Imagine your business data as a treasure chest full of valuable information — customer details, financial records, and operational secrets. Naturally, you would want to lock it up tight to keep it safe from prying eyes. That is where data encryption comes in. Think of it as a secret code that scrambles your data so that even if someone manages to sneak in, all they will see is a jumbled mess.

What is Encryption?
 Think of encryption as placing your data in a secure lockbox. It uses complex mathematical formulas to scramble your information, making it unreadable to anyone without the right key. There are several types of encryption techniques, ranging from simple to highly sophisticated.

Encryption serves four main purposes:

1. Confidentiality: Keeps data secret by making it unreadable to unauthorized users.

2. Integrity: Ensures that the data has not been tampered with.

3. Authentication: Verifies the source of the data, confirming it is from a trusted sender.

4. Non-repudiation: Prevents the sender from denying they sent the data.

Types of Encryptions
 Data encryption is divided into two main categories:

1. Encryption at Rest: This protects data stored on devices or in the cloud. Even if someone gets their hands on your hardware, they cannot read the encrypted data. IBM’s Db2 comes with built-in encryption, and tools like IBM Guardium can secure backups too.

2. Encryption in Transit: This protects data moving across networks. It scrambles data as it travels, making it unreadable to anyone trying to intercept it. For IBM i systems, Db2 data in transit is encrypted using TLS.

Types of Encryption Algorithms
 There are two common encryption methods:

1. Symmetric Encryption: Uses one key for both encrypting and decrypting data. It is fast but risky — if someone gets hold of the key, they can access everything.

2. Asymmetric Encryption: Uses two keys — a public key for encrypting data and a private key for decrypting it. It is more secure but requires more computing power.

How IBM i Applications Use Encryption
IBM i systems use several encryption techniques:

1. Db2 Native Encryption: IBM i employs dual-key encryption for robust security. It adds a strong layer of security, using a Data Encryption Key (DEK) protected by a Master Key (MK). This makes it harder for attackers to access sensitive data.

2. Field Security: Allows read-only access to specific fields, preventing unauthorized updates. Row & Column Access Control (RCAC) provides field-level security by using column masks to hide or change column data and row permissions to filter rows directly on the database table.

3. IFS File Encryption: Secures files and objects stored in the Integrated File System (IFS).

Benefits of Encryption

1. Data Protection Across Devices: Encryption safeguards data as it moves across different devices and networks.

2. Data Integrity: Ensures data remains unchanged and untampered.

3. Secures Digital Transformation: As more businesses move to the cloud, encryption keeps data safe during storage and transfer.

Potential Drawbacks

1. Ransomware: Cybercriminals can use encryption to lock your stolen data.

2. Performance overhead: Inefficient encryption setups can slow down system operations.

3. Key management: Losing a master key can make data unrecoverable.

Conclusion
 Today, protecting sensitive business data is more important than ever. Encryption is a powerful tool to keep data safe from cybercriminals while ensuring compliance with industry standards. But implementing encryption effectively requires the right strategies and tools to maintain performance and minimize costs.