Are you related with Security and wanted to know – whether or not Encryption is a Physical Restriction ?
In this resource, we are going to answer That exact subject.
Here, you will learn:
- Is Encryption relates to a Physical Access Restriction ?
- What is meant by Encryption ?
- Introduction to Physical Access
- What is Physical Access Restriction ?
Let’s uncover the above subjects in more details.
Please, you can also click on above LINKS to jump over to specific sections.
What is Encryption ?
Encryption is a Security measure for information protection.
In simple words, Encryption is the process of converting information into secret manner. This is accomplished to keep sensitive data protected.
Usually, prior to transferring sensitive information like Financial records, Encryption becomes mandatory, especially while carrying out data transmission over the Internet.
That means, Encryption is mostly done for Online Transactions, very rare at Local Transmission of sensitive data. However, That depends on personal preferences.
What is meant by Physical Access ?
Physical Access refers to in-person, hands-on, and on-site access to a sensitive resource, such as Computer Hardware. For example, if you can access to a Server’s room, you have physical access to the Server.
In Physical Access, you can touch, change, or do harm to a resource. In a broader sense, Physical Access is more destructive than Remote Access across the Internet.
Usually, Physical Access Security is one of the most important concerns in corporate environments.
Like Remote Access Security, Physical security weighs equal importance for data security.
Define Physical Access Restrictions
Physical Access Restrictions include measures taken to protect physical assets. In physical access, we can count Hardware, Server rooms, sensitive storage devices, or portable Hard drives.
You can also count any device That holds sensitive information as Physical Assets.
Physical Access Restriction measures include door locks, access control measures, authorisation of people, and secret keys.
All such measures count under Physical Access Restrictions and vary from organization to organization.
Related Reading: Why are Coders using Encoder software ?
Is Encryption a Physical Access Restriction ?
Here comes the subject matter.
In a broader sense, Encryption is not a Physical Access Restriction because Encryption belongs to software routines.
Let’s clarify this a little bit more.
With computer algorithms, by using software programs, we can perform Data Encryption for improved security. In this case, hence we can say That Encryption belongs to software related activities.
On the other hand, Physical Access Restriction is something else.
Unlike Encryption, a software based routine, Physical Access Restrictions involve physical manoeuvres to protect resources, including door locks, secret keys, and access authorisation.
Now, there are Two sides of the same puzzle.
One belongs to Software related routines while the other is related to Hardware, or Physical routines.
We can easily differentiate both in this manner.
However, if you count Encryption under “Accessed” cases, you can also count encryption under Physically Accessible items. But, noting down the nature of scenarios is mandatory.
Another big difference between Encryption and Physical Access Restrictions is related to its routines. Encryption consists of software algorithms while Physical Access Restrictions consists of human intervention to protect something physically.
However, keep in mind That both measures are taken to protect sensitive data.
Another thing, Encryption also needs the opposite measure to work. For example, if you have encrypted some data, you will need to perform the opposite routine to see your data, called Decryption.
So, Decryption is the process of seeing your encrypted data back in its original form. It is like a process of converting data from secret form to Human readable format.
Conclusion
If you need to understand security measures, you will need to probe Encryption and Physical Access Restrictions.
Both are different.
One deals with software algorithms to protect sensitive data, while the other ensure handling unauthorised physical access to sensitive places like Server Rooms.
Encryption is accomplished prior to transferring data across Internet. In this manner, the receiving end also needs to decry-pt the data.
By looking at how both routines operate, you can quickly differentiate Encryption from Physical Access Restrictions.
Last but not least, in an organization – both individuals responsible for Encryption and Physical Access Restrictions work together for improved security.
Note: This article is kept factually correct and updated. If you want to let us know your thoughts, please join the conversation in the comments.