Sort/Search-enabled Encryption
Today, encryption of personal and enterprise data is strongly recommended, and in some cases mandated by laws and regulations around the world.
–Cloud Security Alliance, December 2009
In addition to industry-standard text encryption and an enhanced encryption method which allows the preservation of format-sensitive data even when encrypted (e.g., email addresses, credit card numbers), VPS implements a patent-pending encryption method which preserve the application's ability to search and sort through encrypted data, with no modification to the SaaS application required. Fields with non-sensitive data need not be encrypted. Sample applications:
- In an email application, the content of an email message is encrypted such that the email application's search functionality remains intact even while the email content is encrypted.
- In a calendar application, the date and time of a meeting will not be encrypted, enabling the calendar application to function. However, all other details of the meeting will be encrypted such that searching for a calendar entry by name remains possible.
- In a payroll application, all employee names are encrypted, while employee records can still be retrieved by name. The application can also properly sort employee lists by name for any report, even while the name data is encrypted.
- In a call center tracking application, the name of a customer who made a call is not important to the analysis of call center activity, and thus the name can be safely encrypted without impacting the application's functionality. On the other hand, the call duration and the wait time are necessary for the analysis (and generally not considered sensitive) so these fields need not be encrypted. Even when there is the need to be able to locate a call according to the customer's name, or to sort a report by customer name, the name field will still be searchable and sortable, even while encrypted.