Encryption is the central tactic utilized by data privacy software and services. Data security professionals convert information or data into an unreadable code to prevent unauthorized access. Later, the data can be decrypted when the owner accesses it.
Many modern encryption services include major limitations and vulnerabilities. There are several obstacles and pitfalls security professionals need to overcome to offer a secure, functional service.
The issues with encryption are even more apparent when it comes to data sharing and messaging.
These three encryption issues are especially problematic for any business today dealing with large amounts of personal and/or proprietary data:
1. Encryption Security Tests are Unreliable
Encryption testing is a notoriously unreliable process and often leads to a false sense of security for the end-user. The software engineer can wind up with a product that promises unachievable security levels.
We can verify that data can be encrypted and decrypted, but this is only one piece of the data security equation. We need to protect data and keep out attackers.
Cryptography is unique from other coding tasks in that it isn’t being used to create a specific function. It is impossible to determine whether the software can prevent intrusion.
Ultimately, software testing can’t accurately predict how an attacker could get in or if they could break the cryptographic protections.
2. Employee Error Is a Constant Risk
When engineers enhance programs so they are more attractive to users, they run the risk of breaking the encryption functionality. Broken encryption often winds up being overlooked, leaving both provider and customer vulnerable to a data breach.
Several examples of this have made the news. The BEAST attack is one often-cited example. Here, software engineers were tasked with optimizing the BEAST scientific software. Their chain blocking technique looked secure, but in fact, attackers were able to decrypt data exchanged between the two parties. This insecurity went undiscovered for several years.
Imagine the nightmare Marriott encountered when the passports of 26 million customers were exposed to attackers, including over 5 million that were unencrypted. Marriott asserted that they could not confirm that the master encryption key had been accessed. Many security experts speculated employee error likely paved the way for the attack.
3. Key Management Is Often Handled Poorly
In a typical centralized encryption system set up to protect user records where a single, secret key is used to encrypt all the records, several vulnerabilities exist:
· Attackers can steal files and apply brute force to unlock the key protecting the entire database
· Losing the key (or the employee who has the key) means losing the ability to decrypt files
· Secret keys can be exposed inadvertently or even through the willful behavior of unhappy employees, leading to serious vulnerabilities
When the security team starts using unique keys for each file, the data is less vulnerable. However, managing and protecting dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of keys is a logistical puzzle.
StrongSalt Makes Encryption Practical
It’s clear the average end-user needs a solution to these issues that they can trust. StrongSalt is fulfilling that need. We want you to be able to trust that your data sharing and messaging are fully protected.
Our end-to-end privacy technology protects your privacy, defends against theft, fraud, and abuse. Your private data remains safely encrypted while it’s been stored and even when it’s being shared.
How do we do it?
By using decentralized, searchable, encryption technology, we can invisibly protect your privacy while promoting data sharing and exchange.
StrongSalt allows you to easily share (and unshare) your data with blockchain technology that we designed specifically for low-latency data platforms.
Say What?
We know not all our future clients are tech experts. We hope you can trust us when we say our encryption advances have vastly improved the data security landscape.
If you need more assurance, we welcome your questions. Please contact us!
In the meantime, grab our new app and see StrongSalt in action.
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