Data at Rest
Data at rest refers to all data stored on physical or virtual storage devices, such as hard drives, SSDs (Solid State Drives), USB drives, servers, and cloud storage solutions. Unlike data in transit, which is susceptible to interception during transmission over networks, data at rest is stationary, making it vulnerable to unauthorized access, theft, or alteration if storage devices are compromised or accessed. To secure data at rest, organizations employ various strategies including encryption, strong access controls, and data masking. Encryption is the most effective method to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data at rest, ensuring that even if data is accessed by unauthorized individuals, it remains unreadable without the appropriate decryption key.