Data in motion

What is data in motion?

Data in motion, often called data in transit, is data that’s actively moving from one location to another, between systems, devices, apps, or cloud services. It travels through networks, routers, access points, and other parts of networking infrastructure.

Examples of data in motion

Data in motion is present in almost every digital interaction, including:

An email traveling across multiple servers before reaching its destination.
Financial data moving between a customer, merchant, and payment network during a transaction.
Text messages sent over messaging apps.
Video streamed over the internet.
Files being uploaded to cloud storage.

Risks and privacy concerns

If protections are missing or weak for data in motion, common risks include:

Interception: Data traveling across networks can be captured by someone positioned along the route through techniques like packet sniffing on unsecured connections.
Alteration: Data in transit can be modified before it reaches its destination, without either party being aware.
Metadata exposure: Even when content is protected, information about the transmission, such as who is communicating and when, may be visible to third parties.
Regulatory risk: Organizations that fail to adequately protect data in transit may be in breach of regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

How is data in motion protected?

The primary method is encryption, which makes data more difficult for anyone who intercepts it during transmission to read. The most widely used protocol is Transport Layer Security (TLS), which secures connections between browsers, applications, and servers. For a higher level of protection, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is also used.

To secure traffic between two network points, organizations may use a virtual private network (VPN). This tool creates an encrypted tunnel for data in motion to pass through between two networks or a network and a device in remote access technologies.

Protection also depends on trusting the connection itself. Secure systems rely on authentication and certificate checks to ensure a device connects to the intended service rather than an impostor.

FAQ

What is the difference between data in motion and data at rest?

Data in motion is actively moving between systems across a network. Data at rest is stored and inactive, such as files on a hard drive or records in a database.

Can data in motion be intercepted?

Yes. Data traveling across networks can be captured through techniques like packet sniffing, particularly on unsecured connections.

Why is encryption important for data in motion?

Encryption helps prevent unauthorized reading or tampering of data if it’s captured during transmission. It also helps organizations meet regulatory requirements.

Does a VPN help protect data in motion?

Yes. A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between two points, whether a device and a network or two separate networks, which reduces exposure, especially on public or untrusted connections. That said, it’s one layer of protection and doesn’t replace application-level encryption like Transport Layer Security (TLS).