LOCKBOX

A friend sent me this story about how nearly 17,000 patient records were stolen from a laptop that was taken from a consultant’s car. Here’s how you can protect the sensitive data on your computer or laptop (even if it’s lost or stolen) with just the system you’re using right now.

If I took your laptop right now, I could access that data in just a few minutes, probably less. Really I could. And, I wouldn’t even need to know your computer account password.  That is unless that data was encrypted …

If you don’t know what encryption is, it’s simply the process of scrambling data so that it’s difficult to read. In order to read the data, or “decrypt” it, you need a secret key that no one else but you knows, such as a password.

Sounds complicated? Expensive?  It’s neither.  Everything you need is already built-in on the operating system you’re using right now.

• Microsoft Windows: If you’re using Windows 2000 or later, you can encrypt file folders using a feature called Encrypting File Systems (EFS).  EFS is pretty dead easy to use.  All you need to do is right click on any folder that you want to encrypt, select Properties, then Advanced and check the encryption check box.  Any data saved in these folders gets encrypted automatically.  If you want even more security and you’re using Windows Vista or later, you can encrypt your entire computer drive using a feature called BitLocker Drive Encryption.

• Apple Mac OS X:  If you are using Mac OS X you have a feature called FileVault which encrypts your entire home folder, similar to Windows EFS.  Starting with Mac OS X “Lion” and later, you can also encrypt your entire computer drive using FileVault 2.

• Linux: If you are using a Linux distribution, like Ubuntu, encrypting data is a little more involved than on Windows or on a Mac, and requires some IT expertise.  Here’s how to create encrypted private folders, home folders and partitions.

Remember that in order for encryption to be effective, the secret used to protect the data needs to be difficult to guess.  Many of the tools above uses your account password. This means that 1) you need to have a password in the first place, and 2) that the password you’re using is strong.

Take care, and good luck.

–Kevin

P.S. Stolen laptops are just one of the many ways identity thieves and malicious hackers can get a hold of your customer’s data. Learn how you can put real Internet security experts to work for you and your customers with our affordable, easy to use secure file transfer service.