Encryption Still the Preferred Method for Protecting Cloud Data: Report

Encryption still vastly outpaces tokenization as a means of defending data in the cloud, according to a new report from a cloud data cybersecurity firm, CipherCloud.

The report covered companies in Forbes's Global 2000, though the cybersecurity firm did not say how many companies were surveyed.

Among the financial services companies that responded, 86% used encryption as their primary method of protecting personal finance data, while 14% used tokenization, which provides replacement tokens for data and requires end-to-end infrastructure. However for more highly sensitive personally identifiable information—like Social Security numbers and dates of birth— 40% of companies used tokenization while 60% used encryption.

Interestingly, 50% of the East Asian and Pacific region firms that CipherCloud surveyed used tokenization, as opposed to 15% in North America and 22% in Europe and the Middle East. CipherCloud explained the discrepancy as a result of data residency requirements.

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Bank technology Cloud computing Data security
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