Bring your own encryption (BYOE) is gaining momentum in an increasingly cloud-dominated world enabling always-on enterprises, owing to the need for more effective security, says availability and business recovery company Veeam senior product strategy manager Rick Vanover.

BYOE enables companies to use their own encryption software and manage their own encryption keys on a cloud service.

“There is a move towards social engineering attacks and attacking what is perceived to be the weakest point of any information technology security system – the user – and there is little to be done; users increase security risks for companies. However, BYOE seeks to change this.”

The practicality of tightening defences in the modern data centre to such an extent that resources receive the best protection possible does not work in a world focused on ease of use, real-time access and multiple devices, he adds.

BYOE significantly reduces the potential for data to be compromised in a data centre. Encryption has long been a preferred way of approaching protection at file level and the same applies to files in a cloud or hosted environment.

Data access is limited to those with encryption keys, with the user and device authentication made significantly more defensible. This is especially important when it comes to compliance issues like data sovereignty, as data will be encrypted wherever it is stored, says Vanover.

“Another common concern for organisations adopting a hosted environment is what happens if they want to migrate data to a different provider. Fortunately, encryption makes this much easier than before.

Even if residual data remains with the previous provider, it would be completely inaccessible without the correct encryption key. This provides decision-makers with the peace of mind that company data will always be encrypted and locked during and after a migration.”

It is the combination of security and fulfilling regulatory requirements that will result in BYOE being adopted by organisations reviewing their cloud strategies and security, he says, adding that, while the level of security required by companies differ, BYOE provides a fundamental layer of protection that is necessary, he avers.

“Those enterprises that are serious about being always-on need to find the best way to protect their data while providing relevant employees with access to it. Even though it is still in its infancy, BYOE promises the security and flexibility required for the connected era,” he concludes.