Zendesk Advanced Encryption and Secure Share for Zendesk…they both use encryption, so they’re basically the same thing, right? Actually, not really.
While they both involve encryption, that’s about where the similarities end. In this blog post we’ll compare what makes Secure Share for Zendesk different from Zendesk’s Advanced Encryption feature, to help you determine which data security solution best fits your needs.
Zendesk Advanced Encryption
Also known as the Customer Managed Key feature, the Advanced Encryption feature is new to Zendesk in 2023.
The major benefit of Zendesk Advanced Encryption is the enhanced security and protection it provides for sensitive customer data that is stored within the Zendesk platform. This encryption feature ensures that data at rest, meaning the customer data that resides in Zendesk's databases and servers, is safeguarded against unauthorized access and potential security breaches.
Data Security: The Advanced Encryption feature encrypts data stored in Zendesk, to keep sensitive information protected from unauthorized parties. This means if a data breach were to occur, the sensitive information would not be viewable, except by those who had been given access.
Data Privacy: What makes this feature “Advanced” Encryption, is the ability for customers to manage their own encryption keys. Organizations can trust their sensitive information won’t be accessible to anyone that hasn’t been given access - even Zendesk itself.
Compliance Readiness: Zendesk Advanced Encryption can help organizations support industry-specific compliance regulations related to data security, such as GDPR or HIPAA.
Risk Mitigation: By protecting data at rest, and giving the Zendesk customer control over their own keys, Zendesk Advanced Encryption helps to mitigate risk and prevent security breaches which can have severe consequences for a company's reputation, legal standing, and customer trust.
Zendesk Advanced Encryption adds an extra layer of security to the stored customer data within Zendesk, ensuring that this information remains confidential and helping organizations meet regulatory requirements and safeguarding their reputation.
Secure Share for Zendesk
On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Secure Share for Zendesk, which is an ideal solution for encrypting and protecting files that must be shared outside of Zendesk, while they’re in transit. This protection even extends beyond the Zendesk environment, giving file owners control over sensitive information wherever it goes to ensure files remain protected at all times.
Secure File Sharing: The major benefit of Virtru Secure Share for Zendesk is its ability to secure data while it's in transit, even outside of Zendesk. This applies to support agents that have to send files to customers from Zendesk, but it also applies to customers that must send sensitive information to support agents, like identification information, account numbers, API tokens and more.
Customer Trust: By using Secure Share for Zendesk to protect shared customer files, organizations can build and maintain customer trust. Secure Share for Zendesk gives your customers control to manage the security settings for the files they share with your support teams, without creating accounts or new logins (or adding to your user licenses). Customers can feel confident working with a business that not only employs robust security measures, but also extends those security measures to them as well.
Collaboration Enhancement: While Secure Share for Zendesk extends file protection beyond the Zendesk perimeter, support agents don’t have to leave Zendesk in order to use it. Secure Share is integrated directly into the Zendesk interface for fast, efficient and secure file sharing right where support teams are already working.
Compliance Support: Secure Share for Zendesk delivers powerful, data centric security to help organizations maintain support for regulatory compliance obligations like HIPAA, GDPR and more, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
More Protection Options: Secure Share for Zendesk is just one of a variety of data centric security solutions offered by Virtru. If managing your own encryption keys is important to your data security requirements, Secure Share for Zendesk can be combined with the Virtru Private Keystore to ensure data privacy and sovereignty.
The major benefit of Virtru Secure Share for Zendesk is its ability to secure data in transit, and extending that protection beyond the Zendesk perimeter to enhance data privacy, customer trust and collaboration. This integration is ideal for support teams that need to protect shared customer data without sacrificing efficiency.
Just Tell Me…Which is Better?
One solution is not necessarily better than the other, because Secure Share for Zendesk and the Zendesk Advanced Encryption feature solve two different data security needs. In fact, a combination of these two solutions can deliver a comprehensive data security strategy, simultaneously protecting data at rest and data in transit, both inside of Zendesk and shared beyond the application.
If you’d like to learn more about Secure Share for Zendesk, read our blog “Zendesk + Secure Share: Encrypt Customer Data, Close Tickets Early” for a detailed description, visit our dedicated Secure Share for Zendesk page, or contact us for a demo.
