Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
for. the. data. you. are. protecting.. As. you. can. imagine,. the.
levels. and. costs. of. management. and. logistics. for. each. of.
these.types.of.controls.increase.substantially.the.more.fac-
tors.you.introduce.
The. next. type. of. control. to. consider. is. encryption..
Encryption.can.be.the.most.secure.way.to.protect.your.data..
However,.as.with.any.type.of.control.there.are.trade-offs.in.
eficiency. and. convenience.. There. are. also. many. levels. of.
encryption.that.can.be.used..A.complete.discussion.of.how.
encryption.works.and.all.of.the.different.possible.means.to.
encrypt.data.is.beyond.the.scope.of.this.topic,.not.to.men-
tion.being.beyond.the.mind.capacity.of.most.normal.humans..
Sufice.it.to.say.that.you.have.choices.if.you.decide.that.data.
are.important.enough.to.protect.with.encryption.
There. are. relatively. simple. means. of. encryption,. such.
as. password. protecting. a. document. or. spreadsheet.. This. is.
accomplished.simply.by.choosing.the.right.menu.item.in.your.
document.software.and.typing.in.a.password..The.applica-
tion.will.then.encrypt.the.data.in.that.document,.so.that.any-
one.trying.to.view.it.without.the.password.would.not.be.able.
to.open.it.in.the.irst.place..Even.if.they.managed.to.open.
it.with.some.type.of.plain.text.reader,.it.would.be.gibberish..
However,.this.is.relatively.simple.encryption.and.thereby.rela-
tively.trivial.to.crack..Easily.accessible.tools.that.most.anyone.
can.ind.and.install.will.be.able.to.discover.the.password.and.
allow.someone.to.access.that.data.
Encryption.types.gain.in.complexity.and.therefore.in.lev-
els.of.accessibility.depending.on.your.desires.and.needs..If.
you.are.protecting.state.secrets.you.can.use.encryption,.the.
keys.to.which.are.huge.and.would.take.thousands.of.comput-
ers.thousands.of.years.to.crack..And.there.are.many.levels.
in.between.
Enabling. encryption. requires. the. management. of. those.
keys. or. passwords.. In. simple. encryption. models. you. only.
need.to.manage.the.passwords..But.in.more.complex.models.
there.will.be.keys.of.different.lengths.and.complexity.that.will.
need.to.be.shared.or.protected.in.order.to.allow.encrypted.
