THE RISE OF ENCRYPTIONWhite Paper

In recent memory, in the developed world, it was easy to assume that our digital communications and data storage were secure, private, and somehow guaranteed by law. But after Edward Snowden’s revelations, the issue of data incursion and digital privacy was thrust to the forefront of our everyday lives.

A data breach or theft is a possibility most people and corporations are still in denial about. As the number and magnitude of data breaches increases, corporations get entangled in fighting the problem while ignoring the long-term structure of their technology.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and most corporations

have bought into the idea of improving encryption of their

communications and data because of the rise in data breaches.

A number of large companies have fallen victim to data theft

and the fallout has been too serious and too widely publicized

to ignore.

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) have been getting

increasingly sophisticated. Experts pointed out that over 4,400

companies were being specifically targeted in over 55 countries

in 2016, which is a rise of 2.4x from 2014. These Data breaches

are expected to cost the global economy upwards of $2 trillion

USD by the end of 2019.

The number of these attacks are set to grow over the coming

years and even the most well-known technology companies are

not fully protected. Taking into account Yahoo’s 400million user

account hack, Equifax 143million hack, along with Apple’s

infamous iCloud breach shows how even the most valuable

tech companies on the planet are not adequately protected. The

threat is so serious that even tech-shy Warren Buffett

addressed it in his latest letter to shareholders.

Encryption, the Inevitability

This is the result of a number of factors:

A lack of Government standards: The field of data

encryption has moved from fringe military technology to

becoming a mainstream requirement in a very short time.

This means there is a lack of standards and that hurts us

all.

Mismanagement of multiple software vendors: As

companies expand their need for encryption grows and IT

departments tend to prefer ‘bolt-on’ solutions from a

number of different vendors. The lack of a common

platform for all communications and file storage at a

company makes effective management impossible.

IT-Management communication failure:

Тhis is a common problem, as CEOs and Managers fail to

understand the importance of thorough encryption and IT

departments fail to explain the technicalities effectively.

22% of small business leaders recently admitted they didn’t

know where to start when it came to data protection. In

fact, PWC pointed out that CEOs were generally

overconfident in their company’s ability to protect data.

There are a number of problems with the way encryption is

handled by companies today. The growth in demand has

been organic and over the years IT departments have failed

to implement cohesive strategies towards defending their

firm’s data.

The Lack of Protection

CEOs, Executives, Politicians and members of the General Public, must not be complacent when faced with such a severe and growing risk. It is the responsibility of all leaders to communicate with their IT advisers and figure out the weaknesses in their data storage and communications systems. Companies must act before a major data loss and not after the fact. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Message from David Bruno, CEO of SecureSwissData.com

Copyright © 2019

All leaders must act