03 Apr Locking down data

Ali Muzaffar, Assistant Professor at School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Dubai, explores the role of encryption in strengthening data access security.

Encryption has emerged as a cornerstone in data access security in today’s digital world, where data breaches and threats from the cyber world are so common. Since it converts sensitive information into some unreadable form of text — also called encrypted text — encryption works to ensure that even when unauthorised parties access the data, it will not be harmed.

Data violation incidents have become more frequent and severe over the last few years. Data breaches now cost an average of US$4.88 globally, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year, as stated by IBM’s 2024 Data Breach Report. That has hit the healthcare segment particularly hard; for instance, as reported by Reuters, a cyberattack on UnitedHealth’s technological unit, Change Healthcare, resulted in a breach of personal information belonging to 100 million people, considered the most significant healthcare data breach in US history.

Building obstacles

Encryption acts as a significant obstacle to such breaches. It masks data in such a way that even when it falls into the wrong hands it remains safe. Even when hackers break into a system, encrypted data is not readable without proper keys for decryption. This forms a critical layer of security that shields sensitive information, including PII, financial records and intellectual property.

But despite its importance, the adoption of encryption technologies has been spotty. According to a report by FutureCIO, 83% of businesses do not encrypt their data in the cloud, leaving vast volumes of sensitive information open to attack. On the bright side, there is hope on the horizon: according to GlobeNewswire, 87% of companies planned to increase their investment in encryption technologies in 2024, showing a growing recognition of its importance.

Advances in tech

Encryption technologies are in a race of development, stimulated by the demands of the information-driven economy. Current encryption modes, such as AES, RSA and ECC, are very sophisticated and generally recognised as secure standards. For example, AES is widely used worldwide to protect everything from financial transactions to military communications with unparalleled reliability and speed.

The advantages of encryption go beyond the mere security of data. Companies that implement encryption show their commitment to protecting customer data, which then builds trust and constructs brand reputation. For instance, in a 2023 survey by PwC, 64% of consumers are willing to give more business to a company that takes data security seriously.

Range of applications

The markets for encryption are also becoming diverse. Vendors such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud offer EaaS, making enterprise implementation easier. Hardware-based encryption is increasingly available, from modern SSDs to TPMs, providing good protection at the hardware level. As the ecosystem continues to grow, it allows tailored solutions to be developed and utilised by enterprises of any size.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) has also begun to emerge in consumer applications. For instance, WhatsApp and Signal offer E2EE to enable only the sender and the recipient of the message to access its content, setting a benchmark concerning privacy in communications.

Challenging times

Of course, there are challenges to implementing encryption: many organisations struggle with the complexity of systems, performance-related concerns, and a lack of skilled people. In addition, there is a need to manage keys with due care; poor management may lead to data that cannot be accessed anymore or vulnerabilities. However, despite these setbacks, the merits of encryption for data security outweigh the demerits.

Among the setbacks, the computational overhead produced by encryption is considerable. Encryption and decryption of data introduce latency into a system, especially if their volumes are high, hence impacting the performance of that system. For example, in real-time applications, which include video streaming or financial trading systems, there is usually a need for low-latency environments. Hence, integrating encryption in such a system requires sophisticated optimisation techniques.

Focus on key management

Key management within encryption is also critical for creating their list of challenges. Secure generation, storage and distribution of encryption keys remain paramount. A missing or compromised key makes encrypted data unavailable or susceptible. To tackle this problem, key management solutions that are pretty advanced need to be adopted by organisations; this is typically resource-intensive and requires specialised knowledge.

Human influence is a pivotal factor that has helped make the encryption process overwhelming. Employees might involuntarily influence the encrypted systems through such mediators as phishing attacks or using weak passwords and messing with the keys. One crucial way to avoid this is for organisations to invest actively and vigorously in cybersecurity training. Still, the training procedure usually consumes very high costs and an alarming period.

Future threats

Further, the dawn of quantum computing introduces a new, more perpetual threat to classical encryption, where powerful computing can neutralise the current and one of the most popular, secure encryption algorithms, such as RSA and ECC. Quantum-resistant algorithms are in development; once ready, deployment requires that cryptographic systems be replaced wholly, which may become very expensive and time-consuming.

Remarkable growth is forecast for the encryption software market. Straits Research says the market will grow from $17.06 billion in 2025 to $57.91 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 16.5%. This is indicative of the fact that encryption has indeed become an intrinsic part of cybersecurity strategies.

Encryption efforts

Future technologies will no doubt continue to alter the encryption landscape. Quantum-resistant algorithms are developing in response to the eventual threat of quantum computing, which may render traditional encryption null and void. These developments ensure that encryption remains a trusted defence in the ever-evolving threat landscape.

Moreover, with the rise in companies’ utilisation of decentralised systems, such as blockchain, encryption will be key in securing transactions and ensuring that data is not tampered with. That blockchain is based on principles of cryptography shows how emerging technologies and encryption go hand in hand.

As we move ahead in a phase of life when data is treated as liquid assets, it becomes very important to protect it from unauthorised access. Encryption is one of these very important tools in that regard, as it ensures that sensitive information within those data packets will nonetheless be well-protected when such a breach occurs. As threats change, businesses will have no option but to implement tight encryption practices if they are set on keeping their data safe, along with the trust given to them by their stakeholders.