File Encryption: How to Keep Individual Files Safe

Encrypting a whole disk isn't enough when you aim for robust data security.

You need to encrypt files at an individual level to protect them against malicious hackers. It'll help you keep your sensitive data safe when physical thefts occur, or a threat actor penetrates through your disk-level security defenses.

Hackers are constantly looking for sensitive and confidential data to exploit and use for their benefit or against an organization. It results in a data breach that can incur financial and reputational losses.

File encryption helps businesses maintain data security and comply with industry regulations by protecting sensitive data at a granular level from unauthorized access.

What is file encryption?

File encryption or file-based encryption is the process of protecting individual files on a system using encryption algorithms. It scrambles data into an unintelligible form that a user can decode or decrypt with the help of cryptographic keys.

The primary goal of file encryption is to ensure that files are protected against malicious hackers. It’s beneficial when people need to transfer files over the internet or store them securely on removable drives such as a USB flash drive.

Many people use built-in file encryption systems offered by Microsoft Windows or Apple's Mac OS. In enterprises, encryption software becomes a preferred choice to ensure more robust data protection. 

Professionals often have mixed views on using full disk encryption (FDE) or file-based encryption (FBE) while protecting enterprise files. Full-disk encryption offers disk-level automatic encryption when files are written or read from a disk but doesn’t offer encryption at the file level. If an attacker can crack user credentials through brute force to access a disk, your files fall at risk. 

When it comes to guarding sensitive information, you’ll need both file-based encryption and full disk encryption to protect against a data breach. File encryption adds an additional layer of security to full-disk encryption and keeps your files safe in instances of physical theft.

Why is file encryption important?

File encryption protects organizations from cyber attacks and reduces exposure to security threats. Cybercriminals target user accounts to gain unauthorized access to your information. In a scenario where an attacker penetrates a user account, they can access the files available and compromise cybersecurity. In such situations, file encryption adds a layer of security defense by encrypting individual files.

Similarly, file encryption provides security to files stored in the cloud. Even if a perpetrator successfully gains access to cloud storage, they’d have to crack the decryption key to access stored files. You can also use cloud file security software for extra peace of mind.

File encryption prevents your data from being exposed in instances of physical device theft. If your files aren’t encrypted, an attacker can scan the hard disk and access your data. You can prevent it with file-level encryption, which would require the attacker to know the user password to gain access. The underlying focus of file encryption is data protection. It also helps organizations comply with regulations and keep their customer’s data safe and secure. 

File encryption vs. full disk encryption

It’s a general view that having some form of encryption is better than no encryption at all. But using full disk encryption (FDE)  exclusively might give you a false sense of security. 

If an attacker cracks FDE, you’re prone to risking data confidentiality and integrity. You need file encryption to keep data secure in such incidents. File encryption adds a layer of security defense and makes it challenging for an attacker to access sensitive files even when they gain access to a storage disk.

File encryption benefits and challenges

File encryption provides ideal top-to-bottom encryption to conceal information like metadata, directories, file structures, and data within files. In multi-user systems, it ensures that no two users can access the same file by default since the encryption key is unique.

You get a granular view of access logs that helps detect anomalies and ensures proper analytics and reporting. 

Full-disk encryption benefits and challenges

Full-disk encryption is easy to implement and requires minimal maintenance once deployed. It churns out the possibility of human error by encrypting both sensitive and non-sensitive files, ensuring all files are encrypted by default. 

Organizations need to follow a layered approach to ensure the security of their data, which means using both file encryption and full-disk encryption together. It’s an effective way to secure sensitive files in storage or in transit for most cases.

How do files get encrypted?

File encryption takes place through asymmetric or symmetric encryption. Some systems use both of them in a combination to strengthen security. 

Asymmetric encryption or public-key cryptography is a cryptographic system that employs two different keys: a public (or shared) key and a private (or secret) key. The public key is available to everyone and can be used to encrypt plaintext messages, which can then be decrypted only by the recipient with the corresponding private key.

Symmetric encryption is a method of encrypting data using the same key to encrypt and decrypt. A party that carries out encryption using this method should share the private key with the receiver so they can decode information. This technique is comparatively easier to scale and requires less computational power. However, it stages some key management challenges that can impact encrypted files' security. For example, when encryption and decryption happen in different locations, the private key moves from one place to another, making it vulnerable to attack.

How to encrypt files on Windows and Mac

You can follow a series of steps to encrypt files on Windows or Mac. These are suitable for personal encryption needs since encrypted files can be deleted or sometimes cracked by tech-savvy and financially sound attackers. Enterprise users can use third-party encryption software to ensure more robust data protection, which is scalable across environments.

Encrypt files on Windows

You can encrypt files on Windows using the encrypting file system (EFS), available for Enterprise and Pro users of Windows 10 and Windows 8.1. EFS doesn’t change the way you access files. Once you login into your user account, you’ll have access to all files. Make sure your user account password is a strong one as it’s the one guarding your files.

Encrypt files on Mac

Encryption helps organizations maintain data integrity and confidentiality. On Macs, encryption is carried out through multiple subsequent steps.

This method of encryption is suitable for those looking for budget options to encrypt their files. Enterprises should use more robust and comprehensive encryption software solutions for the overall organization’s cybersecurity.

How to choose a file encryption software

File encryption software, also known as file-level encryption software, uses cryptography to safeguard sensitive and confidential files against unauthorized access. It allows you to encrypt content within a file and secure other elements like metadata and file structures. 

File encryption software uses several algorithms (like advanced encryption standard) to encrypt and decrypt data. The effectiveness of encryption relies on the strength of the encryption algorithm (for example, AES-256), encryption key length, and the encryption method.

Choosing file encryption software can be confusing for a professional. It involves learning different software capabilities and finding the right features that can best serve your purpose. You need to perform due diligence to assess a particular software, technical support, and the training required to onboard users. 

Get details, user reviews, and comparisons with similar software vendors. You can take encryption software free trials to find the one that suits you the best. Still, you need to know what to look for and what questions to ask while comparing your options.

Identify threats

Understand the threats to protect your information from. Perform a risk analysis to identify threats and check if the software can defend against them. If not, what else you’d need in addition to encryption software to safeguard your files.

For example, if you need to protect your assets against physical theft, ask software vendors about the capabilities of the encryption software while dealing with such incidents. 

Finalize requirements

Be honest in identifying whether you need software to ensure robust data protection or comply with regulatory requirements. Both are separate cases. 

You can choose user-obtrusive software that ensures maximum security and assures robust data protection. On the contrary, you can select software that provides standard data protection and helps you comply with regulations.  Once you have finalized your software use case, the next step is to fix the encryption layers.

There are different ways to encrypt a file, and understanding how the software vendor does it will help you measure its effectiveness in ensuring information security. 

Analyze training needs

Obtrusive software would require more user training and technical support in the long run. Consequently, it might cost you a substantial amount in addition to its licensing fees. 

Perform a focused group test to identify confusions and check for areas needing support from software providers. Determine if users will install and configure the software themselves, or it can be centrally managed. 

You should confirm a tentative time for the teams to get trained and whether the vendor would provide additional support to the help desk in offering assistance to users.

Check compatibility

Identify whether the file encryption software of your choice is compatible with your present infrastructure. If not, you’ll incur additional costs to build an infrastructure to support encryption software.

Make sure you check that the file encryption software is compatible with other applications. For example, check whether your antivirus software can scan encrypted files. You need to ensure that the file encryption software works harmoniously with your operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, etc.) and the vendor can keep up with the technological changes in the industry.

Assess encryption scope

Sensitive data can be anywhere. It can be on USB flash drives, external hard drives, CDs/DVDs, mobile phones, or cameras. You should check with the encryption software provider if the product can encrypt data on these media.

Determine how software will force a user to save sensitive data in encrypted files only and how the product will manage encryption keys or passwords for backups. You should also examine the ways keys can be recovered when lost and make sure it isn’t a path of least resistance that malicious hackers can use to gain access. 

Encryption key management is an important factor that you should handle with care, or else it can create security gaps. You need to ensure that keys are stored securely with appropriate security measures in place.

Understand vendor’s incident response plan 

No security system can offer a hundred percent security to your assets. Incidents happen, and when they do, an incident response plan is paramount to minimize the damage. Check whether the software vendor has an incident response plan and how they deal with a situation where the product fails. 

Make sure you have options to get the necessary logs to detect anomalies and conduct audits, enabling you to quickly respond to a compromise and limit damages.

Protect data with encryption

Use a file encryption tool to secure individual files on your systems and protect the information contained within. Maintain data integrity and confidentiality while adhering to compliance requirements and take a step toward actualizing robust data security in your organization.

Learn more about encryption in detail, its types, and algorithms needed to build a holistic approach to data security and keep your information secure.