When transmitting information over public networks, the decision to encrypt it should be based on

Monetary value alone is an unreliable metric because highly sensitive information (e.g., personal health records, credentials) may have low direct monetary value yet still require strong encryption due to its confidentiality classification.

While the presence of transient relay nodes increases exposure risk, the fundamental trigger for encryption is the confidentiality requirement of the data itself, not the network topology or number of intermediate hops.

Encryption decisions are governed by data classification policies, which categorize information by its level of confidentiality (e.g., public, internal, confidential, restricted). Highly confidential data requires encryption to prevent unauthorized disclosure during transit over untrusted public networks. This aligns with information security principles such as those in ISO/IEC 27002, which tie cryptographic controls to the sensitivity of the data being protected.

The volume of data has no bearing on whether it requires encryption; even a single byte of confidential data must be encrypted, while large volumes of public data may require none.