When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn What Does Data in Transit Mean?
Data in transit (DIT) is digital information that is actively moving between two different computer systems, applications or locations. An email moving from one server to another is an example of data in motion. Once the message arrives in the recipient's inbox, it then becomes data at rest.
Data in transit may also be referred to as data in motion or data in flight.
Techopedia Explains Data in Transit
Data in transit should be protected by implementing multiple security controls to reduce the risk of unauthorized access or loss. Data in transit is generally less secure than data at rest because it is exposes data to more attack surfaces. The level of risk depends on the value of the data.
Cybersecurity experts recommend protecting data in transit by using the principal of least privilege (PoLP) and enforcing policies that require data to be encrypted before it can traverse internal and external networks. Robust network access control (NAC) can also help protect data in transit from eavesdropping, data theft and other types of malicious security exploits.
