A bank vault in the digital world - What is DPoD really good for

Earlier this year, WIRD Group announced the availability of our Data Protection on Demand (DPoD) Service. But what is DPoD really and how does it work?

The digital world is mostly a reflection of our real life. Things are actually quite easy but because of all thetechnical terms, the digital world is sometimes really hard to understand and to follow.

So, let’s try this approach here:

Let us assume the following: In the digital world, human beings become servers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, IoTs and many other devices. As we humans, all of these devices need to get in touch with other devices in order to execute certain tasks. In order to access the other devices, the use something similar like in the real world. They get a key to open a lock and so get trustworthy access to the other endpoint or device. Or maybe a PIN is needed to authorize the withdrawal of data or the use a password protects the access to some valuable pictures of aunty Melania's last birthday.

Similar to us humans all of thes systems or devices tend to digitally write the password on a note and stick it under the hood or put the key under the flower pot next to the entrance or use the last 4 digits of the credit card number as the PIN. It's simple. But very dangerous. That’s why the bad guys love you so much. Because they can easily get these access credentials and steal your money, your data and or your family's identities.

Of course, in reality the IT systems don’t use a physical key. But they use something very similar. The "electronic key" looks like an extremely long and very complex password but it is actually a cryptographic key. This key is used to proof identities using digital certificates or encrypt data so that no one else can read it, except the authorized ones who have the same key. Big adantage: The electronic key consists just of bits and bytes and is therefore easy to process and easy to get hold of.

Similar to what you do with all your valuable goods, diamonds, gold, paperwork or just some important childhood memories if you want to keep it save: You go to an institution you trust, you store it there and you will be validated before you get access to it. This is called a safe deposit box at your local bank's vault.

Bringing this concept to the digital world, instead of calling it a bank and a bank vault, we call it Hardware Security Module (HSM). Operating a bank to keep your own vault is a tremendous task and not all companies with the need for safe deposit boxes will want to becoma a bank. In the digital world this means that only large institutions will want to operate their own, digital vault i.e. operating their own HSM. And for smaller organisations, the cost and complexity of operating their own HSM, i.e. eletronic vault was just overwhelming.

Now, this is where the WIRD Data Protection on Demand (DPoD), operated by Thales, comes to the rescue. Like in an electronic bank safe deposit box, it is your secure place to store all the digital equivalent of passwords and keys, but without the hassle and cost to having to build, operate and maintain your own bank vault. DPoD also safeguards all your valuable assets and keys and ensures that only the ones who are authorised can access them.

WIRD Group will gladly support you and your organisation with all the details in what it means to use such an service like DPoD for your needs within your given infrastructure and security. Do not hesitate to contact us under info@wirdgroup.com or via the contact form on the home page.

Andreas Kröhnert is Senior Security Consultant at WIRD Group. He has over a decade of in-depth experience in supporting clients with their security infrastructures.