You change your password regularly. You create complex passwords with letters, numbers, and symbols. When it comes to good password hygiene, you’re the bee’s knees. Then one day, you get a notification: there’s been a data breach, exposing your password and other sensitive information.
But you’re not panicking — because you know your password was encrypted.
Encryption might sound technical, but the fundamental idea is simple. Let’s talk about what it is, the different kinds, and the role it plays in a strong cybersecurity posture.
What Is Encryption?
Encryption is a way to safely store your passwords. Computer algorithms scramble your password into something completely different and seemingly unrelated. Say your password is “FreshTitanExcellentSpoon” — an encryption algorithm turns that into something like dg782h6ab4e09b613fg6c8a946a407736111cx9205c5c3ee17. If a hacker locates your stored password, they see only the encrypted version — unless they have the decryption key.
A decryption key is the secret code that turns scrambled data back into its original form. Cryptographic keys are central to understanding the three main types of encryption.
The Three Types of Encryption
Symmetric encryption (“secret key encryption”) uses a single key to both encrypt and decrypt data. Guard this master key fiercely — if a bad actor gets it, they can decrypt everything.
Asymmetric encryption (“public key encryption”) uses two keys: one public key to encrypt, one private key to decrypt. It’s like a public mailbox — anyone can drop a letter in, but only you have the key to open it and take mail out.
Hybrid encryption combines both: data is encrypted with a symmetric key, and that key is then encrypted with an asymmetric public key. The trusted recipient uses their private key to decrypt the master key, then uses that to decrypt the data.
Which Option Is Best?
It depends on your organization’s needs, but the decision ultimately comes down to speed versus security:
- Symmetric — fastest, at the cost of security
- Asymmetric — most secure, at the cost of speed
- Hybrid — maximum security, greatest cost to speed
Symmetric encryption is typically all a small to medium-sized business needs for password storage. It may not be as secure as asymmetric or hybrid, but any encryption beats none. We recommend talking to your IT team or managed service provider to determine what’s right for you.
Encryption Best Practices
- Secure your key. Keep encryption keys stored separately from the data they protect — a password manager helps automate this.
- Restrict key access. Only a select few should have access to important encryption keys, especially with symmetric encryption.
- Encrypt sensitive data — all of it. Password protection is just one use case; massive data breaches keep happening because of poor data encryption elsewhere.
- Manage your keys. Your IT administrator should be in charge of replacing and updating any encryption keys outside a password manager.
Encryption Isn’t Enough on Its Own
You’ll still need passwords strong enough to fend off savvy cybercriminals — modern hackers use powerful software to guess credentials directly, sidestepping decryption entirely. Encryption is one part of a much larger cybersecurity plan.
A few tips for building a genuinely strong password:
Go long. A 16-character complex password can take 33,000 years to crack, versus about an hour for a simple numeric one (2024 password-cracking chart).
Complicate things. Mix upper and lower case, numbers, and symbols.
Keep it impersonal. Skip your birthday, name, pets, or anything publicly discoverable.
Manage your passwords. A password manager can generate and organize all of this for you, and you should use different passwords for different accounts.
One Key of Many
Encryption matters. So does password hygiene, multi-factor authentication, data backups, and firewalls. In today’s world, you want defense in layers — nothing else will keep your data safe in the long run.
Struggling with cybersecurity, or worried it’ll break the bank? Get in touch with CelereTech — we can have your cyber defenses up to speed and under budget in no time.
