Encryption

The mathematical armour protecting your organisation's most valuable asset — and the technology standing between your data and a $4.5 million breach.

The global encryption software market reached $14 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed $35 billion by 2030, reflecting the escalating stakes of data protection in an era of relentless cyberattacks. The average cost of a data breach in 2025 was $4.88 million, according to IBM — but organisations with mature encryption strategies reduced breach costs by an average of $1.5 million. With regulations like GDPR mandating encryption as a baseline safeguard and quantum computing threatening to break current encryption standards within the decade, encryption strategy has become a board-level conversation that no business leader can afford to ignore.

What It Is

Encryption is the process of converting readable data (plaintext) into an unreadable format (ciphertext) using mathematical algorithms and a secret key. Only someone with the correct decryption key can reverse the process and restore the original data. Think of it as a high-tech safe: you place your valuables inside, lock it with a key, and only someone with that key can access the contents. The difference is that encryption works at massive scale — protecting everything from a single email to an entire database containing millions of customer records.

There are two fundamental types of encryption that every executive should understand. Symmetric encryption uses the same key to lock and unlock the data — like a single key that both locks and opens a door. It is fast and efficient, making it ideal for encrypting large volumes of data, such as database contents or file storage. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) is the dominant symmetric algorithm and is considered virtually unbreakable with current technology. Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys: a public key (shared with anyone) and a private key (kept secret). Anyone can encrypt data using your public key, but only you can decrypt it with your private key. This is the technology that secures internet communications (HTTPS), digital signatures, and email encryption.

Encryption operates at multiple levels within an organisation. Encryption at rest protects data stored on disks, databases, and backup media — ensuring that a stolen hard drive or compromised database yields only unreadable ciphertext. Encryption in transit protects data as it moves across networks — the padlock icon in your browser indicates that your connection to a website is encrypted. End-to-end encryption, used by messaging platforms like Signal and WhatsApp, ensures that only the communicating parties can read messages — not even the platform provider has access. Each level addresses different threat scenarios and is often required by different regulatory frameworks.

Why It Matters for Business

Encryption is no longer optional — it is a regulatory, contractual, and competitive necessity. GDPR Article 32 explicitly requires "encryption of personal data" as an appropriate technical measure. PCI DSS mandates encryption for stored cardholder data and data in transit. HIPAA requires encryption of protected health information. Failure to implement encryption can result in higher regulatory fines (up to 4% of global revenue under GDPR), invalidated cyber insurance claims, and reputational damage that erodes customer trust.

Beyond compliance, encryption is increasingly a competitive differentiator. Apple has built its brand identity around privacy and encryption, marketing end-to-end encryption as a reason to choose iPhone over Android. Signal and WhatsApp have attracted billions of users by making encrypted communication the default. In B2B markets, enterprise customers routinely require encryption of their data as a contractual condition — if you cannot demonstrate robust encryption practices, you may lose deals.

The emerging quantum computing threat adds urgency to encryption strategy. Current asymmetric encryption (RSA, ECC) will be vulnerable to quantum computers capable of running Shor's algorithm, which could break these encryptions in hours rather than millennia. While quantum computers of sufficient scale do not yet exist, the "harvest now, decrypt later" threat is real: adversaries may be collecting encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it when quantum capabilities mature. NIST (the US National Institute of Standards and Technology) finalised its first post-quantum encryption standards in 2024, and organisations should begin planning their migration now.

Enterprise Use Cases

JPMorgan Chase encrypts over 500 petabytes of customer data across its global operations, using AES-256 for data at rest and TLS 1.3 for data in transit. The bank also implements field-level encryption, where particularly sensitive data elements (Social Security numbers, account numbers) are individually encrypted with separate keys, providing defence in depth. This layered encryption architecture enabled JPMorgan to reduce the scope and cost of regulatory audits by 40%, because encrypted data fields are often exempt from audit requirements.

NHS England implemented a comprehensive encryption strategy across the National Health Service, encrypting all patient data at rest in its centralised data lake, all data in transit between NHS facilities, and providing end-to-end encrypted messaging for clinical communications. The encryption infrastructure processes over 2 million encrypted transactions per minute across the health system and has been cited as a model for healthcare data protection globally.

Cloudflare provides encryption-as-a-service to over 20 million internet properties. Its Universal SSL programme, which provides free TLS certificates to all customers, was credited with increasing encrypted web traffic from 50% to over 95% of all internet connections within three years of its launch. For Cloudflare's enterprise customers, the company handles certificate management, key rotation, and cryptographic compliance — abstracting encryption complexity while ensuring data protection.

Vendor Landscape

Encryption capabilities are increasingly embedded in cloud platforms and enterprise software rather than purchased as standalone products. AWS Key Management Service (KMS) manages encryption keys at $1 per key per month plus API request costs. Azure Key Vault and Google Cloud KMS offer comparable cloud-native key management. For hardware-based key security, Thales and Entrust (formerly AT&T's certificate business) lead the Hardware Security Module (HSM) market, with enterprise HSMs priced at $15,000–$80,000 per unit. For database encryption, Oracle Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) and Microsoft SQL Server Always Encrypted are built into the respective database platforms. Virtru and Zix provide email and file encryption for regulated industries, with enterprise pricing typically between $10 and $30 per user per month. For post-quantum encryption, Google, Apple, and Cloudflare have begun implementing hybrid encryption schemes that combine classical and post-quantum algorithms, and NIST-approved post-quantum libraries are being integrated into major operating systems and cloud platforms throughout 2026.

Strategic Considerations

Implement encryption comprehensively — do not leave gaps. Encrypt data at rest and in transit as a baseline. Implement field-level encryption for your most sensitive data elements. Ensure encryption key management follows the principle of separation of duties: the team managing keys should be separate from the team managing the data. Plan your post-quantum cryptography migration now — it is a multi-year programme, and the transition should begin before quantum computers become a practical threat.

The most common pitfall is implementing encryption but neglecting key management. An encryption system is only as secure as its key management practices. Lost keys mean lost data — permanently. Compromised keys mean compromised data. Invest in automated key rotation, secure key storage (preferably using HSMs), and key escrow procedures. Also consider the performance impact: encryption adds computational overhead, particularly on high-throughput database systems. Modern processors include hardware acceleration for AES encryption (AES-NI instructions), which mitigates this overhead to near-zero for most workloads. Ensure your infrastructure leverages these capabilities.