Over the last decade, a lot of progress has been made to make all technology as intuitive and accessible as possible. Browsers can now remember our most commonly visited sites, store our usernames and passwords and even tailor advertising to suit our needs. The problem is that this ease of use has come at a high cost – security.

Now it’s not fair to say IT security hasn’t improved too, it just hasn’t improved enough in some areas. Apple iPhones and iPads have been encrypted out of the box since 2009, and so have many other vendors, but unfortunately, Microsoft Windows has very low-security settings by default.

Why should I encrypt my PCs, laptops and servers?

Out of the box, Windows devices are not encrypted, and there are very easy methods to remove or reset login passwords to gain full access to your device and all of your data (including any passwords you have saved in your internet browser or Windows password vault!). We always advise our clients to store as little data as possible on their PCs and laptops to reduce the security risk. Data should be stored in a central area such as a NAS or server which benefits from full encryption and more robust security features.

Bitlocker Encryption

Windows 10 introduced Bitlocker as standard, before then it was only available with the rare ‘Enterprise’ and ‘Ultimate’ Windows versions. Bitlocker can fully encrypt your PC and any portable USB drive. Since BitLocker is built into Windows it adds features such as auto-unlock when a computer is joined to the secure business network, and the integrity of the encryption is backed by a well-known reputation and brand. You can still easily unlock your computer with a password or take the opportunity to also add two-factor authentications by requiring a USB key (created from a normal USB flash drive) to further increase security. Bitlocker is also native on Windows Server 2012 and 2016 meaning your core databases and central file shares can be safely encrypted.

Of course, there is always a delicate balance of security and usability, so you should always store a backup of your encryption key in a safe place just in case anything happens. We store a copy of our client’s encryption keys offsite in our highly secure cloud server. If you are feeling brave and want to attempt encrypting your laptop yourself then please take a full backup of your PC beforehand to make sure you don’t lock yourself out of your data.

Conclusion

With a little bit of help from a fantastic IT support team, you can encrypt all your sensitive and valuable data, but without specifically configuring encryption you may be more exposed than you think. Of course, encryption isn’t the only IT security measure that all small businesses should take. Encryption should be complemented by strong password policies, regular software updates and patches, and migrations away from end-of-life software and hardware that is no longer supported by the vendor. Physical security is also a consideration when servers are involved, and moving to a hosted or cloud solution will keep your servers safely locked away in a data centre. All of this is available with an IT support contract from Liberate IT. Many of our Nottingham IT support clients benefit from these fantastic security enhancements without even knowing about them!

There are other vendors who supply encryption software, but in our experience, they never integrate seamlessly with Windows or servers and often require physical intervention on a regular basis.

Liberate IT Solution

With a managed service contract from Liberate IT, you can forget about these worries because we take care of it all for you. We regularly meet with our clients to discuss their security and give them a roadmap to improve IT systems where necessary. We can work with any industry, with any budget, and any small business of 1-200 users.

Get in touch with our Nottingham-based GDPR specialists today to discuss your readiness for the new data protection laws.

Thanks for reading.
The Liberate IT Support Team
Nottingham, Derby, Burton, Leicester, Birmingham and beyond.

If you fancy a boring watch about how easy it is to reset a Windows password, we recommend this video: