Why Encrypt? Hint: It’s About More Than Just FIPS 140 Level 2 Compliance
If your organization does business with the U.S. military, then you’re probably already familiar with FIPS 140 Level 2 encryption requirements. And demonstrating compliance is an essential first step to landing government clients.
But even if you’re not working exclusively in the defense industry, consider the damage that a data breach could do to your firm’s reputation. Potential clients might pick up a newspaper and discover that your company was responsible for the leak of the names and credit card numbers of, say, 2,000 clients. The negative news associated with this sort of breach would almost certainly result in a loss of business and a damaged reputation.
Consider also the immediate bottom-line damage a data breach can cause. This year, the average cost of a data breach has grown to $4.24 million. In addition to heavy fines, firms responsible for leaks may face criminal liability and even possible prison time.
The point of this article isn’t to scare you, though. We merely hope to illustrate why file encryption is a must for any business—and why implementing it doesn’t have to be a headache
Three Types of Information That Demand Rigorous Protection
We can’t stress it enough: there are so many reasons for you to consider implementing encryption that meets FIPS 140 Level 2 requirements. These reasons go way beyond being a defense contractor that has to demonstrate compliance.
If your firm handles any kind of payment information for clients, you need to protect yourself from possible theft of the information. This is the most valuable data for today’s increasing number of cyber-thieves.
Does your organization handle sensitive medical data for patients? While this data may not be as attractive to thieves, it’s protected by HIPAA—and any unauthorized exposure can land you in trouble with regulators.
What about your intellectual property? The new microchip, medication, or electric vehicle you just designed? Thieves know how valuable these plans would be to your competitors.
Now, if your organization is like most, you don’t need to be convinced of the value of installing FIPS 140 Level 2 encryption. But you’ve been holding off because you’re concerned about the disruption to your business processes. As it turns out, encryption doesn’t have to involve radical changes to the way you work.
The Easiest Way to Achieve FIPS 140 Level 2 Compliance
One way to protect your sensitive data and intellectual property is to develop an on-premises file server and then encrypt it. However, after you go live with this server, your staff will need to update and monitor it constantly. And you’ll need to install a system event manager that alerts you every time parameters go out of bounds.
A better idea is to use a cloud file sharing platform that provides the level of encryption you need. This way, you won’t burden your IT team with the task of maintaining yet another technology platform. There are cloud file sharing platforms that offer the FIPS 140 Level 2 encryption you need with none of the IT burden.
With a cloud file sharing platform, an originator uploads sensitive data. The data then stays on the server until a recipient downloads it. The cloud repository is encrypted at the file level. Uploads and downloads are also encrypted at the file level. This setup eliminates the possibility of cyber-thieves stealing the data in transit if it’s attached to an email. You can simply share a link to the file in the cloud and the recipient logs into the platform to access the data securely.
Cocoon Data uses a patented Secure Objects approach to further secure data within our file sharing solution. Rather than simply protecting all your sensitive data in a vault with a single key, we provide a unique encryption key for each file. This approach helps minimize any chance of your data falling into the wrong hands.
With Cocoon Data, you get granular access control at the object level—but your users can continue using the same communication technology they’ve always used. All the heavy encryption work happens under the hood, so your employees can focus on doing their jobs.
Get Started Now
Getting started with FIPS 140 Level 2 encryption is easy. Cocoon Data is a plug-and-play solution. As soon as you enter some basic information, we’ll give you a terabyte of cloud storage space to start with. From there, you can scale up as your needs dictate.
We think you’ll be impressed when you try it today
