Businesses rely heavily on cloud technology but this creates vulnerabilities that malicious actors may exploit to access private information. Encryption is a fundamental element of cloud security that scrambles data so even if accessed by malicious parties, the information cannot be viewed. There are two main types of encryption: symmetric uses one key for encryption and decryption while asymmetric uses a public key to encrypt and a private key to decrypt, providing better security. Encryption should be used to protect data both when in transit between networks and when at rest in storage to provide comprehensive security and prevent attacks. While encryption is effective, its additional costs can lead businesses to underutilize it despite the higher costs of data breaches.