Windows: What is Smartcrypt?

Smartcrypt is a data protection platform that uses encryption and other technologies to ensure the information your organization considers sensitive is secured in a way that supports company policies and procedures.  It works at both the folder and file level, so the protection remains with the data wherever is resides, even when it is shared or copied outside your network.

Smartcrypt is comprised of two major components, the Smartcrypt Enterprise Manager and the Smartcrypt application.

The Smartcrypt Enterprise Manager (SEM) is used to configure policies that define what sensitive information looks like in your environment, and the actions to take when that data is found. SEM accomplishes this by distributing instructions to Smartcrypt applications, running on desktop machines and servers throughout the enterprise. As a result, the Smartcrypt application automatically executes its instructions to ensure sensitive data is identified and protected as per the policies defined for your organization in the SEM.

The actions Smartcrypt can execute are described below:

• Discovery – The ability to automatically identify the presence of information defined as sensitive, inside of files.
• Classification – Marking a file with a designation of its importance or secrecy in a visual way; so that users interacting with the file understand the guidelines by which they should share, concealed or manage the information.
• File Encryption – The process of protecting a file with a cryptographic algorithm to ensure only certain, designated individuals can access the information in its original form. File encryption remains with the file persistently, wherever it resides inside or outside the organization.
• Data at Rest Encryption - A folder or other location configured to automatically encrypts any file that’s placed into it, and keeps the files encrypted as long as they reside in the designated location.  
• Compression – A technique used to reduce the size of a file to maximize storage space or make file sharing and transmission activities faster.