Best Endpoint Encryption Solutions

Endpoint encryption is important because it provides layers of defense that safeguard organizations from cyber threats, large or small. It provides an additional layer of visibility into the threat landscape to understand the root cause of endpoint attacks. The goal of endpoint protection and encryption is to provide security from malware attacks, to gain insight into malicious activities and behaviors, and to provide the capabilities needed to investigate and remediate threats and incidents.

End-to-end encryption, otherwise abbreviated as E2EE, works by encrypting communications into “ciphertext,” which is text that is assembled into seemingly random characters, and is scrambled so it is rendered as unreadable. When an encrypted message is sent, it may be transmitted through several servers. While people may attempt to read the encrypted information, it is impossible for them to convert the ciphertext back to readable plain text. It can only be decrypted with the uniquely specified and private key.

End-to-end security is the method by which endpoint encryption and security measures are used to protect endpoints when communications are transmitted from one end to another. It adds an additional security layer to an organization's security infrastructure. End-to-end security is a key component of a business's infrastructure because it defends against data theft, prevents data loss, and protects systems and servers from external attackers.

A virtual private network, or VPN, is encrypted but does not provide end-to-end encryption. A VPN is an encrypted tunnel that connects your computer to a network and ensures that no one who intercepts your internet signal can decode that data. It uses different types of encryption methods, including public-key encryption, symmetric encryption, AES encryption, and transport layer security. It encrypts your connection from your device to the VPN server, but does no more than just that.

To maximize the benefits of endpoint encryption for their business operations, organizations should follow these best practices.

1. Collaborate with different stakeholders: Working with different stakeholders (IT teams, operations, finance departments, etc.) gives you the opportunity to identify areas that need extra protection that you may have missed. By collaborating, you can also work with stakeholders to determine access controls to make sure security is not compromised.
2. Establish policies: One of the key best practices is to focus on policies as they apply to different endpoints, deciding whether or not they will encrypt removable media or devices, entire disk drives, or specific files or folders.
3. Enforce removable media encryption: Removable devices often contain business-critical information. To protect them, it is best to have an effective encryption strategy that encrypts data when transferred from an endpoint to a removable device. It is also important to ensure proper FDE and FLE policies are applied to your devices, to safeguard your data in the event that a device is stolen, hacked, or gets lost. Additionally, endpoint encryption solutions contain a portable mode feature, allowing you to secure your data when being used in public or on systems that don’t have encryption software already installed.
4. Implement industry-proven cryptography: To ensure you have the right kind of data protection, choose encryption solutions that include AES (advanced encryption standards) and a solution that utilizes simplified key management.
5. Integrate complementary layers of security: While encryption serves to keep your data secure, adopting multi-layer security in addition to endpoint encryption can give you the extra protection you need to help mitigate cyberattacks.
6. Make use of administrative tools for data recovery: Another best practice is keeping the encryption keys in a specific and central location in case a user forgets their password or misplaces their device. A reliable encryption solution will have administrative tools that make data recovery easy and fast.
7. Centrally manage your encryption: While some organizations find it a burden to manage complex security solutions, you can integrate the solutions together to manage them centrally, saving time, money, and resources. This way, the software adoption process is seamless and also easy to deploy.
8. Evaluate the health of the endpoint: Before you actually encrypt the endpoint, ensure everything checks out correctly with the health of the endpoint by repairing inconsistencies and leveraging scans to perform integrity checks in order to avoid any errors that would cause a disruption during the encryption process, such as disk corruption or data loss.
9. Run a pilot test to ensure software compatibility: Prior to rolling out encryption software on a large number of computers, it is a good security practice to run a pilot test to check for software compatibility. It is also recommended that any other endpoint encryption software is removed before installing a new one, since it may render a system unusable, or worse, unrecoverable.
10. Ensure decrypted endpoints can handle endpoint recovery: It is best to decrypt a disk first before you perform a recovery task on any endpoint. When it is decrypted, recovery activities can be completed. If you try to repair an encrypted disk, it could lead to data loss or corruption.

Some of the most common endpoint encryption benefits include:

• Because endpoint encryption integrates easily with existing business processes, it maximizes business productivity and delivers optimum efficiency for routine business operations.
• Endpoint encryption eliminates human error by using automatic encryption methods. With manual encryption, mistakes can be made easily, potentially resulting in data loss or other damages.
• Having a centralized management platform for endpoint encryption helps improve visibility and also helps simplify operations. Increased visibility can also highlight security gaps that may have otherwise been overlooked.

• Endpoint encryption monitors and protects valuable data, and prevents data loss.
• Hostile network attacks can be avoided due to integrated firewalls.
• Insider threat protection guards against malicious activity.
• Helps with advanced reporting and auditing.
• With endpoint encryption, your organization can rest assured that data access is authenticated, and therefore is controlled.
• Simplifies remote device management.
• With endpoint encryption, your organization can benefit from centralized policy and key management. Your organization gains better visibility and can execute more control over encryption procedures. In the event of a security breach, endpoint encryption automates policy enforcement and also initiates immediate remediation.

There are many useful features of endpoint encryption software. Some of them include:

• Data leak prevention
• Attack surface reduction controls
• Prevention control
• Application control
• Auto-remediation
• Support for mixed encryption environments
• Malware detection
• Firewalls
• IPS and device control
• Antivirus database
• Single-pane management
• Anomaly alerts
• Automated updates
• Centralized encryption policy creation and management

Endpoint Encryption enhances data security by transforming plain text data into unreadable code on devices such as laptops, desktops, or mobile devices. This encryption ensures that sensitive data remains protected even if the device is lost or stolen, preventing unauthorized access. Implementing Endpoint Encryption significantly reduces the risk of data breaches and helps maintain confidentiality across your organization's endpoints.

Choosing an Endpoint Encryption solution requires assessing several key factors, such as compatibility with existing IT infrastructure, ease of deployment and management, encryption strength, and compliance with industry standards. You must evaluate the solution's ability to integrate with other security tools and ensure that it supports a wide range of devices and operating systems used in your organization. Consider the user experience and how it impacts day-to-day operations.

Endpoint Encryption plays a crucial role in mitigating insider threats by restricting access to sensitive data even among authorized users. By encrypting data at rest, you reduce the likelihood of unauthorized data retrieval. Although it is not a complete solution against insider threats, Endpoint Encryption complements other security measures like multi-factor authentication and activity monitoring to create a comprehensive security strategy.

Modern Endpoint Encryption solutions are designed to minimize impact on system performance. They utilize advanced algorithms and optimized processes to ensure encryption and decryption occur seamlessly in the background. While there might be slight variations in performance depending on the solution and device specifications, most users will experience little to no disruption in their daily activities due to Endpoint Encryption.

Endpoint Encryption is often a critical component of meeting regulatory compliance requirements, as many regulations mandate data encryption to protect sensitive information. However, relying solely on Endpoint Encryption might not fulfill all compliance obligations. You must implement a broader security framework that includes data access controls, regular audits, and comprehensive policies to ensure full compliance with applicable regulations.