A Glossary of Key Terms in Secure Data Transfer & Network Protocols

In today’s fast-paced HR and recruiting landscape, the secure handling of sensitive data is not merely a technicality—it’s a foundational pillar of trust, compliance, and operational integrity. From candidate resumes and employee PII to confidential business strategies, the transfer and storage of information demand rigorous security protocols. For HR and recruiting professionals, understanding these key terms isn’t optional; it’s essential for protecting data, mitigating risks, and ensuring smooth, compliant operations. This glossary provides crucial definitions tailored to illuminate their practical implications in your daily automation and recruitment workflows.

Encryption

Encryption is the process of converting information or data into a code to prevent unauthorized access. Essentially, it scrambles data into an unreadable format, making it unintelligible to anyone without the proper decryption key. In HR and recruiting, encryption is critical for protecting sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (PII) such as social security numbers, birth dates, salary details, and health records, both when stored (data at rest) and when transferred across networks (data in transit). Implementing strong encryption protocols ensures that even if a data breach occurs, the compromised information remains unreadable and unusable, upholding data confidentiality and reducing the risk of regulatory penalties.

Decryption

Decryption is the reverse process of encryption, converting encrypted data back into its original, readable form. This process requires a specific key or password that corresponds to the encryption method used. For HR and recruiting professionals, controlled and secure decryption is as vital as encryption itself. It ensures that only authorized personnel—such as hiring managers, HR administrators, or payroll specialists—can access and process sensitive employee and candidate data. Robust decryption management is paramount in automated workflows, where systems might decrypt data temporarily for processing before re-encrypting it, demanding careful attention to key management and access controls within your HR tech stack.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates a secure, encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the internet. It acts as a private tunnel, protecting data from interception as it travels between a user’s device and a server. For HR and recruiting teams, especially those with remote workers or multiple office locations, VPNs are indispensable. They allow HR professionals to securely access internal HRIS (Human Resources Information Systems), ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems), and other confidential company resources from any location, safeguarding sensitive employee and candidate data from potential eavesdropping on public Wi-Fi networks and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations.

SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security)

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and its successor, TLS (Transport Layer Security), are cryptographic protocols designed to provide secure communication over a computer network. They establish an encrypted link between a web server and a browser, ensuring that all data passed between them remains private and integral. In HR and recruiting, SSL/TLS is fundamental for protecting online interactions, such as candidate application portals, online assessment platforms, HR benefits enrollment forms, and employee self-service portals. The “HTTPS” in a website’s URL signifies that SSL/TLS is active, assuring applicants and employees that their sensitive information is encrypted during transmission, building trust and safeguarding against interception.

Firewall

A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. It acts as a barrier, preventing unauthorized access to or from a private network. For HR and recruiting, firewalls are essential for protecting internal HR systems and databases from external threats. They safeguard sensitive employee records, payroll information, and strategic recruitment data from malicious attacks, unauthorized intrusions, and data exfiltration attempts. Properly configured firewalls are a first line of defense, ensuring that only legitimate traffic and authorized users can access the critical information infrastructure that supports HR operations.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a security system that requires users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to an application, account, or system. Instead of just a password, MFA might require something you know (password), something you have (phone, security token), and/or something you are (fingerprint, facial scan). For HR and recruiting professionals, MFA significantly enhances the security of sensitive platforms like HRIS, ATS, payroll systems, and cloud storage. By adding extra layers of verification, MFA drastically reduces the risk of unauthorized access to confidential employee data, PII, and financial information, even if a password is stolen, ensuring compliance and data protection.

Data Integrity

Data integrity refers to the overall accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data throughout its lifecycle. It ensures that data remains unaltered and uncorrupted, and that it accurately reflects the source information. In HR and recruiting, maintaining data integrity is paramount for everything from accurate candidate profiles and employee records to compliance reporting. If data lacks integrity—for example, if a candidate’s skills are incorrectly recorded or an employee’s salary is mistakenly altered—it can lead to flawed hiring decisions, compliance failures, payroll errors, and misinformed strategic planning. Automation platforms should be designed to preserve data integrity across integrated systems.

Data Confidentiality

Data confidentiality is the principle that sensitive information should only be accessible to authorized individuals or systems, and protected from unauthorized disclosure. For HR and recruiting, this means safeguarding highly sensitive data such as PII, health information, performance reviews, salary details, and confidential company strategies. Maintaining confidentiality is crucial for building trust with employees and candidates, complying with regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and preventing reputational damage. Robust access controls, encryption, and secure data transfer protocols are all vital components in ensuring that confidential HR data remains private and protected at every stage.

Data Availability

Data availability ensures that authorized users can reliably access data and systems when and where they need them. In the context of HR and recruiting, this means that your ATS, HRIS, payroll systems, and critical data are accessible to your team to perform their duties without interruption. Unplanned downtime in these systems can halt recruitment processes, delay onboarding, prevent employees from accessing essential information, and disrupt payroll. High availability is achieved through robust infrastructure, backup and recovery strategies, and redundant systems, ensuring that HR operations remain continuous and responsive, even in the face of technical issues or disasters.

Compliance (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA)

Compliance, in the realm of secure data transfer, refers to adherence to a myriad of local, national, and international laws, regulations, and industry standards governing how sensitive data is collected, stored, processed, and transferred. For HR and recruiting, understanding and implementing compliance measures for regulations like GDPR (Europe), CCPA (California), and HIPAA (healthcare-related data in the US) is non-negotiable. These frameworks dictate strict requirements for data privacy, consent, retention, and transfer, especially for PII. Non-compliance can lead to severe fines, legal action, and reputational damage. Secure data transfer protocols are a cornerstone of any compliant HR data strategy.

API (Application Programming Interface)

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and exchange data. It acts as an intermediary, enabling seamless integration and automation between various systems. For HR and recruiting, APIs are fundamental to creating an interconnected tech stack. They enable automated data flows between your ATS, HRIS, payroll system, background check services, and onboarding platforms. Secure APIs use authentication and encryption to ensure that data exchanges are private and protected, allowing organizations to build efficient, integrated workflows without compromising the security of sensitive employee and candidate information.

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) is a network protocol that provides secure file transfer capabilities over any reliable data stream. It operates as a secure extension of the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which encrypts the entire communication session, including authentication and data transfers. In HR and recruiting, SFTP is often utilized for transferring large volumes of sensitive data between systems or with external vendors. This includes transferring payroll files to a processing service, bulk employee data for benefits enrollment, or large candidate databases. SFTP ensures that these critical file transfers are encrypted and authenticated, protecting against unauthorized access and data tampering.

Cloud Security

Cloud security refers to the set of policies, technologies, applications, and controls utilized to protect virtualized IP, data, applications, and infrastructure of cloud computing. As more HR and recruiting operations migrate to cloud-based platforms (e.g., cloud HRIS, SaaS ATS), robust cloud security measures become paramount. This encompasses securing data storage, network traffic, access management, and compliance within the cloud environment. For HR professionals, understanding their cloud providers’ security protocols and implementing strong internal practices (like access control and data encryption) is crucial to protect sensitive employee and candidate data from breaches and ensure continuous service availability.

Phishing/Social Engineering

Phishing and social engineering are deceptive tactics used by attackers to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. Phishing typically involves fraudulent emails, messages, or websites designed to trick recipients into entering credentials or clicking malicious links. Social engineering broadly refers to exploiting human psychology to gain unauthorized access. For HR and recruiting, these attacks are particularly dangerous, targeting employees who handle a wealth of sensitive PII. Training HR staff to recognize and report these threats, combined with robust email security and MFA, is vital to prevent credential theft, ransomware attacks, and significant data breaches.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a strategy and set of tools designed to ensure that sensitive data is not lost, misused, or accessed by unauthorized users. DLP solutions monitor, detect, and block sensitive data from leaving an organization’s network, either intentionally or accidentally. In an HR context, DLP is crucial for preventing the exfiltration of confidential employee records, candidate pipelines, salary information, or intellectual property. By identifying and classifying sensitive data, DLP systems can enforce policies to prevent its transfer via email, cloud storage, USB drives, or other channels, safeguarding against breaches and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Beyond Live Data: Secure Keap Archiving & Compliance for HR & Recruiting