Are you looking for the perfect security technology for the protection of your company’s data? It is quite difficult to choose the right one amongst several options. Here is a comparison between two technologies -tokenisation and encryption. This discussion will assist you in making a smart business decision.

What Is Tokenisation?

The process, through which sensitive data is converted into non-sensitive tokens, is called tokenisation. Non-sensitive tokens maintain a relation between original data in terms of length or format. Tokenised data is unbreakable. An intrinsic value of a token is low. Tokens have either single-use or persistent use. For example, low-value tokens are used for a one-time debit card transaction. When there are repeated transactions of a customer’s credit number, high-value tokens are used. 

What Is Data Encryption?

Data Encryption is the process of converting data into a code using an encryption key. This code is readable to parties, who possess the decryption key. This process keeps sensitive information secure. Many businesses protect cardholder data, personal data, payment card information, and other types of sensitive data using encryption methods.

Tokenisation Vs Encryption

Difference

  1. Tokenisation process converts data into a token, while the encryption process converts data into code using a key.
  2. In tokenisation process, the exchange of tokens is necessary to access the original data. On the other hand, in the encryption process, decoding of the encrypted data is necessary to access the original data.
  3. Tokenisation process loads the data into a snowflake. But, before loading the original data into a snowflake, tokenisation process allows companies to tokenise the original data. On the other hand, in the encryption process especially in field-level encryption, your data is never disclosing your keys into a snowflake. In client-side encryption, encrypted data is saved in Snowflake tables.
  4. With the growth of the database, tokenisation becomes hard to be scaled. But as the database grows, encryption can be easily applied.

Similarity

  1. Both encryption and tokenisation are valuable security technologies. 
  2. Both safeguard data in transit and data at rest.

Conclusion

This snowflake tokenisation comparison with encryption allows your business to choose the perfect one for you. Encryption is ideal for unstructured data while tokenisation for structured data.