Which strategy is most useful for protecting sensitive data during transmission?

End-to-end encryption is the most effective strategy for protecting sensitive data during transmission. This method ensures that data is encoded in such a way that only the intended recipient can decrypt and access it. By employing encryption, even if the data is intercepted during transmission, it remains unreadable to unauthorized parties. This is crucial in safeguarding sensitive information such as personal identification details or financial records, as it maintains confidentiality and integrity throughout the communication channel.

In contrast, data masking is typically used for obfuscating data within non-production environments; it does not secure data in transit. Tokenization replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive equivalents, but its primary focus is on data at rest rather than during transmission. Regular backups, while vital for data recovery, do not directly protect data during its transmission phases. Each of these alternatives has its unique application, but end-to-end encryption stands out specifically for safeguarding sensitive data in transit against potential exposures.