What encryption standards do you use (AES-256, TLS 1.3, etc.)?

How to answer this security questionnaire question, with an expert response your security or GRC team can adapt.

Expert answer

Use AES-256 for data at rest and TLS 1.2 or 1.3 for data in transit, with modern cipher suites and no fallback to deprecated protocols. Manage keys centrally and rotate them on schedule.

What the security reviewer is checking

The reviewer is testing whether your encryption choices match current industry baselines and whether you actually know your own cryptographic inventory. Vague phrases like "bank-grade encryption" or "industry-standard algorithms" are a red flag; naming AES-256-GCM at rest and TLS 1.2-or-higher in transit signals competence. Reviewers also look for the parts vendors forget: key management practices, whether legacy protocols such as TLS 1.0/1.1 and SSLv3 are disabled at the load balancer, and whether internal service-to-service traffic is encrypted, not just the public edge.

Example response you can adapt

This is an illustrative template, not a real vendor's security posture. Replace every claim with what is actually true for your organization before submitting it.

All customer data is encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM through our cloud provider’s managed storage encryption, covering databases, object storage, backups, and snapshots. Data in transit is protected with TLS 1.3 on all public endpoints, with TLS 1.2 as the minimum accepted version; TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions are disabled, and our configuration scores an A on Qualys SSL Labs. Encryption keys are generated and stored in a cloud key management service (KMS) backed by FIPS 140-2 validated hardware security modules, with automatic annual key rotation and access to key operations restricted by IAM policy and logged. Internal service-to-service traffic within our VPC is also encrypted with TLS. We do not implement custom or proprietary cryptography; all algorithms follow NIST SP 800-57 guidance.

Evidence reviewers expect you to attach

Encryption policy or cryptography standard, including approved algorithms and key lengths
SOC 2 Type II report section covering encryption controls (typically CC6.1 and CC6.7)
Qualys SSL Labs scan result or equivalent TLS configuration report for your public endpoints
Key management procedure describing KMS usage, rotation schedule, and access restrictions
Architecture diagram showing encryption boundaries for data at rest and in transit

Follow-up questions reviewers ask next

How are encryption keys rotated, and what is the rotation frequency?
Is data encrypted between internal services, or only at the public edge?
Do you support customer-managed encryption keys (BYOK)?
Are backups and log archives encrypted with the same standard as production data?
Which cipher suites are enabled, and how do you deprecate weak ones?

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