Businesses embracing encryption to protect their most sensitive data

Almost half of businesses worldwide have started using encryption technology to protect critical data, according to research from B2B International on behalf of Kaspersky Lab. The technology is now the fifth most widespread protection technique – a sharp rise from the results of a similar survey in 2011 where it barely crept into the top ten. In effect, encryption is the final defensive barrier: even after a criminal has successfully forced his way into the company’s IT infrastructure - this last hurdle makes it extremely difficult to get access to important information.

Despite an increase in the adoption of such technology, companies have still not fully introduced encryption, with many facing difficulties in implementing encryption systems. According to the B2B International survey, only one-third of specialists (36 per cent) use full disk encryption (also known as encryption of information arrays) and less than half of those specialists (44 per cent) actually protect critical information. Data encryption on external devices, e.g. USB drives, is used by 32 per cent.

Encryption of highly critical data ranks second among the security measures which companies want to develop, with only protection against malware scoring higher. However it is clear that businesses are facing difficulties in implementing encryption systems, which are notably absent from the top five protection measures used. These results show that companies require modern systems of information protection, which are both effective and simple to implement.

Nikolay Grebennikov, Chief Technology Officer, Kaspersky Lab commented; “Encryption is among the most promising technologies for reducing the risk of critical data leakage, but it’s at its most effective when incorporated into a comprehensive security system for corporate IT infrastructure. Our business solutions can provide this comprehensive protection for all corporate network endpoints.”