Week 6 - Encryption

  As we have learned, making sure that whatever data is being processed will need to have security features. These security features will vary from cloud to cloud environment, but one of the consistencies that many cloud environments have in common is the Encryption of data.

What is encryption? Encryption is the use of an algorithm to rearrange data into a format that can only be undone by the same algorithm. The process of undoing this data formatting is called decrypting. Data that has yet to be encrypted would be referred to as plaintext. There are a couple of different encryption methods that are used. For instance, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), is one of the main methods that can encrypt information. AES can take any form of text that is a coherent sentence and transform that into text that may not make sense. For example "We are enhancing our cloud security protocol" can be turned into fhgajhcmaitua359SDFqaVB)AF0x4 (yes, I did just press random characters on my keyboard.) Now, when it comes to cloud computing, some other factors need to be taken into consideration. To deploy cloud computing encryption you must consider the following:

• The cost associated with encryption methods
• Where the encryption keys are stored
• Encryption policies, techniques, and capabilities of the CSP

Even though some points need to be evaluated and considered, encryption is still a tool that must be utilized. As such, I hope you understand in a basic sense why encryption is so important.