How to Choose the Right Encryption Solution for Your Industry

Not all encryption solutions are created equal, and what works for one sector might fall short for another. A financial institution has significantly different compliance, risk, and data handling requirements compared to a healthcare provider or defense contractor. Choosing the right encryption solution means aligning it not only with your technical needs but also with the regulatory landscape and workflows unique to your industry.

However, there’s one thing the right solution must have in common: it must protect the file itself, wherever it goes. Whether data is shared across third-party platforms, accessed remotely, or stored in cloud environments, encryption needs to travel with it, not just sit on the network perimeter.

That’s exactly why modern organizations are turning to file-level encryption. With solutions like Theodosiana, access is monitored in real time, and if suspicious activity is detected, it can automatically freeze user or file access. So if you're an IT leader getting an alert in the middle of the night, you’ll know one thing for sure: your sensitive data is already protected.

What Are the Core Requirements of a Strong Encryption Solution?

Before delving into specific industry needs, it’s essential to identify the core capabilities that any reliable encryption solution should offer:

• True end-to-end encryption (E2EE) with customer-controlled keys - Encryption must ensure that only authorized users can decrypt the data. Third parties, including cloud providers, SaaS platforms, infrastructure hosts, and service vendors, should not be able to access plaintext data at any stage. Encryption that only protects data “at-rest” or “in-transit” but allows the platform itself to decrypt the data does not meet this standard.
• Protection for data at-rest, in-transit, and in-use - Sensitive files must remain encrypted not just while stored or transferred, but also during access and collaboration, reducing exposure if platforms or environments are compromised.
• File-level encryption that stays with the data wherever it moves - Encryption should persist independently of location, platform, or storage environment, ensuring consistent protection across cloud services, external partners, and distributed teams.
• Granular, attribute-based, context-aware controls - Strong encryption must be paired with policies that define who can access data, under what conditions, and from which environments. Such as user attributes, device posture, location, time, data sensitivity, and risk signals, ensuring access is granted only under approved conditions.
• Standards-based, validated cryptography - Use of independently validated cryptographic modules (e.g., FIPS 140-3) ensures encryption strength and regulatory acceptance across regulated industries.
• Comprehensive auditability and logging - Every access attempt should be recorded in tamper-resistant logs to support compliance, incident response, and forensic analysis.
• Minimal impact on user workflows - Effective encryption should operate transparently in the background, protecting data without disrupting collaboration or productivity.

How Does Your Industry Influence Your Encryption Requirements?

Ask yourself the following questions to guide your selection process:

1. What Data Am I Protecting?

• Defense: Confidential mission data, supply chain intelligence
• Finance: Cardholder data, transaction histories, and PII
• Healthcare: Electronic health records (EHR), patient data
• Legal: Client-attorney communications, sensitive case files

Understanding what’s at stake helps shape how strong and persistent your encryption needs to be.

2. What Regulations Must I Meet?

Compliance isn’t optional, and your encryption solution should help you meet the requirements:

• Government/Defense: ITAR, CMMC, NIST
• Finance: PCI-DSS, SOX
• Healthcare: HIPAA, HITECH
• General Data Privacy: GDPR, CCPA

The right solution doesn’t just encrypt; it provides evidence of protection through detailed logging, policy enforcement, and secure sharing features.

3. Where Does My Data Live and Travel?

If your data regularly moves across:

• Remote teams or hybrid environments
• Cloud collaboration tools (e.g., Microsoft 365, Google Drive)
• External vendors or partners

Then your encryption needs to travel with your files, not stay confined to a network or device.

What Features Should You Prioritize by Industry?

Here’s how encryption requirements can shift depending on the sector:

Defense/Aerospace

• File-level encryption with offline access
• Expiring access and geo-fencing
• Support for air-gapped or secure environments

Finance

• Real-time encryption of transaction data
• Tamper-proof audit trails
• Strong identity and access management

Healthcare

• Protection for EHR systems and cloud-based health tools
• Role-based access control
• Data integrity checks for medical records

Legal

• Secure collaboration with external counsel or clients
• Redaction and watermarking features
• Strong user authentication

How Can You Evaluate a Solution Without Disrupting Workflows?

One of the primary concerns for decision-makers is striking a balance between security and usability. Ask potential vendors:

• Does the encryption work without manual user input?
• Will this slow down file sharing or day-to-day access?
• Can we automate policy enforcement based on user roles or file types?
• Is there visibility into how encrypted files are being accessed or shared?

Look for encryption solutions that offer seamless integrations, strong user experience, and flexible policies.

How Theodosiana Meets These Requirements

Theodosiana is built around a data-centric security model that delivers each of the capabilities above:

• Files remain encrypted end-to-end, with no ability for third-party platforms or service providers to decrypt them
• Encryption persists across cloud, SaaS, and third-party environments
• Access decisions are enforced using attribute-based, context-aware controls, not just static roles
• Cryptography is standards-based and validated for regulated use cases
• Every access event is logged immutably for compliance and audit readiness
• Protection is applied without requiring manual user action or workflow changes

This ensures sensitive data remains protected and auditable, even when shared across external platforms or in the event of a third-party breach.

Crucially, these controls operate transparently in the background, meaning end users can work, share, and collaborate without needing to change their day-to-day workflows or manually manage encryption.

FAQs: Choosing the Right Encryption Solution