Data breaches. Mass NSA spying. Nude celebrity selfies. Online privacy and security issues are everywhere we turn. How to deal with it in 2015?
Encryption s the buzzword, and we ll probably be hearing it more in the coming year. Simply put, it s technology that s meant to protect us as we browse the Web, send email or chat.
Online services are increasingly advertising security in the form of SSL (secure sockets layer) connections, said Kellman Meghu, head of Americas security architects at Check Point Software.
But Meghu and others say encryption has its limits and is not the answer to everything.
For 2015 and beyond, the world will realize that SSL is not enough, said Mark O Neill, vice president of innovation at Axway, a provider of data-governance software. He says data must be secured at rest — when not in transit — and also on the wire, or as it flows on a network. SSL only applies to the on the wire piece.
And encryption is just one piece of a complex privacy and security puzzle.
The issue is rarely that a company doesn t have the right technology in place, Meghu said. It s usually not having the right implementation and/or people to run those systems. There is no magic bullet here: Use the tools you have, don t trust technology to somehow know what needs to be done, and remember that human intervention and engagement is critical.
Illustration from MCT archives
