bitlocker

Device encryption - Why it's important and sometimes necessary

You might of read in the news recently about a Secret Service Laptop being stolen out a car with Plan's of the U.S. presidents home on it

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39310793

The laptop was encrypted so the chances of anyone else apart from the Secret Services being able to read the files on this laptop are zero.

Laptops/Tablet and Phones when used out the box come with Zero encryption, which means if they ever get into the wrong hands there is a chance information could be captured. Even if you have a password on the device, the information from memory cards , hard drives and device storage can still be opened up on another device. If you hold customer information on devices which leave company premises the risks of this are even higher.

The following software is the top three Windows Encryption Services

  • Bitlocker
  • Disk Cryptor
  • True Crypt

How to encrypt tablets/phones?

The moment you set a passcode or enable Touch ID on the device running iOS 8 and above, the full device encryption is turned on automatically without you having to do anything.

 Lock Screen > Security > Other Security Settings. If you have a Galaxy S6 then you’ll need to head there and then tap on Encrypt phone to enable encryption.

A MDM Platform ( please see our other blog post about this ) is a good way to ensure anyone with company email has this enabled