Definition
Data Encryption is a configuration tool or concept within Salesforce administration that governs platform behavior. Administrators use it to manage access, enforce data quality, and customize the user experience without writing code.
Real-World Example
At their company, a Salesforce administrator at Coastal Health leverages Data Encryption to maintain data quality and enforce organizational policies across the platform. By properly setting up Data Encryption, they prevent common data entry errors and ensure that users follow established business processes, which saves the support team hours of cleanup work each week.
Why Data Encryption Matters
Data Encryption in Salesforce refers to the platform's capability to protect sensitive data at rest by converting it from readable plaintext into encrypted ciphertext. Salesforce provides two tiers of encryption: standard encryption (which covers certain fields like custom text fields marked as encrypted) and Shield Platform Encryption (an add-on that encrypts data at rest across a much broader set of fields, files, and attachments using AES-256 encryption). Shield Platform Encryption allows organizations to encrypt standard fields like Name, Email, Phone, and Address on standard objects, as well as custom fields, files, attachments, and search indexes — all while preserving platform functionality like search, workflow, and validation rules.
Data Encryption is essential for organizations handling sensitive data under regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and SOX. Without encryption at rest, data stored in the database is vulnerable to unauthorized access if physical or logical security controls are breached. Shield Platform Encryption provides an additional layer of defense that satisfies compliance requirements for data-at-rest encryption. However, encryption introduces tradeoffs: encrypted fields cannot be used in certain filter criteria, some formula functions behave differently, and there is a performance overhead for encrypting and decrypting data. Organizations must carefully plan which fields to encrypt based on their regulatory requirements, data sensitivity classification, and functional impact assessment.
How Organizations Use Data Encryption
- Coastal Health — Coastal Health enabled Shield Platform Encryption to encrypt patient Social Security Numbers, medical record numbers, and diagnosis codes stored in custom fields. This satisfied their HIPAA audit requirement for data-at-rest encryption. The encryption is transparent to authorized users — they see the data normally — while the underlying storage is AES-256 encrypted.
- FinServe Banking — FinServe Banking encrypts credit card-related fields, account numbers, and customer tax IDs using Shield Platform Encryption. Their PCI-DSS compliance audit specifically requires encryption at rest for cardholder data. The bank also enabled encrypted search indexes so that support agents can still search by encrypted fields without exposing raw data in query logs.
- GlobalTrade Logistics — GlobalTrade Logistics conducted a data sensitivity assessment and identified 35 fields containing personally identifiable information across 8 objects. They enabled Shield Platform Encryption for these fields and ran a functional impact assessment in their sandbox to identify where encryption broke existing filters and formulas. After adjusting 6 formula fields and 2 workflow rules, they deployed encryption to production with zero user-facing disruption.