What A CIO Needs To Know About Encryption
Due to the significance of technology in the information age, the person in charge of the CIO task has been given the responsibility of keeping the security of the company’s data assets. This entails a variety of different tasks, such as preventing those who are not authorized from having access to your company’s network and data. But, there is always the possibility that data from the company could get into the wrong hands. What should you do if this occurs? The answer is that important data should be secured; however, what exactly is this going to mean for the CIO?
What is a business able to use to protect itself?
Before we begin the subject of what your company could use encryption to accomplish, we should take one moment to ensure that everyone has the same understanding of what encryption really is. In essence, when we talk about encryption, it’s about the use of computers to carry out complicated mathematical calculations that convert data from your company into encrypted sequences of symbols.
Each company is to have an abundance of data that is used in the conduct of its business. The information is exactly the same. Certain information is considered to be crucial for the functioning of the company. This could include items like customer information such as banking details, customer information, etc. Other information isn’t as vital. Examples of this kind of information are news releases, the menus in the cafeteria for each week and the annual schedule of holidays at the company, etc.
In your role as the CIO, you must realize that you’re dealing with two distinct kinds of information. It’s the most important data you have to be concerned over the greatest. It’s important to recognize that regardless of your best efforts, there’s a likely possibility that one day, a hacker will be able to break through the defenses you’ve set up In the event that you ensure that the data of your business is kept in a secure format, you’ll render access to that information useless to hackers who may gain access to the data.
Does Encryption Really Help a Company?
After deciding to secure the most important data of your business and as the CIO, you’re now required to begin managing your encryption (and decryption) procedures within your company. One of the questions that seem to pop up whenever we discuss encryption concerns the company’s emails: Should it be encrypted. Yes, but it might be difficult to implement. Both the sender as well as the recipient would need access to the encryption or decryption software in order to do the work.
Another issue that is asked when CIOs are thinking about the best way to secure the company’s information is to figure out if the effort of encryption will actually protect the company’s data. The answer is yes. The encrypted data is protected as long as criminals can’t gain access to the encryption keys you’re employing. Many times in breaches of corporate data, that’s exactly what happens.
Then, there’s the obvious question of exactly the reason why each piece of data in the business isn’t encrypted. If you could do that, then you wouldn’t have to be thinking for a long time about what data needs to be encrypted and what you are able to skip. The reason why this isn’t a viable option is that it takes long (even in the case of computers) to decrypt data, and this can slow the entire process. Setting up the processes and systems in place to secure and decrypt data is not an easy task. Once the system is in place and controlled, determining who is able to access encryption keys is another crucial task for the CIO to accomplish.
What Does This All Mean What Does This Mean For What Does This Mean For
It’s true that there is no way anyone who holds the CIO job will ever be able to guarantee that vital company data will not get into the wrong hands. What does this means to your position as CIO is that you must make sure that you are prepared when this happens in order to ensure that important company information isn’t leaked outside the organization. The best method to make sure that your personal data remains confidential is to secure it.
The process of encryption is simply taking data and turning it into inaccessible information. Items that are well-suited to be encrypted include customer records, anything that has to do with the money that involves money, as well as corporate emails. To ensure that hackers can’t access your encrypted data, You must make certain that you take specific steps to be sure that the encryption keys don’t get into improper hands.
The use of encryption may not be the best solution for all communications within the company – the cost may be excessive in certain instances. But when it comes to the most delicate business information, it’s the best option. As CIO, you should follow the right steps to ensure that your company’s most important information is encrypted and remains secure.
