Encryption in Transit
Definition
Protecting data while it's being transmitted between systems or locations, safeguarding sensitive information from unauthorized access.
Use Cases
- Netflix: Securing service-to-service communication and user traffic for streaming and account services — Netflix uses TLS to encrypt traffic between clients and edge services and commonly uses mutual TLS (mTLS) patterns within microservices environments to authenticate services and encrypt internal calls. (Reduced risk of interception and tampering of sensitive data in transit, supporting secure operation at large scale.)
- Cloudflare: Protecting end-user connections to websites and APIs delivered through its edge network — Cloudflare terminates TLS at the edge (HTTPS) and can also encrypt traffic from the edge to origin servers (often called 'full' or 'end-to-end' TLS), using managed certificates and modern TLS configurations. (Helps customers prevent eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks while improving user trust and meeting common compliance expectations for encrypted web traffic.)
- Google: Encrypting traffic between users and Google services and within Google’s infrastructure — Google uses TLS for external connections (e.g., HTTPS) and also encrypts traffic in transit between many internal services, supported by automated certificate management and secure service identity practices. (Improves confidentiality and integrity of data moving across networks, helping protect users and services at global scale.)
Provider Equivalents
- AWS: AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
- Azure: Azure Key Vault Certificates
- GCP: Certificate Manager
- OCI: OCI Certificates
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between encryption in transit and encryption at rest?
- Encryption in transit protects data while it moves across a network (for example, HTTPS between your browser and a website). Encryption at rest protects data stored on disks or in databases (for example, encrypted database files or encrypted object storage). Many secure systems use both.
- When should I use encryption in transit?
- Use it whenever data crosses a network you don’t fully control or trust—especially the public internet—and whenever you transmit sensitive data like passwords, payment details, personal data, API tokens, or internal service calls. In practice, most web apps should default to TLS everywhere (HTTPS for users, TLS/mTLS for service-to-service traffic).
- How much does encryption in transit cost?
- TLS encryption usually has no direct per-request fee, but it can add some CPU overhead for handshakes and encryption, which may slightly increase compute costs at high traffic. Certificate costs vary: many managed certificate services offer free public certificates for common use cases (often when integrated with load balancers/CDNs), while private CA, advanced certificate management, or high-volume/enterprise features can add charges. Network and load balancer pricing is typically separate from encryption.
Category: security
Difficulty: intermediate
Related Terms
See Also