Why Encrypting at Rest Can’t Wait
Every organisation collects and stores sensitive data, yet many still leave it exposed. Implementing hybrid encryption for data at rest is essential, as a surprising number of companies fail to encrypt data at rest, leaving entire databases, backups, and archives vulnerable to breach or insider theft.
For the first time in five years, global data breach costs have declined. IBM’s newly released 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that average global costs dropped to USD 4.44 million, down from USD 4.88 million, or 9%, in the year prior. The catalyst? Faster breach containment driven by AI-powered defenses. According to the report, organisations were able to identify and contain a breach within a mean time of 241 days, the lowest it’s been in nine years.
Despite this progress, the United States still leads the world with an average cost of USD 10.22 million per incident (All Covered, 2025). Canada follows at an average of USD 6.98 million (Wealth Professional, 2025), while the United Kingdom’s last publicly reported figure from the 2024 report stood at £3.58 million (IBM UK Newsroom, 2024). Analysts also note that ransomware remains a dominant threat vector, involved in nearly half of breaches reported worldwide.
If your organisation is still not encrypting at rest, the risk is clear. Encryption isn’t optional security. It is the foundation of digital trust.
Data at rest refers to information stored on physical or virtual devices when not actively being transmitted. It includes customer records, financial data, intellectual property, and archived communications. Many companies focus heavily on data in transit, such as securing API calls or VPN tunnels, but often neglect their internal storage systems. Unencrypted backups or cached data can be a goldmine for attackers. Encrypting these repositories creates a final defensive wall, reducing the blast radius of any compromise.
Building Resilience Through Hybrid Encryption
Classical cryptography has served well for decades, with standards like AES-256 and X25519 forming the backbone of secure systems. But the quantum horizon is approaching. Future quantum processors could dismantle RSA and ECC, exposing everything encrypted under those keys. The threat is not hypothetical. Quantum labs are progressing faster than most security teams can adapt, and once practical quantum computers emerge, they will reduce decades of encryption to minutes.
The solution is not to discard classical methods but to combine them with quantum-safe algorithms such as Kyber1024 for key encapsulation and Dilithium5 for signatures. This approach creates a hybrid encryption model, one layer classical, one layer quantum-safe. Each layer protects the other. If one algorithm ever becomes insecure, the second maintains confidentiality and integrity.
Architectural Considerations
Implementing hybrid encryption is not just about cryptography. It is about system design. Software and storage platforms should be built with algorithm agility in mind so components can evolve without re-encrypting terabytes of data. Cryptographic agility allows organisations to switch from one algorithm to another without downtime or data migration.
At Scramble Technology we deliver a layered encryption architecture designed for long-term resilience and cryptographic sovereignty. Our platform breaks down into three independent modules: (1) post-quantum key encapsulation (currently using the NIST-selected Kyber1024) to securely exchange keys without assumption of classical hardness; (2) high-performance symmetric encryption (AES-256-GCM by default, though our systems support modern alternatives like ChaCha20-Poly1305) to protect data at rest with confidentiality and efficiency; and (3) dual digital signatures (Dilithium5 plus Ed25519) to verify integrity and non-repudiation across both classical and quantum-resistant domains. Each component is independently auditable, replaceable, and upgradeable, enabling you to adapt to evolving threats without migrating your entire dataset.
Beyond encryption, our architecture embraces zero-knowledge verification, immutable audit trails and decentralized storage patterns ensuring your data remains secure even in untrusted infrastructures. The result is a system where trust is replaced by mathematical assurance, vendor lock-in is eliminated and data sovereignty is retained.
A modular approach also supports compliance. Regulatory frameworks increasingly require demonstrable encryption at rest, especially in industries such as healthcare, finance, and government. By integrating quantum-safe methods now, companies can meet both current and future standards without major architectural change.
Beyond the Algorithm: The Importance of Design
Hybrid encryption is only as strong as the environment around it. Misconfigured access controls, unmonitored servers, or shared credentials can still lead to data exposure. A true defense-in-depth strategy layers cryptography with strict identity management, secure hardware enclaves, and detailed audit trails. When combined, these layers create a security fabric that extends beyond the mathematical properties of the cipher.
Scramble Technology designs its encryption architecture with three guiding principles:
- Confidentiality: Ensure that only authorised entities can access stored data.
- Integrity: Guarantee that no one can modify data without detection.
- Resilience: Maintain protection even if one cryptographic layer fails.
Each of these principles supports the others. Encryption is not an isolated mechanism but part of a holistic system that includes identity, verification, and recovery processes.
The Cost of Waiting
Data stored today may be decrypted tomorrow. Attackers already perform what is known as store-now, decrypt-later collection, harvesting encrypted information today in anticipation of future breakthroughs. Once quantum computers are capable of breaking classical encryption, that stored data becomes readable. Every unencrypted or weakly encrypted archive today is a liability waiting to be exploited.
Encrypting data at rest now, using hybrid encryption, prevents that long-term exposure. It ensures that when quantum computing matures, your archives remain secure instead of becoming low-hanging fruit. The sooner encryption is adopted, the smaller the attack window becomes.
Beyond financial cost, a breach erodes public trust and damages brand reputation. In some cases, recovery takes years. Encryption alone cannot eliminate risk, but it reduces exposure to a manageable level. By applying quantum-safe methods now, companies show proactive governance and technical leadership.
Hybrid Encryption in Practice
For developers and architects, the transition to hybrid encryption can begin incrementally. Existing AES-based systems can be extended with quantum-safe key exchange mechanisms without major redesign. For example, a file storage service might keep using AES-256 for the encryption of data blocks but replace RSA key exchange with Kyber or another lattice-based algorithm. Signatures generated with Dilithium can validate the integrity of these encrypted blocks.
Testing and benchmarking are essential. Quantum-safe algorithms can introduce performance overhead, but their computational cost is declining as libraries mature. Hardware acceleration and parallelisation will continue to close the gap with classical encryption speeds.
Hybrid encryption also aligns with government recommendations. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has already selected Kyber and Dilithium for post-quantum cryptography standardisation. Integrating them early places organisations ahead of compliance timelines and builds future resilience.
Preparing for Quantum Transition
Quantum computing will not instantly break every system, but once operational, the transition period will be brief. Systems designed today without consideration for quantum threats could become obsolete overnight. This makes adaptability a priority.
Architectural flexibility, combined with hybrid encryption, allows systems to survive technological shifts without mass reengineering. The goal is not to predict exactly when quantum computers will achieve decryption power but to design systems that remain secure regardless of when that day comes.
Organisations can begin with hybrid prototypes in non-critical systems, evaluate their performance, and gradually roll them out to production environments. The process does not need to disrupt existing infrastructure. The hybrid model can coexist with current encryption frameworks, providing a safe migration path toward full quantum readiness.
Protect Today, Prepare for Tomorrow
Quantum computing will not render security impossible. It will redefine it. By layering classical and quantum-safe encryption, organisations ensure continuity across eras of computation. Each layer compensates for the weaknesses of the other, forming a durable shield around valuable information.
If your organisation has not yet encrypted its data at rest, start immediately. Hybrid encryption provides both immediate strength and future resilience. It protects against current cyber threats and the emerging quantum horizon.
Scramble Technology is developing systems that make this transition seamless, modular, and verifiable. Our focus is on practical, long-term security that evolves with the technology landscape. The era of hybrid encryption has already begun. Those who start today will be the ones still standing tomorrow.
Stay ahead of the quantum curve. Share this article to raise awareness about hybrid encryption, and visit Scramble Technology to learn how we’re building secure systems for the post-quantum era.
References
- Protecting Data with Quantum Encryption: Building for the Future
- IBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report
