Is your PC encrypted?
Today I was considering how stressful it would be to lose the notebook or have it stolen. The info is backed up, and computers can be purchased, but I would worry about some of the information being i...
Forum Discussion
Yes I do encrypt all my PCs. But as downtheroad mentioned, only key folders and not whole disc encryption. One of the reasons being that for my PCs, primarily notebooks, that are still under warranty, it would be necessary for repair techs to have admin privileges in most all instance.
This aspect of warranty repair is one I doubt most PC owners even think about? That computer service techs essentially have free reign of your personal info. And don't doubt that techs do check your confidential files? Even former Apple store techs admitted looking into customer personal files. Which is a reason to keep personal files encrypted, requiring a separate password key.
If you do whole disc encryption, the tech will need the private key info in order to get access in many cases. So a thief may not be able to breach your personal files, but some you assume you could trust do?
I essentially encrypt all My Documents files, Firefox profiles (contains my non-financial passwords), Thunderbird profile (emails), Chrome profile, Dropbox, and photos. My financial passwords database are double encrypted with separate applications. I don't bother encrypting music or video files.
I also auto backup my encrypted container to an external USB drive encrypted container. Also, my full system restore images are also encrypted.
Encryption itself doesn't provide complete protection. Unencrypted personal info can also be cached in your pagefile.sys file, and other activities could be stored in your registry. I have my PC settings set to dump my pagefile.sys file to the Recycle Bin, which can be securely deleted. It may also be a good idea to occasionally securely erase your empty disc space. This can take a long time, so best done overnight. With modern hard drives, only 1-2 passes is generally all that is necessary to make files unrecoverable. Anything over 3 passes is overkill.
Also, don't assume that just deleting files off SSD drives will make them unrecoverable.
Nonetheless, the small inconvenience of having to input 2 passwords or keyfiles at startup, versus just your user account, is a small price to pay for extra security of your personal info.
This aspect of warranty repair is one I doubt most PC owners even think about? That computer service techs essentially have free reign of your personal info. And don't doubt that techs do check your confidential files? Even former Apple store techs admitted looking into customer personal files. Which is a reason to keep personal files encrypted, requiring a separate password key.
If you do whole disc encryption, the tech will need the private key info in order to get access in many cases. So a thief may not be able to breach your personal files, but some you assume you could trust do?
I essentially encrypt all My Documents files, Firefox profiles (contains my non-financial passwords), Thunderbird profile (emails), Chrome profile, Dropbox, and photos. My financial passwords database are double encrypted with separate applications. I don't bother encrypting music or video files.
I also auto backup my encrypted container to an external USB drive encrypted container. Also, my full system restore images are also encrypted.
Encryption itself doesn't provide complete protection. Unencrypted personal info can also be cached in your pagefile.sys file, and other activities could be stored in your registry. I have my PC settings set to dump my pagefile.sys file to the Recycle Bin, which can be securely deleted. It may also be a good idea to occasionally securely erase your empty disc space. This can take a long time, so best done overnight. With modern hard drives, only 1-2 passes is generally all that is necessary to make files unrecoverable. Anything over 3 passes is overkill.
Also, don't assume that just deleting files off SSD drives will make them unrecoverable.
Nonetheless, the small inconvenience of having to input 2 passwords or keyfiles at startup, versus just your user account, is a small price to pay for extra security of your personal info.
