson.
Venafi predicted that 2012 would be the “year of ubiquitous encryption.”
Organizations that have adopted encryption still encounter problems because they are not following best practices for encryption key management, according to Hudson. Organizations struggle to keep track of what keys are being used and who has access to them. Encryption would be a “defining issue” in the year ahead, he said.
When employees leave, they may take the keys with them, leaving the organization unable to access the data, Tim Matthews, senior director of product marketing at Symantec, told eWEEK. A recent Symantec study found that poor key management and lack of control over the technologies being used could cost the organization an average of $124,965 a year.
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