Data security controls for data at rest, in transit and in use

Data exists in three states, and each needs different protections. Data at rest is stored: on disks, in databases, on backup tapes or in cloud storage. Data in transit, also called data in motion, is moving across a network, whether inside a data center or across the internet. Data in use is being actively processed in memory by an application or viewed by a user. A strong program covers all three, because attackers go wherever protection is weakest, and the same record passes through every state many times a day.