Encryption and 'kill switches'.

• Position: Tip of the Month

What should be encrypted to protect personally identifiable information? Hard Drives? Data? Files? Email?

All personally identifiable information stored on mobile devices should be encrypted, as should all such info transmitted across public networks or wirelessly, to the extent technically feasible. Encryption changes data into a form for which meaning cannot be assigned without the use of a confidential process or key. State or federal regulation may define encryption even further.

Hard-drive encryption secures data in the event a computer is lost or stolen. Data encryption protects information such as Social Security numbers. File encryption protects files and email attachments, such as a PDFs encrypted with a password or...