Losing your laptop or having it stolen can be quite miserable. Not only will you experience a financial setback that will dent your pocket, but your personal information will be accessed by whoever gets hands on it; especially if you didn’t have a password in the first place!
Unfortunately, your normal password-protected account cannot protect your data in the long run. While it may prevent attackers from logging to your account, there are quite a number of devious methods through which hackers can use to gain access to your files.
For example, if the culprits remove your hard drive and insert it in another laptop, they will instantly have access to the files that are stored in there. In some rare cases, they might even have access to view your passwords, emails, and personal information that you may have stored!
Encryption is the Key
Fortunately, you can protect your personal information from these kind of attacks with the help of encryption. In fact, encryption is a feasible mathematical method that is used to restructure data.
So, if you encrypt your files, there is no way in which a hacker can be able to read and utilize them without having a key first. This means that if anyone attempts to access the information, they won’t be able to see a thing without the password. The great thing about encryption is that you don’t have to be a super geek to be able to use it. In fact, you can get it up and running in a couple of minutes!
The Basics of Hard Drive Encryption
Getting started is simple and easy. For example, if you have a Windows laptop, you can follow this simple process:
- Settings
- System
- About
- Device Encryption
You’ll then need to access your Microsoft account for this feature to work effectively. It’s one of the easiest and best ways to be able to protect your personal information.
However, if your laptop doesn’t have device encryption features, you can use other encryption tools such as BitLocker. It is one of the most efficient apps, and is available for Windows versions starting for professional and above.
It’s incredibly easy to get started. Just follow the following simple steps:
- Windows Control Panel
- System and Security
- Manage BitLocker
From here, you can select the drive that you want to encrypt, and then proceed to Turning On Bitlocker. After doing this, you will receive a directive to create your password as well as create your encryption key. Make sure to put BitLocker in a secure place, and not directly in your computer!
If none of these is an option for you, you can proceed to download a free program known as VeraCrypt. VeraCrypt will effectively encrypt your hard drive, and will request a password every time you boot your laptop. Though it’s not the simplest option, it’s certainly one to look into!
If you’re a Mac enthusiast, encryption for you is pretty straightforward. Since 2003, modern macs have been coming with an encryption feature called FileVault that will effortlessly encrypt your entire drive. Just use the following process:
- System preferences
- Security and Privacy
- Click on the FileVault tab
- Turn it on and proceed to create your password to get started with encryption
The Downside: Don’t forget your password
If you encrypt your files, forgetting your password is not an option. Even though your data will be protected from hackers, it’s impossible for you to access your personal information if you forget the password as well as the recovery key.
So, if you tend to forget your password easily, then it’s monumental that you write it down and keep it somewhere safe. And no matter the situation, it’s monumental that you always backup the data. You can even keep it on another drive or a cloud-based service that will keep you data safe and secure!
