What is encryption and how important is it?
Physical security teams handle sensitive data daily, from investigation footage to cardholder records. Encryption is what keeps this data readable only to authorized people. Read on to learn how readable data becomes ciphertext and how symmetric, asymmetric, and end-to-end encryption differ.
You rely on video footage, badge records, and access events to protect people and keep operations running smoothly. But once that data leaves a camera, reader, or server, how can you be sure that only the right people have access to it?
As physical security systems become more connected, sensitive information travels farther and lives in more places. Protecting that data is essential to maintaining privacy, trust, and cyber resilience.
That's where encryption comes in. It’s a foundational technology that keeps physical security data unreadable to anyone who isn't authorized to see it, whether stored on a server or moving across a network.
EBOOK
What is encryption in physical security, and what does “encrypted” mean?
Here’s a quick encryption definition: Encryption is the process of encoding data so that only authorized users can read it. An encryption key runs readable plaintext through an algorithm and turns it into scrambled ciphertext. If anyone without the matching decryption key reaches your video surveillance footage or access control records, they’ll see only unreadable characters.
Why protecting your physical security data matters
Think of encryption as a lock on the data itself. While access rights control who can open a file, encryption determines whether someone can read what’s inside. A cardholder record pulled from a breached database or a video that lands in the wrong hands is just scrambled data to anyone who gets past the access controls, unless they also have the decryption key.
That extra layer of protection can prevent serious headaches. Imagine your team is reviewing badge activity after an incident, and they notice that someone has exported badge-holder records without authorization. If the data is unencrypted, the team needs to take extra time to check if the records have been modified and look for potential gaps in the access logs. Encryption preserves trust in the data, reducing questions about the chain of custody and helping the team move the investigation forward.
Storing records without encryption can also complicate discussions about compliance. Organizations are often asked how they protect sensitive information. If an auditor asks you how you protect video footage, badge records, and access control data, encryption is one of the first controls you'll point to. It helps you show that your data is protected throughout its lifecycle, whether it's stored, shared, or moving between systems.
Keep reading for a detailed look at how encryption pulls this off.
How does encryption work?
Every time a video stream reaches a server, or an access event syncs to the cloud, information moves across a network. Encryption helps ensure that only authorized systems can understand that information. Here's how it works:
- Plaintext – the original readable data, such as a video file, a database record, or a message
- Key – the value that locks the data and unlocks it again
- Algorithm – the mathematical formula that scrambles the plaintext when the key is used
- Ciphertext – the scrambled result, which means nothing on its own
Encryption strength comes down to two things: the algorithm you choose and how carefully you store, rotate, and share your keys.
Everything hinges on the key. Only authorized users with the decryption key can read the data. That’s how encrypted systems can move data safely across networks. A video stream reaching a server or an access event syncing to the cloud travels in a form that only the intended recipient can decode.
What does “encrypted” mean in physical security operations?
Picture a single clip of an incident in a parking garage. It leaves the camera, lands on a server, gets pulled into an investigation, then goes out to your team and maybe to law enforcement. Along the way, it crosses networks, sits in storage, and moves between applications.
One unprotected step is all it takes for your sensitive information to reach someone who was never supposed to see it. That’s why encryption has to happen at every one of those steps and extend everywhere your physical security systems produce data.
Most physical security teams rely on encryption many times a day without thinking about it:
- Surveillance video – whether it’s being viewed live, archived, or shared for an investigation
- Access control data – including cardholder records and credential exchanges between readers and controllers
- Cloud-connected systems – where information moves between on-premises infrastructure and cloud services
- Mobile communications – calls, messages, and app traffic protected on the move
This is what security-of-security looks like in practice. It’s about securing all aspects of your physical security system, including communications, servers, and data. Consistent protection is what keeps your connected systems cyber-resilient, even if one part of the security ecosystem is compromised.
Why is encryption essential to cyber resilience?
Cyber resilience comes into play after something goes wrong. Let’s say an attacker breaches your network while your team is mid-investigation, and they reach the server holding your footage or the database behind your access control system. With encryption, the incident does far less damage than it could have. What the attacker walks away with is worth nothing without the decryption key.
The takeaway here? Encryption plays a key role in cybersecurity for physical security systems. That’s because most defenses are built to keep attackers out. Encryption is what protects your data if they get in anyway.
In the 2026 Genetec State of Physical Security report, 44% of end users say securing data storage is part of their cybersecurity approach. Forty-one percent say the same about protecting systems from unauthorized access. Encryption is central to both.
This added layer of protection supports five outcomes that matter to most organizations:
- Confidentiality – video footage and access records stay readable only to authorized users
- Evidence integrity – tampering with video or access logs becomes far easier to detect
- Audits and compliance – frameworks such as GDPR and NIS2 expect you to protect the personal data your cameras and readers collect
- Privacy protection – cardholder details and personnel information stay protected
- Risk reduction – stolen video or credential data holds far less value when nobody can read it
How does encryption work alongside zero-trust network architecture?
Protecting your data with encryption is one part of trust. Verifying each device on your network is the other.
A zero-trust approach is built around that second half: never trust and always verify, no matter how familiar a device seems. Imagine a device on your network requests access to a video feed. Zero trust means that this kind of request must be verified every time, not just the first time a device joins your system.
Even once a connection gets verified, any data that moves across it should stay unreadable to unauthorized devices or users. That’s encryption’s job. While zero-trust controls continuously validate access requests, encryption is what protects the data shared between verified users and devices.
In other words, encryption and zero trust work hand in hand to reduce the impact of unauthorized access. Together, they reduce the likelihood that a single compromised device or connection will expose sensitive data across your environment.
TRUST CENTER
Not all encryption protects data in the same way. Is your data encrypted in storage, in transit, or both? With one key, or two? Understanding the different types of encryption and how to combine them can help you spot the gaps in your protection.
What are the different kinds of encryption?
Encryption methods vary in how they handle keys and where they protect data, and every subtype has its own strengths and trade-offs. These four varieties cover the most common setups you’ll come across:
Symmetric encryption
Symmetric encryption uses one key for both encryption and decryption. Using a single key is fast, making it ideal for applications that need real-time validation. For example, the connection between a badge reader and controller often relies on symmetric encryption because credentials need to be validated almost immediately.
Symmetric algorithms, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), are also commonly used for data encryption in bulk. They are fast and easy to implement by hardware. The trade-off is a riskier key distribution. Whoever holds the key can decrypt a large volume of data, so the key has to be shared and stored carefully.
Asymmetric encryption
Asymmetric encryption involves two separate but mathematically linked keys. A public key that encrypts the data can be given to anyone. A private key that decrypts the data never leaves the device that holds it.
Because the private key never leaves its device, asymmetric encryption lets systems establish trust without sharing a secret key in advance. Let’s say video footage needs to be shared securely with a specific investigator. The system can encrypt the data using a public key linked to that investigator’s private decryption key, so only they can unscramble it.
This is the underlying architecture for digital certificates, digital signatures, and public key infrastructure (PKI). Keep in mind that asymmetric encryption is slower than symmetric and requires greater computing power.
Many systems use both methods together. Asymmetric encryption establishes the connection and exchanges the key, and then symmetric encryption handles the bulk data.
Encryption at rest and encryption in transit
Encryption typically protects data in one of two states: at rest or in transit.
- At rest – data stored on servers, drives, or in the cloud, such as an archived investigation file or a log of license plate reads
- In transit – data moving across networks, such as an intercom call between a visitor and an operator or a mobile app pulling up a live camera feed
A strong encryption strategy will cover both states. Data protected in storage but exposed in transit can leave an opening for attackers to exploit.
What is end-to-end encryption?
End-to-end encryption protects data across its full journey, from the sending device to the receiving device. Nothing in between, including the servers that relay the data, can read the contents.
For physical security teams, this matters the moment footage or data is shared with an outside investigator or law enforcement. When this sensitive information moves outside your network, end-to-end encryption protects it the rest of the way to its destination.
Where do you start with encryption?
If you’re not sure where or how to start with encryption, a few deliberate steps can go a long way:
- Know what you collect – list all your video footage, access events, and cardholder records, and ask what each one would let someone do if they got hold of it.
- Check the rules that apply to you – data regulations vary by data type and region. Knowing where you stand tells you where encryption, retention limits, and access rules apply to your system. It's exactly the kind of documentation an auditor would want to see.
- Look at the tools and providers behind your system – confirm that the data is encrypted in storage and in transit, and look for providers that treat encryption as a foundational part of their security strategy.
Beyond the technical side of things, encryption answers a basic human need: trust. Every badge holder, visitor, and employee whose information is stored in your system expects that data to be protected. In a world where cyber risk keeps climbing, encryption is one of the key technologies that helps you maintain that trust. It’s how you can protect your data and build cyber resilience as your systems become more connected.
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