Is it Safe in the Clear?

Ahh, encryption. There are few security-related topics that manage to combine complexity, minutiae, and critical needs quite as thoroughly as does encryption. Government agencies simultaneously require and fear encryption, an attitude that is also common among business leaders. Ultimately, there are plenty of reasons to encrypt data (does stolen personal data ring a bell?) and very few reasons to fear it. While relatively few of us might ultimately be the ones implementing encryption, it's important to understand the major issues so we can discuss its implementation and the policies governing its use intelligently. I recently had a phone call with a team of folks from WinMagic, and we discussed encryption as part of a full security program. You can listen to the podcast here.

If you're one of the folks who has a strong opinion on encryption, let me know. I know other people with whom we could have solid conversations on this topic.

If you you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, look over to the left, you'll find the link to subscribe to the Security Channel podcast. In addition, I'd like to ask a favor. Take a minute to drop me a note at [email protected], and let me know what you'd like to hear in future podcasts. A podcast can be short or long, serious or amusing, hands-on or quite strategic. Let me know what you'd like to listen to, and we'll do our best to make it happen. In addition, I'd like to know if you'd be interested in a Skype-based listener-participation feature. I think it would be interesting to hear your opinions, but I'd like to know what your think.

The music in this podcast is "The Sound of the Stars" from the album Secret Journey by Number Six. They're an Internet-savvy group, and you can find their album here. Give them a listen.