What is the main purpose of encryption in data security?

The primary purpose of encryption in data security is to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. By converting plain text data into a coded format, encryption ensures that only individuals or systems with the correct decryption key can access the original content. This is critical in safeguarding personal, financial, and confidential information from cyber threats, ensuring that even if data is intercepted during transmission or accessed unlawfully, it remains unreadable and secure.

Choosing encryption as a means of data protection helps maintain privacy and confidentiality, which is essential in environments where data breaches can lead to significant consequences. In the context of the other options, while improving transmission speed, facilitating network connections, and ensuring readability may be relevant to data handling, they do not accurately capture the fundamental role encryption plays in securing data against unwanted intrusion and protecting the integrity of sensitive information.