Your Essential Guide to BitLocker Management

What Is BitLocker Device and Drive Encryption?

In our technologically advanced world, data protection and security are becoming increasingly important every single day.

If you are a business owner, securing your data is vital to the longevity of your organization. Since much of your business is digital, your employees share sensitive information via your work computer system. Data breaches can expose this information and ruin a company — even causing them to go out of business.

Because most office environments contain several computers, it is hard to privatize all data. A great solution is an encryption tool that hides your data from the public and only allows authorized users to access it.

Microsoft offers a data security platform called BitLocker that protects you and your employees from data hacks and other cybercrime. When you encrypt with BitLocker, the public cannot view your files without having the network encryption key, which is private to your IT administrator.

BitLocker management only works on specific Windows operating systems. Windows operating systems and editions that support BitLocker include:

• Windows 7
• Windows 8 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions
• Windows 8.1 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions
• Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions

Windows servers from 2008 and later will also work with BitLocker. Also, make sure that you have access to a printer, as you will need to print out your recovery key.

When you sign in with BitLocker, each computer will have a PIN that grants you access to your operating system. Your IT admin will have a recovery key installed on a separate network to protect your data in case you ever forget your password.

Typically, encrypting your computer’s data with BitLocker takes two hours or less. If you can run this encryption over a weekend, we recommend doing so to maximize workplace productivity. Of course, some encryptions may take longer depending on how much data you must secure.

If you want to decrypt your data using BitLocker, you can always switch off the program. Your IT admin can go to the settings in the control panel to power off BitLocker. Once you do so, the operating system will decrypt automatically.

With BitLocker, you know your data is encrypted and secured. But this software offers more benefits for your business and daily IT operations.

What Does BitLocker Drive Encryption Do?

There are many things that BitLocker drive encryption can help you accomplish. BitLocker provides a centralized management system. It is more convenient for your business to have a central hub for all your valuable data.

With BitLocker drive encryption, your IT manager can control your data from a single source, decreasing the risk of cybercrime. It also allows you to automate your business operations for added convenience. BitLocker drive encryption settings also enable your IT administrator to deploy granular policies across all your office’s computers.

Additionally, you will not have to worry about licensing costs when installing BitLocker on a Windows device. It is a native function, meaning developers made BitLocker specifically for Windows computers.

BitLocker is also a user-friendly program. No matter your experience level with data security programs, your IT admin can show you how to navigate the platform easily.

Perhaps the best benefit of BitLocker drive encryption is that it collects your audit data automatically. This process allows you to view reports of your audit history. It also summarizes encryption data succinctly across all your computers.

All of these benefits allow your IT admin to overlook all your data simultaneously, keeping you and your employees’ sensitive information safe.

Deploy BitLocker Management and Store Recovery Keys

Recovery keys are essential in data security. One of the most vital things you need to do to ensure that your computers are safe is to generate and store BitLocker recovery keys. These are the last line of defense preventing you from not being able to access your sensitive information.

These keys ensure that your users will never lose their password information. Recovery keys also help you recover your data if something compromises your computer. In that case, your IT expert can transfer the disk encryption settings of the compromised computer to a new one and enter your recovery key to retrieve your sensitive data.

Your IT manager can customize the settings of your recovery keys and schedule them to change every week, month, or year. Changing your recovery keys boosts your digital security and keeps potential hackers guessing.

With BitLocker, you also receive automated scanning and encryption assessments. Once Desktop Central runs your tests, it will display them on each computer. These assessment results are easily understandable, allowing your entire team to analyze them.

In addition to software security, BitLocker also provides hardware protection by tracking the location of your TPM (Trusted Platform Module). You can find the TPM in the motherboard of most computers.

BitLocker will scan all the computers in your network to diagnose the health of your TPMs and provide detailed reports for your team.

BitLocker management also offers flexible drive encryption options for your IT team. Flexible encryption options allow your IT admin to customize your system’s encryption and decryption policies for maximum security. We recommend full-space encryption as a default setting, as it is the most secure option.

When protecting your data, it is wise to use multi-factor authentication. The more obstacles you can put in front of potential scammers, the safer you will be.

TPM and BitLocker encryption management systems complement passphrase protection to keep you and your employees safe. Your IT admin can add to your computer’s security by referencing BitLocker’s active directory.

It’s simple, safe, and easy to use and manage BitLocker as a business owner. Our IT experts are available to help you decide whether BitLocker management is practical for your business needs.