If machines with built in hardware-level encryption are out of your customer's budget, an alternative to consider is BitLocker, an operating system (OS)-level extension to Windows Vista. BitLocker combines on-disk encryption and key management techniques to make data-theft difficult at a price your customers will appreciate. Learn BitLocker fundamentals in this step-by-step tip, courtesy of SearchWindowsSecurity.com.
Rarely does a month go by without a news report about a company or government agency that suffers some kind of loss in the form of a stolen laptop or PC. Often the theft is nothing more than an attempt to resell the hardware for fast cash, but sometimes it's a specific attempt to steal highly sensitive data.
Computers with hardware-level encryption built in can make such data theft prohibitively difficult. But such machines are expensive, and they are not always a practical solution.
Microsoft offers one possible solution in the form of an operating system (OS)-level extension to Windows Vista called BitLocker. This feature, a combination of on-disk encryption and special key management techniques, makes it possible for any existing PC that can run Vista to use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) on the main system partition. In other words, not only the data but
Requires Membership to View
To gain access to this and all member only content, please provide the following information:
By submitting your registration information to SearchSecurityChannel.com you agree to receive email communications from the TechTarget network of sites, and/or third party content providers that have relationships with TechTarget, based on your topic interests and activity, including updates on new content, event notifications, new site launches and market research surveys. Please verify all information and selections above. You may unsubscribe at any time from one or more of the services you have selected by editing your profile, unsubscribing via email or by contacting us here
- Your use of SearchSecurityChannel.com is governed by our Terms of Use
- We designed our Privacy Policy to provide you with important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy, and to use it to help make informed decisions.
- If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.
also the OS installation itself is protected and they require the presence of a hardware key or
a long passphrase to be rendered usable. Without the needed keys, the hard drive is nothing but
pseudorandom data.
BitLocker demystified: End-to-end encryption for Vista
Introduction
The basics
Keying up
Common misconceptions
Competition
About the author
Serdar Yegulalp is editor of the Windows Power Users
Newsletter. Check it out for the latest advice and musings on the world of Windows network
administrators -- and please share your thoughts as well!
This tip originally appeared on SearchWindowsSecurity.com.
This was first published in March 2007