HP says encrypted data remains safe even if security is breached

HP has announced new encryption capabilities as well as information protection and control solutions that help safeguard data throughout its entire life cycle. The new HP Atalla solutions support data whether it’s at rest, in motion or in use—across cloud, on-premises and mobile environments.

According to HP, organisations face on average 122 successful attacks per week*. Security teams have to assume that they have already been breached, leaving encryption as the weapon to proactively protect data as it travels on open networks or is stored in the cloud.

“As organisations embrace the New Style of IT, protecting sensitive information as it moves within and outside the enterprise becomes more critical than ever before,” said Art Gilliland, Senior VP and GM, Enterprise Security Products, HP. “Building on decades of leadership in information protection, we are now extending the scale and power of HP Atalla’s encryption technology from the data centre to the cloud—safeguarding data regardless of where it resides.”

The HP Atalla solutions are the first line of defense in data loss prevention, encrypting sensitive data as it is created and blocking an attacker from accessing the keys to unlock it. Designed for organisations that need to protect sensitive information, including financial institutions, retailers, energy companies, healthcare providers and governments, HP Atalla solutions provide added protection against the exposure of sensitive data while supporting optimal performance and flexibility.

Chris James, Senior VP, Product Development, Issuer Processing, Visa said: “HP Atalla is a critical piece of our enterprise IT portfolio, delivering innovative security solutions with the operational excellence, performance and reliability that helps Visa DPS enable secure access to business-critical payment processing data.”

High-profile data breaches and stringent regulatory compliance requirements have triggered widespread adoption of data encryption. When data is encrypted correctly, it significantly reduces the risk of financial losses and damage to an organisation’s reputation. However, deploying several disparate or incompatible encryption tools can create hundreds of thousands of encryption keys, resulting in new security risks, poor performance and complex manageability.

HP Atalla addresses several different aspects of the data lifecycle. Firstly, HP Secure Encryption with HP Enterprise Secure Key Manager (ESKM) 4.0 unifies and automates encryption controls to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data. HP ESKM 4.0 reduces the cost and complexity of managing encryption keys across a distributed infrastructure with consistent security controls, automated key services and a single point of management. Easily integrated with HP hardware solutions, including HP ProLiant Gen 8 Servers, it secures and manages encryption keys without slowing server performance. HP ESKM 4.0 also fully supports the OASIS Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP), bringing open standards to encryption key management.

Secondly, organisations need to encrypt and manage encryption keys even as the data is transferred to the cloud. Deployed in minutes, HP Atalla Cloud Encryption reduces the complexity of encryption and key management in public, private and hybrid cloud environments with split-key encryption, a method for combining and splitting keys during the encryption process. In addition, customers can leverage integration with HP Enterprise Secure Key Manager to automatically manage and protect master keys on premises in FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated security appliances.

With the consumerisation of IT and the explosion of social media, it is estimated that 2.5 exabytes of new data is created every day** and the volume of new data is doubling every 12 to 18 months***. A third thrust of the HP Atalla family is the HP Atalla Information Protection and Control (IPC) software, which protects sensitive enterprise data at every stage of the data life cycle—from creation to collaboration to storage. The software uses an information-centric encryption approach that applies persistent protection to follow the data throughout its life cycle, no matter where it resides. The encryption technology is easily incorporated into business processes without adding complexity or time consuming and costly integration.

HP Secure Encryption with centralised key management is available by ordering the required HP ProLiant Gen 8 server HP Smart Storage options together with enterprise key management and client licenses from HP Atalla. Enterprises also can retrofit their compatible environments with the required HP Smart Array controllers to take advantage of this solution.

New investment solutions are also available globally from HP Financial Services to help enterprises quickly embrace the power of HP Atalla and maintain cost control in their businesses through a simple and predictable financing option****.

*HP Ponemon Cost of Cyber Crime Study, September 2013.

**The Disruptive Power of Big Data, Vertica White Paper, November 2013.

***IDC Predictions 2012: Competing for 2020.

****Financing and service offerings are available through Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively HPFSC) in certain countries and are subject to credit approval and execution of standard HPFSC documentation. Rates and terms are based on customer’s credit rating, offering types, services and/or equipment type and options. Not all customers may qualify. Not all services or offers are available in all countries. Other restrictions may apply. HPFSC reserves the right to change or cancel this programme at any time without notice.