Benefits of Hardware Encryption

Factors for Encryption

When choosing to secure your data on a portable device, there is no better way to do so than utilizing encryption. Once encrypted, how safe your data actually is depends upon on a number of factors. The algorithm (sometimes referred to as a cipher) that is used such as government standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) or Blowfish is one factor. Think of an algorithm as a padlock on your data. The only way to unlock the data it is to use a key (your password). As with Padlocks, some algorithms are stronger than others (256-bit AES is generally perceived as being the strongest and most reliable option).

In addition to algorithms, encrypting your data using either software based encryption or hardware based encryption is another very important factor. While software and hardware encryption are both able to encrypt data using the same algorithm palette, there are key advantages associated with hardware encryption.

Speed

One of the major benefits to encrypting data using hardware based encryption is speed. When encrypting data using software encryption, an application running on your device actually does the encryption. This means your data has to be processed through the running software first before being stored on your device. This is typically a slow process—much slower than copying files straight to the device and not using software encryption. Since you actually have to run software to initiate this, your computer's resources become tied down and your system performance will decrease. Hardware encryption actually encrypts data using a special chip inside the device. Since a physical chip is what encrypts the data and not a piece of software, the result is drastically faster encryption times as well as zero strain on your computer's resources.

Ease of Use

Software encryption applications require you to encrypt your data using the software itself. You usually have to designate a spot on your flash drive just for encrypted data, which can often be a complex and confusing task to set up. Encrypting data with hardware encryption is much easier. Since the hardware on your device does the encrypting, all you have to do is essentially enter your password and use the device like a normal flash drive—just copy and paste files onto the device.

Security

When your data is encrypted, it is scrambled into a bunch of meaningless data—only your password key can unscramble it back to its original form. During the process of encrypting, software encryption exposes the key to the computer since the software has to work with the computer's resources. There are ways for hackers to recover this information and determine the password for the device. Hardware encryption never exposes the password key to the computer—it is only seen by the encryption chip the data passes through inside the device.

Data encrypted using software encryption is stored as a file on the device. Although this file is encrypted and cannot be accessed without a password, it is visible for all users to see. A hacker could copy this file onto their own computer and subject it to a wide array of attacks with hopes of cracking the password. You will not be able to see the data on a hardware encrypted flash drive without first entering the password. This makes any type of offline attack extremely difficult to execute.

Policy Adherence

It is becoming increasingly common for organizations to require all data on a portable device to be encrypted. This means that in order to comply with such a policy, there can not be any free space (often referred to as "public space") available on the device to store unencrypted files. Software encryption applications can not force a user to use the encryption application. If a user wishes to add an unencrypted file to the device, he or she can simply choose not to run the software and add files to the device like they normally would. When properly configured (like the DiskGO Secure GUARDIAN), hardware encryption can implement mandatory encryption rules that require users to encrypt all files copied to the device—storing unencrypted data is not an option. The only way to store data on the device is to input a password which then grants the user access to copy, save, and read files to and from the device.