New Delhi, Jul 24 (IANS): In a bid to further secure customer data and address regulatory needs for some organisations, Microsoft has announced Double Key Encryption for Microsoft 365 which allows to protect most confidential data while maintaining full control of your encryption key.

In Public preview, Double Key Encryption for Microsoft 365 uses two keys to protect your data, with one key in your control and the second in Microsoft's control.

"To view the data, one must have access to both keys. Since Microsoft can access only one key, your data and key are unavailable to Microsoft, helping to ensure the privacy and security of your data," said Alym Rayani Senior Director, Microsoft 365.

Regulations, particularly in the financial services sector, often contain specialized requirements for certain data, which specifies that an organisation must control their encryption key.

Double Key Encryption will help enterprises protect their mission-critical data - a small volume of their overall data.

The customers can host the Double Key Encryption service in a location of their choice (on-premises key management server or in the cloud).

Double Key Encryption puts them in control by providing the ability to add necessary access controls to the Double Key Encryption service, and the flexibility to store the encrypted data on-premises or in the cloud.

"One can move highly sensitive data to the cloud and be confident about preventing third-party access as you maintain full control of your key," said Microsoft.

Double Key Encryption also helps meet regulatory requirements across several regulations and standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).