Question 1

What's the difference between Encryption in Transit and Encryption at Rest?

Accepted Answer

Encryption in transit protects data while it moves across a network (for example, your browser talking to a server over HTTPS). Encryption at rest protects data stored on disks, databases, or backups (for example, encrypted database files). Many systems need both: in transit to prevent interception, and at rest to reduce impact if storage is accessed without authorization.

Question 2

When should I use Encryption in Transit?

Accepted Answer

Use it whenever data crosses a network boundary—especially over the internet, between microservices, from apps to databases, or between on-prem and cloud. It’s strongly recommended for any authentication, personal data, financial data, health data, or administrative access. In practice, default to TLS everywhere and only consider exceptions for isolated lab environments where no sensitive data exists.

Question 3

How much does Encryption in Transit cost?

Accepted Answer

TLS itself has no direct licensing cost, but there are cost factors: (1) managed certificate services may be free or priced per certificate/domain depending on provider and product; (2) load balancers, API gateways, CDNs, and private connectivity services that terminate TLS have hourly/GB charges; (3) there is some CPU overhead for encryption, which can increase compute usage at very high throughput; and (4) operational costs for certificate lifecycle management (automation, monitoring, renewals) if not fully managed.

Encryption in Transit

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