Encryption could make you more vulnerable, warn experts

The use of data encryption could make organizations vulnerable to new risks and threats, a panel of security experts warned Monday. Many organizations are encrypting their stored data to relieve concerns over data theft or loss - for example, U.S. mandatory disclosure laws on data breaches do not apply to encrypted data.

However, experts from IBM Internet Security Systems, Juniper, nCipher and elsewhere said that data encryption also brings new risks, in particular via attacks - deliberate or accidental - on the key management infrastructure.

The change comes particularly with the shift from encrypting data in transit to encrypting stored data - often in response to regulatory demands - said Richard Moulds, nCipher's product strategy EVP.

"Lot of organizations are new to encryption," he added. "Their only exposure to it has been with SSL, but that's just a session. When you shift to data at rest and encrypt your laptop, if you lose the key you trash your data - it's a self-inflicted denial-of-service attack.