• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2012

Nowadays, encryption is core technology widely used in IT industry to protect private information of individuals and important intellectual assets of companies. However, when criminals and terror suspects abuse such technology, national security can be threatened and law enforcement can be disturbed. To prevent such adverse effects of cryptography, some nations have enacted legislations that allow legally obtained encrypted data to be decrypted by certain law enforcement agencies. Hence it is imperative that firms having international presence understand and comply by each nation's regulations on decryption order. This paper explains circumstances under which legislations on decryption order were established, organizes countries with regulations and punishment, explores what global enterprises need to consider in making policies to effectively respond to decryption orders, and suggests that technological methods and managerial guidelines for control of encryption be established.