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5 eNCRYPTION KEY BEST PRACTICES IN 2021

encryption key management

Data breaches have skyrocketed cyberspace with the growing competition for sensitive information. In the whole data life cycle, data encryption is one of the best ways which ensures confidentiality by providing a secure method of cyber threat protection by avoiding losses and exploitation of data.

With the growing sophistication of cyber-attacks, cryptographic key management provides a safe and secure way to control massive data breaches. It helps in reducing the risk in the cybersecurity architecture of your company.

At TeamCognito, a leading cybersecurity company in Kolkata, we ensure the full protection of electronic communications and financial transactions in the fast-growing modern world. Our encryption key management services in Kolkata include creation, storage, protection of existing and expired keys, distribution, replacement, and destruction of encryption keys.

There are two types of encryption: one that will prevent your sister from reading your diary and one that will prevent your government.
data breach, cybersecurity, data protection
There are three primary key management approaches 
  1. Decentralised key management – In this type of key management, the end-users are responsible for their key management. The organization does not handle the governance of the key.
  2. Distributed key management – In this type of key management, each team or department in the organization is responsible for handling its key management protocol according to its process and policies. They have the option of contacting or coordinating with other departments.
  3. Centralised Key management – In this type of key management, there is one policy throughout the organization. All the team and department of the company follow it. 

In the key management server, the encryption key is created and stored along with its various attributes which include its name, size, ability to delete, activation date, mirroring, key access, etc. The encryption key manager keeps track of the encryption key’s current and previous uses. The key manager would allow the administrator to change the attribute of the keys.

There are four basic types of encryption keys 
  1. Symmetric encryption – A single encryption key is used for both data encryption and decryption in this type of cryptography. This type of encryption is used to secure data and is also a quick algorithm.
  2. Asymmetric encryption – Both keys are paired and created simultaneously in this type of cryptography. Public and private keys are the two types of symmetric encryption.
  3. Public keys – These keys are only used to encrypt the data and not to decrypt it.
  4. Private keys – These keys are used to decrypt the data. The encrypted data can be decrypted by this only key. It should be password-protected.
With the size and complexity of the environment, the key management system gets challenging. When a key has been compromised, it is quite difficult to identify the threats until it is exploited. These are some major threats that can be considered:
  1. Weak keys: Complex keys help in securing and protecting sensitive data for a while.
  2. Incorrect use of keys: For a specific purpose/task only one key should be generated.
  3. Reuse of keys: When the keys are reused for multiple purposes, it can be dangerous and put the organization at high risk.
  4. Inappropriate storage of keys: Keys should never be stored on a server or a database.
  5. Improper protection of keys: Keys should be made available in unencrypted form within a secure tamper-protected environment.
  6. Insecure moment of keys: To move keys safely between systems, we wrap the key under a pre-shared transport key which is either a symmetric or asymmetric key.
Ensuring data security is every employee’s business. Here are a few best practices for encryption key management 
  1. Secure key stores: Complex keys should be used to achieve optimal security and protect key stores. They must be protected when stored, when in transit, and during backup. The loss of all data is mainly due to improper key storage.
  2. Access to key stores: There should be policies governing key stores which use separation of roles to help in controlling access. The entity of a given key and a stored key shouldn’t be the same. All-access to these entities should be limited to particular access.
  3. Key backup and recoverability: Secure data backup and recovery solutions must be followed in case there is an accidental loss of the key. A loss of the key would mean the loss of data that was protected by the key, and this might create havoc in the company if the data was deleted unintentionally.
Here are the five factors that should be considered while choosing a good key management solution:
  1. User-friendly interface: There can be accidents in configuring or misusing features in a poorly designed interface. This can compound numerous security problems. A well-designed and user-friendly interface is the solution for any kind of mismanagement in protecting and securing the data.
  2. Key storage: We should be well aware of where the encryption key is stored and who has access to it. For example, if the solution in question requires encryption keys to be available to the cloud infrastructure, then it shouldn’t be considered secured.
  3. Key rotation and destruction: Key rotation is when a new key is generated periodically. It is set as the primary key. The data is then encrypted with a new and different encryption logic using the primary key.
  4. Key generation granularity: The keys are kept within a secure environment that is divided at the highest possible level with the help of a zero-trust approach. Granular access control should be allowed by the KMS to manage access at the lowest hierarchy within the scope of the department/role/user/device.
  5. Automation: Mistakes can be prevented from occurring when the key of the lifecycle events can be automated. Automation should be offered to repetitive tasks. It should be flexible enough to be easily modified if any conditions change.

Being the top cybersecurity company in Kolkata, Teamcognito helps in maintaining the best practices in encryption key management by providing credible services. It is advised that the monitoring team investigate the access logs from time to time and secure sensitive areas to reduce the exploitation of data in cyberspace. At our cybersecurity solutions company in Kolkata, we provide our clients with a robust encryption key management system to protect the entire data life cycle. 

 

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