Bulk Encryption vs MicroEncryption – MicroTokenization processes

As all will agree, secure and reliable encryption schemes are essential to secure sensitive information held by individuals, entities, organizations and governments. It’s needed to guarantee we are protected against potential cyber treats. There are several schemas to consider. The first piece to the puzzle is the encryption portion. The AES algorithm-based bulk encryption technique is what is used by most today. This typically constitutes a symmetric block cipher with 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit cipher keys.

Information security being critical, securing sensitive data as well as our cyber infrastructure has never been more important. Today the continuing trend must be to secure sensitive data throughout all of its uses. This ranges from communications, transactions, personal accessible data, financial, health, marketing, consumable data, to archived data storage. The unauthorized access to intercepted transmissions as well as gain unauthorized access can result in the compromise of sensitive and vital information falling into the wrong hands. Data and security officers around the globe are facing an ongoing challenge; how to safely store data securely while still being able to access it quickly. Up until now Encryption combined with firewalls was the most effective solution for protecting this valuable data and other informational assets against attacks. Some Tokenization is also used for data up to 17 characters, digits, or numbers.

Encryption is the process of transforming information referred to as plain or accessible text into an unintelligible scrambling of code referred to as cipher-text. It utilizes a secret key and an algorithm is known as ciphering. The cipher-text (encrypted data), is designed to be decoded, transformed, and restored back into its original readable and understandable form by utilizing the original cipher algorithm and the secret key. The intent of this process is to secure and protect critical information from hackers, thieves, competitors, and others who should not be allowed access for fear of them causing harm, etc. It is and has been quite common to utilize encryption technology in the static archiving of large amounts or blocks of data, communication over local area networks, (LANS), or across an Internet gateways or WANS (Wide Area Networks), or VPNs, (Virtual Private Networks). The Telecommunication industry utilizes these or similar schemes dealing with their particular data protection challenges as well.

Bulk encryption has been providing what many believed to be a safe and effective method for protecting data from being compromised and or stolen. It is apparent that today utilizing solely encryption type protection is quickly becoming obsolete. Bulk encryption technology is a method in which large amounts of data are encrypted all together. The quantity and size of the data being protected simultaneously tends to cause long delays and extended exceedingly slow response times. It also opens the data to “Total Breach” as when someone is in they have access to the “Bulk” of the data. In many cases currently, the processing power for this type of Bulk Encryption is being met by utilizing cryptographic accelerators. Bottom line is that it requires a great deal of hardware and significant bandwidth resources, and even then, is still not a very fast process.

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) symmetric-key encryption standard has been approved by NSA for top secret information and is has been adopted by the United States government. AES is based on a design principle known as a substitution permutation network. The AES ciphers have been tested extensively and are now used worldwide. AES was selected due to the level of security it offers and its widely accepted implementation and optimization techniques. It utilizes efficient methods in an effort to optimize both time and memory requirements. The AES algorithm is designed to specify both cipher and its inverse in order to complete the encrypt/decrypt cycle. Today AES “Bulk Encryption” is the primary protection utilized by a vast majority of those needing security. However, as of just recently, there is a new technology that just hit the public and government sector. See link below:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/8/prweb9758585.htm

MicroEncryption™ – MicroTokenization™ techniques are beginning to take the industry by storm. A new technology and new way of thinking has evolved in the data protection and security arenas. The technology works off an entirely different premise and methodology. It has be repeatedly proven that “Bulk Encryption” does not appear to be safe due to the fact that once intruders are in they have access to the “Bulk” or most ALL THE DATA/RECORDS ! This alternate approach protects the sensitive data individually, even down to the “Byte” level if that is what is desired. The method in doing so is revolutionary in that speed and accessibility are not sacrificed when utilizing MicroEncryption™ & MicroTokenization™ processes, combined with AES algorithms. By MicroTokenizing™ data and storing it fully encrypted, the data becomes both usable directly from the secure datacenter and simultaneously meets and exceeds industry standards and regulation. In addition, value can be gained from processing the data onsite and avoiding the potential security failure point, as data must move to an analysis server. From Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) [http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/ mandated data restrictions to user password tokenization, the need for usable and secure data has never been so great. Companies of all sizes who store any information about their customers, employees, patients or partners must be conscious of how to protect this information.

Unlike other security solutions, this new technology is lightning fast and currently being scaled to enable billions of ultra-secure transactions per second in test portal environments. “Thanks to this new breakthrough in technology, anyone can have access to the same speed and security as the billion-dollar giants” said Mr. Fioto, Chairperson and CEOof RACE.

Micro-encryption™ – MicroTokenization™ solutions provide flexibility that sets a new standard for data security, adaptability, and accessibility. The elements interact seamlessly and transparently, streamlining protocols and saving both time and money. Micro-encryption™ – MicroTokenization™ has the ability to secure any data type including simple text, x-ray files, and top secret documents up to 2 GB in size. While most data integration requires months of time and up to millions of dollars of investment, this technology can be implemented very rapidly! Agnostic integration methods can have a company MicroEncrypted™- MicroTokenized™ and processing data in a matter of weeks, sometimes days, with minimal cost. These protection schemes are applicable on a global basis across dozens of industries including healthcare, financial services, hospitality, retail, energy/smart grid, supply chain management and governmental services sectors. “The last block for so many companies in moving to the cloud is the question of data security, compliance and control. MicroEncryption™ along with MicroTokenization™ removes those blocks with a stick of dynamite! This new and innovative process makes data stored in their cloud or yours fully usable. It just works. This security breakthrough is setting the new standard utilizing MicroEncryption™ and MicroTokenization™. Make no mistake this is the technology that will be most widely utilized going forward. For more information on MicroEncryption™ and MicroTokenization™ please see www.transcertain.com or www.certainsafe.com