

P CI DSS Requirement 3 and its encryption-relevant sub-requirements state: Most notably, organizations can meet the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards’ (DSS) cardholder data security requirements with disk encryption software.

Thus, disk encryption is necessary for businesses as it provides “failsafe-type” protection for individual devices and IT environments.Īside from disk encryption’s inherent cybersecurity benefits, many organizations may require its implementation to adhere to applicable compliance frameworks.

In that case, encryption prevents them from being able to use the data. Similarly, suppose an intruder manages to access network storage locations successfully, or a lost or stolen device ends up in malicious hands. For example, if an intruder breaches your firewall perimeter by hijacking a user account, then the account’s configured permissions can still restrict access to specific network locations. Why Your Business Needs Disk Encryption-ScenariosĬybersecurity requires a holistic approach for success, incorporating numerous and varied layers in case of an intruder managing to bypass a given protection. When a user later accesses that data, it is decrypted before it’s presented to a given program. When a program produces data, it is encrypted before being saved to the disk.
#WHAT IS ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE USED FOR PASSWORD#
For device-level encryption, the user must only enter the key password at or immediately following authentication.ĭisk encryption software functions as an intermediary during daily operations to ensure protection without interrupting or delaying activity. The initial encryption process may take a few hours to complete but should not noticeably impact computer processing or work activity speeds beyond that.Īn individual must provide the set password that allows the encryption software to access the key, resultantly decrypting the data for use. When first installed and activated, disk encryption software will generate a key and begin making the device’s data unreadable without it. The encryption key may be stored on a single device or multiple devices, facilitating data transfer and readability across an organization’s network.

Hard drives secured with this measure rely on symmetric encryption, which uses an algorithm-based key to encrypt and decrypt data. The data stored on an encrypted hard drive cannot be read directly or by a different operating system-it can only be read if the device also stores the password-protected encryption key.
