In the world of technology and security people tend to think anything that has to do with cryptography is a bad thing. When the word crypto is said, most people think of malware, locked files, and ransom payments. Although cryptography can set off nightmare scenarios such as these, that’s not the entire story of how this technology works. In fact, cryptography has been around for many years, and it has many useful applications for securing your data rather than exploiting it.
Useful Applications for Cryptography
Cryptography has always been useful for hiding and securing data. Computers and software use algorithms to encrypt and decrypt valuable data. Encryption is a necessary part of file protection. Encrypted data is secure from hackers and Man in the Middle (MitM) attacks, whereby if your data is somehow compromised it is unreadable by the parties who do not have the proper keys to decrypt it.
Full-disk encryption may be the best solution for small business. You can obtain encryption software that can be used to secure your device data, or you can take advantage of built-in encryption technology that already comes with many hardware platforms. Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices that include a TPM chip (Trusted Platform Module) come with an encryption software known as BitLocker.
To check if your device has a TPM chip, you can open Device Manager and check under security devices to see if the Trusted Platform Module is listed. If so, then your Windows based computer can use BitLocker to protect your data. To enable these settings, launch Control Panel, and select the BitLocker Drive Encryption option. After going to the BitLocker Drive settings, simply click the option to Turn on BitLocker.
After turning on BitLocker you can choose to save the recovery key to your Microsoft account, or manually. Once enabled, it is vital that you keep your encryption key handy, or that you always remember the Microsoft account you linked your device to in case you ever need to decrypt your files.
Types of Encryption
There is a variety of encryption methods and levels of encryption as well. The main types of encryptions include:
- Individual file and folder encryption: This method encrypts individual items that you tell it to. This is a baseline level of encryption and should only be used if you keep minimal fields and documents on your device.
- Volume encryption: This method creates a container that fully encrypts the entire data store. All fields and folders that are created in this container are thus encrypted.
- Full-disk encryption: This is the most complete form of computer encryption. It’s transparent to users and doesn’t require them to save files to a special place on the disk. All files, folders, and volume on the device are encrypted and require a key or passcode for the files to be decrypted and read. This is the most secure form of encryption method.
Utilizing the built-in encryption tools with Windows and other platforms such as OSX can go a long way in ensuring that your data stays secure. The BitLocker encryption fully encrypts the entire disk, so in case the device is stolen, or the contents of the drive are copied without being decrypted first, they will be secure and unreadable.
It’s important to protect your data and using encryption methods is one of the best ways to secure your data. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting your data, give us a call today!
