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Tokenization takes the lead in the fight for data security

Tokenization takes the lead in the fight for data security

Presented by Capital One Software Tokenization is emerging as a cornerstone of modern data security, helping businesses separate the value of their data from its risk. During this VB in Conversation , Ravi Raghu, president, Capital One Software, talks about the ways tokenization can help reduce the value of breached data and preserve underlying data format and usability, including Capital One’s own experience leveraging tokenization at scale. Tokenization, Raghu asserts, is a far superior technology. It converts sensitive data into a nonsensitive digital replacement, called a token, that maps back to the original, which is secured in a digital vault. The token placeholder preserves both the format and the utility of the sensitive data, and can be used across applications — including AI models. Because tokenization removes the need to manage encryption keys or dedicate compute to constant encrypting and decrypting, it offers one of the most scalable ways for companies to protect their most sensitive data, he added. "The killer part, from a security standpoint, when you think about it relative to other methods, if a bad actor gets hold of the data, they get hold of tokens," he explained. "The actual data is not sitting with the token, unlike other methods like encryption, where the actual data sits there, just waiting for someone to get hold of a key or use brute force to get to the real data. From every angle this is the ideal way one ought to go about protecting sensitive data." The tokenization differentiator Most organizations are just scratching the surface of data security, adding security at the very end, when data is read, to prevent an end user from accessing it. At minimum, organizations should focus on securing data on write, as it’s being stored. But best-in-class organizations go even further, protecting data at birth, the moment it’s created. At one end of the safety spectrum is a simple lock-and-key approach that restricts access but leaves the underlying data intact. More advanced methods, like masking or modifying data, permanently alter its meaning — which can compromise its usefulness. File-level encryption provides broader protection for large volumes of stored data, but when you get down to field-level encryption (for example, a Social Security number), it becomes a bigger challenge. It takes a great deal of compute to encrypt a single field, and then to decrypt it at the point of usage. And still it has a fatal flaw: the original data is still right there, only needing the key to get access. Tokenization avoids these pitfalls by replacing the original data with a surrogate that has no intrinsic value. If the token is intercepted — whether by the wrong person or the wrong machine — the data itself remains secure. The business value of tokenization "Fundamentally you’re protecting data, and that’s priceless," Raghu said. "Another thing that’s priceless – can you use that for modeling purposes subsequently? On the one hand, it’s a protection thing, and on the other hand it’s a business enabling thing." Because tokenization preserves the structure and ordinality of the original data, it can still be used for modeling and analytics, turning protection into a business enabler. Take private health data governed by HIPAA for example: tokenization means that data canbeused to build pricing models or for gene therapy research, while remaining compliant. "If your data is already protected, you can then proliferate the usage of data across the entire enterprise and have everybody creating more and more value out of the data," Raghu said. "Conversely, if you don’t have that, there’s a lot of reticence for enterprises today to have more people access it, or have more and more AI agents access their data. Ironically, they’re limiting the blast radius of innovation. The tokenization impact is massive, and there are many metrics you could use to measure that – operational impact, revenue impact, and obviously the peace of mind from a security standpoint." Breaking down adoption barriers Until now, the fundamental challenge with traditional tokenization has been performance. AI requires a scale and speed that is unprecedented. That's one of the major challenges Capital One addresses with Databolt, its vaultless tokenization solution, which can produce up to 4 million tokens per second. "Capital One has gone through tokenization for more than a decade. We started doing it because we’re serving our 100 million banking customers. We want to protect that sensitive data," Raghu said. "We’ve eaten our own dog food with our internal tokenization capability, over 100 billion times a month. We’ve taken that know-how and that capability, scale, and speed, and innovated so that the world can leverage it, so that it’s a commercial offering." Vaultless tokenization is an advanced form of tokenization that does not require a central database (vault) to store token mappings. Instead, it uses mathematical algorithms, cryptographic techniques, and deterministic mapping to generate tokens dynamically.This approach is faster, more scalable, and eliminates the security risk associated with managing a vault. "We realized that for the scale and speed demands that we had, we needed to build out that capability ourselves," Raghu said. "We’ve been iterating continuously on making sure that it can scale up to hundreds of billions of operations a month. All of our innovation has been around building IP and capability to do that thing at a battle-tested scale within our enterprise, for the purpose of serving our customers." While conventional tokenization methods can involve some complexity and slow down operations, Databolt seamlessly integrates with encrypted data warehouses, allowing businesses to maintain robust security without slowing performance or operations. Tokenization occurs in the customer’s environment, removing the need to communicate with an external network to perform tokenization operations, which can also slow performance. "We believe that fundamentally, tokenization should be easy to adopt," Raghu said. "You should be able to secure your data very quickly and operate at the speed and scale and cost needs that organizations have. I think that’s been a critical barrier so far for the mass scale adoption of tokenization. In an AI world, that’s going to become a huge enabler." Don't miss the whole conversation with Ravi Raghu, president, Capital One Software, here . 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Grab this LG curved gaming monitor for 37% off

Grab this LG curved gaming monitor for 37% off

With gift season here, why not treat yourself to a gaming upgrade? This 27-inch LG UltraGear monitor is just $157 right now, which is 37 percent off of the original price. View at Amazon This LG monitor is more than ready for your favorite games, thanks to its 180Hz refresh rate and 1ms GtG response time–that’s extremely fast for smooth gameplay. The 2560×1440 resolution is equally impressive, delivering sharp visuals whether you’re gaming or streaming content. Think that’s great? But wait, there’s more. This monitor features a 1000R curvature, wrapping the screen around your field of view for deeper immersion. It also has a sleek borderless design for an even better experience. Plus, the LG UltraGear includes AMD FreeSync technology to minimize screen tearing and stuttering. Frankly, at $157, the LG UltraGear gaming monitor is an absolute gem, so add it to your collection sooner rather than later. The perfect deal exists — it's 37% off for the LG UltraGear Buy now at Amazon

New users can get half off one of our favorite budgeting apps right now

New users can get half off one of our favorite budgeting apps right now

If you have a resolution in the new year to get more acquainted with your finances, a good budgeting app can help with that. One of our favorites is a bit cheaper to sign up for right now: Monarch Money is offering 50 percent off annual subscriptions for new users. Use the code MONARCHVIP at checkout to get half off, so you'll pay just $50 for one year of access. Monarch Money was the runner-up in our guide to the best budgeting apps in 2025, and it was definitely a grower. Initially we found the experience of using the app to be needlessly complicated compared to some of its rivals, but get over that hurdle and it’s impressively fully-featured. There are plenty of customization options, a helpful “goals” feature and a thorough month-in-review recap that beats out similar features from some of its competitors. We also like how you can grant account access to others. Besides the steep learning curve, we also noted that the mobile app is less intuitive to use than the web version, which might pose a problem if you were hoping to do most of your accounting on the go. We also had some issues with the app failing to distinguish between bills and other recurring expenses, as well as a few bugs along the way. All things considered, Monarch is definitely one of our favorite budgeting apps, only being beaten out by Quicken Simplifi. As you might expect, the biggest strength of Simplifi is its simplicity, and how it eases you into using its various features. If you value that kind of user experience, it might be a better choice for you, but there’s unfortunately no free trial to take advantage of. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/new-users-can-get-half-off-one-of-our-favorite-budgeting-apps-right-now-154056942.html?src=rss

Get reliable Wi-Fi everywhere for just $19

Get reliable Wi-Fi everywhere for just $19

There’s this spot at the back of my house where the Wi-Fi signal just isn’t right . The connection is patchy, the signal is weak, and you can never reliably finish a game of Hearthstone without getting disconnected. I’ve thought about upgrading my router, but I’ll probably just get one of these nifty little Wi-Fi extenders , especially since it’s only $19 (that’s 30 percent off). This little device gets plugged into any outlet and expands your wireless network coverage by up to 12,000 square feet, so you get proper internet everywhere in your home. The extender operates on dual bands, delivering combined speeds that are suitable for almost anything you need to do, from streaming content to gaming and yes, even browsing without interruption. It features three adjustable external antennas that help to optimize coverage and maintain stable connections. It’s the most straightforward way to boost your signal. There’s even a Gigabit Ethernet port you can use to give a more stable wired connection to a device of your choice, like a TV. So go ahead and grab the TP-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi Extender on Amazon for $19 before this deal runs out. Grab this 30% discount from TP-Link Buy now at Amazon

The Meta Quest 3S is back down to its Cyber Monday all-time low of $250

The Meta Quest 3S is back down to its Cyber Monday all-time low of $250

The Meta Quest 3S is back on sale at its all-time low price of $250. That's $50 off, or a discount of 17 percent, and matches a deal we saw on Cyber Monday. The 3S is the more affordable model in the company's current VR headset lineup . It features the same Snapdragon XR2 processor as the more expensive Meta Quest 3, but with lower resolution per eye and a slightly narrower field of view. In our hands-on review , we gave the Meta Quest 3S a score of 90, noting how impressive the tech was compared to its price. The headset was comfortable to wear during longer gaming periods, and the performance was quick and responsive thanks largely to the upgraded processor and increased RAM from the Quest 2. We were big fans of the new controllers, which the 3S shares with the more expensive Quest 3 . This new generation of controller sports a more refined design, shedding the motion tracking ring and leaving behind a sleek form factor that fits in your hand like a glove. We did miss the headphone jack, though most users are probably fine with the built-in speakers. You can wirelessly connect headphones for higher quality sound if you feel the need. The Quest 3S also recycles the old Fresnel lenses from the Quest 2, which can lead to some artifacts. If you were considering a VR headset for yourself or a loved one this holiday season, the Meta Quest 3S offers an excellent value alongside impressive performance. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-meta-quest-3s-is-back-down-to-its-cyber-monday-all-time-low-of-250-144027382.html?src=rss

Apple Car Key support appears imminent for Toyota vehicles

Apple Car Key support appears imminent for Toyota vehicles

Apple appears to be preparing Apple Car Key support for Toyota vehicles, based on evidence found in Apple's backend systems. It's not clear yet which Toyota models will support Apple Car Key Toyota might soon let drivers unlock and start compatible vehicles with an iPhone or Apple Watch . The company hasn't made a public announcement yet, though. Apple Car Key, introduced in 2022, stores a digital car key in the Wallet app. It uses NFC to communicate with supported vehicles. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums