The biggest secret about IT services in Austin is that they aren’t being utilized to their fullest extent by businesses to block cybercrime. While hackers are getting more sophisticated despite constantly improving technology, one thing they usually can’t beat is the multi-layered approach to security. Here’s a look at how encryption plays an important role as a security layer:
Demystifying Encryption
The prevailing perception of encryption is that it’s with tech experts and spy movies. Even though it’s a useful solution to privacy concerns, it still has the image of something only highly educated technicians comprehend. But all you have to understand is that encryption scrambles messages too difficult for hackers or their software to penetrate in a moderate time frame.
With an encrypted or decrypted digital message, you need a “key,” which is a complex code, similar to an inside joke that only insiders get at a party. Instead of an intruder gaining direct access to your data, they are baffled by the converted code that represents the information until it is unlocked with a special key.
The two types of encryption are symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric (secret key) encryption involves the sender and receiver holding the same key to encrypt or decrypt a message. Asymmetric (public key) encryption, by contrast, is based on a public key for encryption combined with a private key for decryption.
Types of Communication Protected by Encryption
- Accessing data stored on devices or databases
- Wi-fi internet connections
- HTTPS, rather than HTTP websites
- Phone calls
- Online transactions
Why Encryption Matters
It’s easy to dismiss encryption and other robust security measures if you rely on the “see no evil” approach to business. Most businesses that aren’t savvy about technology don’t hear enough about the increasing rate of cybercrime due to lack of media coverage, except in tech publications. Even the worst breaches tend to be headlines for a day then disappear. But a well-trained IT services team in Austin knows that hacking is much more pervasive than what media coverage implies.
Cybercriminals are targeting businesses of all kinds in sneaky ways, like getting to know employees through fake social media or disguised email accounts. Sometimes, they will stalk a company for months posing as a friend until they launch their surprise attack. Although all systems are potentially vulnerable to an attack, the more layers of protection you add, the less likely your system will suffer a breach.
Choosing an experienced IT services team in Austin that understands encryption is essential to data protection. Contact us at Contigo Technology to learn more about cyber security in Austin and how we can defend your business so that it can survive and thrive without disruption.