All information in the CO APCD is encrypted during transmission from the health plans and while it is “at rest” in the database. To mitigate encryption key compromise, each submitter is identified prior to submission by Internet protocol (IP) address. These IP addresses are unique, and transmission is only allowed from these sources. Additionally, each submitter is provided with a unique encryption key, which encrypts the data while in transit. Once the data is decrypted and processed, the source data at rest is encrypted using advanced encryption standard (AES 256 bit) and protected.