On-the-fly encryption secures data on a storage device, read and written as it is encrypted. It requires fast and automatic encryption methods and special system drivers. It can encrypt files, directories, and entire disks, making them inaccessible without the correct software and keys. Some configurations require physical authentication.
On-the-fly encryption is a method of securing data on a computer storage device so that the information remains accessible to a verified user but protected on the drive itself. The hallmark of an on-the-fly encryption scheme is that information is read and written as it is encrypted, so at no time is the information stored on the drive unprotected and encrypted. The encryption methods and algorithms used for on-the-fly encryption need to be very fast and fully automatic, so the user only needs to provide some kind of authentication to use the drive and encrypted files. In general, a drive protected in this way must use special system drivers to access the data, which means that some on-the-fly encryption software isn’t necessarily portable from one system to another unless the software is installed in advance. Most often, defined-on-the-fly encryption is used in cases where the storage medium is removable, portable, or can otherwise be accessed or stolen at any time, requiring data to be stored encrypted at all times.
In computer security, encryption means taking otherwise normal data or files and processing them in such a way that the information, and potentially the file name itself, becomes unreadable and unusable to a person who does not have a key or password capable of decrypt the data. There are many types of encryption algorithms, some of which take a long time to execute on large files. The encryption-on-the-fly process uses real-time encryption algorithms to encrypt and decrypt a file upon access.
When encryption on the fly is turned on and a user wants to upload and modify a file, the first thing that happens is that the file is read and decrypted quickly from the physical storage medium. The decrypted file is not written to any permanent location but, instead, is stored in random access memory (RAM). Once the user is done with the file, the changes are passed back to the encryption software and the software will write it directly to the storage media as an encrypted file. The only time unencrypted information is exposed is while it is held in RAM.
In addition to encrypting files and directories, on-the-fly encryption can also be used to encrypt an entire disk and its filesystem. This means something like a USB stick could be made completely inaccessible to someone who doesn’t have the correct software and keys installed to view it. Some very secure on-the-fly encryption configurations, such as a security card, a special removable media key, or an actual cryptographic processor chip inside your computer, may actually require physical authentication to work.
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