Protecting Sensitive Data
Explore strategies for handling and protecting sensitive data within Erlang applications, including encryption and secure storage.
What is Sensitive Data?
In this lesson, we'll learn how to protect sensitive data within your Erlang applications. But first, what exactly is sensitive data?
It's any information that, if exposed, could lead to harm, fraud, or privacy breaches. This includes:
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII) like names, addresses, or social security numbers.
- Financial data (credit card numbers, bank details).
- Authentication credentials (passwords, API keys).
- Proprietary business information.
Why Protect Sensitive Data?
Protecting sensitive data is crucial for several reasons:
- Trust: Customers and users expect their data to be safe.
- Compliance: Many regulations (GDPR, HIPAA) mandate strong data protection.
- Security: Prevents unauthorized access, data breaches, and financial losses.
We'll focus on protecting data at rest (stored), in memory, and how to manage encryption keys.