Automating the encryption and decryption of the data you send out and receive can serve as a first line of defense against cybersecurity threats. And there are more benefits that can further reduce the pressure on your IT staff and administrators and increase security around the files you send and receive each day.
How Can Organizations Benefit from Automated File Encryption and Decryption?
First, you can free your IT team to focus on other, more pressing priorities when you automate the processes around file encryption and decryption. Doing so can help your organization:
- Reduce the potential for human error and improve accuracy
- Shrink time spent on manual intervention
- Get rid of repetitive, error-prone tasks
- Help ensure compliance requirements are met
- Reduce labor hours and costs
- Get better insights and transparency of file transfers
Automatic Encryption: What is It?
At its most basic, it means that your users do not need to take additional action to ensure that the files they are sending and receiving are protected by strong encryption protocols such as AS2, AS3, AS4, Open PGP, ZIP with AES, SFTP, FTPS, PeSit, or HTTPS
With a file transfer solution, such as Fortra’s GoAnywhere MFT, the encryption protocol is automatically applied before the file is sent and maintains that protection as it travels to its destination.
To ensure automatic encryption or /decryption works enterprise-wide, GoAnywhere can be deployed across multiple environments – on-premises, Cloud, Cloud platforms such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, as well as hybrid environments and as a SaaS solution.
With centralized control of all your security settings and robust auditing and reporting features, automatic encryption with MFT can take off one of the many hats that your IT team wears.
On-Demand Webinar: How to Choose the Right Encryption Method for Securely Exchanging Files
Choosing an Encryption Method to Automate
It’s important to look at several factors before choosing an encryption standard to automate:
- How sensitive is the data being exchanged?
- How will the data be transmitted (FTP, email, HTTP, etc.)?
- Are large files, which should be compressed, being exchanged?
- Should the actual files be encrypted (before transmission) or should the connection itself be encrypted?
- What encryption standards do your trading partners support? A trading partner may ultimately dictate the encryption standards you’ll need to adopt.
Our guide to Automating File Encryption and Decryption offers a number of file exchange scenarios and recommendations for which encryption protocol is best. See which method you most likely need and which you can automate with managed file transfer.
One example: Large, sensitive files, FTP or email distribution
You need to send purchase orders to your vendors, which you consider sensitive data. The files can be rather large in size and should be compressed before being sent. The purchase orders could be sent over standard FTP connections or via email.
Recommendation: ZIP with AES Encryption, Secure Mail, or Open PGP
Automating Encryption and Decryption: Easy with GoAnywhere MFT
GoAnywhere MFT can automate the encryption and decryption process, keeping files secure both at rest and in transit. With ultimate flexibility and security, you can choose the encryption standard required by your trading partners for each individual transfer.
In addition, GoAnywhere MFT integrates securely with the cloud and third-party applications, manages keys and certificates, tracks all file transfer activity, helps with compliance, and more. Let one of our file transfer experts show you how.
