Liquid Web With tightening regulations on how to treat data, data security is paramount. As a part of that, it’s essential to understand the distinction between data in transit and data at rest.
Data in transit refers to information actively moving between locations, such as across the internet or through a private network. Data at rest resides in storage, whether on hard drives, databases, or cloud services. Each state presents unique security challenges and requires tailored strategies to mitigate risks.
This article covers the differences between these two states of data, highlighting their respective vulnerabilities and the best practices for securing them.
Table of contents
- What are data in transit and data at rest?
- Securing data in transit
- Securing data at rest
- How to stay secure
What are data in transit and data at rest?
Data in transit and data at rest describe different states of digital information, each with its own security implications.
Data in transit
Data in transit involves data moving from one location to another. Imagine sending a message from one smartphone to another. This data travels across the internet, within corporate networks, or through wireless connections. Other examples include sending an email, streaming a video, or transferring files from one server to another.
The primary challenge with data in transit is its vulnerability to interception. Without proper encryption, cybercriminals can eavesdrop on these digital conversations, stealing or tampering with the information as it travels.
Data at rest
Data at rest refers to stored data that’s not actively moving. This can be data sitting on a laptop hard drive, stored on a server, or archived in cloud storage. Common examples include databases containing user information, saved documents, or backup files. The main security concern here is unauthorized access. Hackers might exploit weak passwords, outdated software, or physical access to steal this stationary data.
Each type of data requires specific protective measures. For data in transit, encryption protocols like TLS (Transport Layer Security) are crucial. For data at rest, robust encryption, strong user authentication, and updated access controls are vital defenses. Understanding these nuances helps organizations tailor their cybersecurity strategies to protect their data effectively, whether flying across networks or lying dormant in a data center.
Securing data in transit
Protecting data in transit can be especially challenging for startups that store data in the cloud. In fact, insecure data transit causes 21 percent of cloud security incidents.
Here’s what organizations can do to prevent those types of incidents.
Encrypted connections
Encrypted connections, such as HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) and TLS (Transport Layer Security), are fundamental to securing data in transit. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP and the protocol for sending data between a browser and a website. When you see HTTPS in the URL, it indicates that the connection is encrypted using TLS.
TLS is a cryptographic protocol that makes communication over a computer network secure. It ensures that data sent between a user and a server is encrypted and thus protected from digital eavesdropping or tampering.
For example, when you enter sensitive information on a banking website, HTTPS and TLS work together to encrypt that data, ensuring it cannot be intercepted or altered by malicious actors. This encryption occurs at both ends of the transmission, providing a secure channel through which the data can travel.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE)
End-to-end encryption takes security systems a step further by encrypting data on the sender’s device and keeping it encrypted until it reaches the recipient’s device. So, even if someone intercepts the data during transit, only the intended recipient can read it.
Applications like WhatsApp and Signal use E2EE to secure messages. When you send a message via these platforms, it is encrypted on your device, and only the recipient’s device can unencrypt it. This level of security ensures that even the service providers cannot access the content of the messages, safeguarding user privacy and data integrity.
By employing encrypted connections and end-to-end encryption, organizations can dramatically mitigate the risks that come with data in transit, making sure that sensitive information remains secure on the way from point A to point B.
Securing data at rest
Securing data at rest is as crucial as securing data in transit. Data at rest includes information stored on hard drives, databases, and cloud storage, and security measures must be in place to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.
When you have a multi-cloud environment, this can be especially complicated. That’s why, in one survey, 55 percent of organizations highlighted data protection and privacy as their biggest concerns in multi-cloud environments.
Encryption
Encryption is a fundamental security measure for securing data at rest. It transforms readable data into an unreadable format using a cryptographic encryption algorithm and an encryption key. Only people with the correct key can decrypt and access the information.
This security layer ensures that even if unauthorized users access the data, it remains unintelligible and secure. For instance, encrypting a database of customer information or using email encryption protects against data breaches by making the data useless to attackers without the decryption key. Cloud applications often rely on encryption methods to safeguard stored data against potential threats.
Tokenization
Tokenization is another security measure for securing data at rest. It replaces sensitive data elements with nonsensitive equivalents called tokens. These tokens function as an alternative to the original data, but they carry no exploitable value if breached.
The actual sensitive data is stored securely in a tokenization vault. For example, credit card numbers can be tokenized in payment processing so that the stored token is meaningless to hackers, but authorized transactions within secure protocols can be used.
Federation
In the context of data security, federation is where you link the authentication processes of different systems so that by signing into one, you can gain access to the others. In the past, maybe you would’ve had to create a separate username and password to access data stored across multiple locations. With federation, you only need a single set of credentials to access them.
That certainly sounds more convenient, but how is it more secure? In this case, convenience does provide greater security: If you have to create ten different passwords and usernames, it’s much more likely that you won’t follow best practices. You might write them on a note, use shorter or simpler passwords, or even repeat passwords, all things that reduce the system’s overall security. Instead, you should use a single, secure set of login information that follows password security best practices.
How to stay secure
One vital way to stay secure is to host your data through a secure provider. That’s why so many businesses trust Liquid Web to keep their data safe and compliant with regulations.
Want more personalized information on how Liquid Web can help you secure your data and ensure you’re complying with the relevant regulations?