Using BitLocker To Go

Using BitLocker To Go

Expiration Time With Windows 7 you can now use BitLocker Drive Encryption with your USB storage devices with BitLocker To Go. This enables you to keep your own data, or your company’s data safer in case the USB storage device is lost, stolen, or misused. Now if you misplace your USB drive you don’t have to worry so much about someone examining your data since it will be encrypted.

You can choose to use a passphrase or even a smartcard to unlock the drive and access its contents. No specific hardware is required to use a passphrase and it allows one to easily roam inside and outside domains and organizations. The passphrase complexity and length requirements are managed by Group Policy. Smart Cards leverage the existing PKI infrastructure and you can roam to any computer running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 RC2. Note that this requires specific hardware but uses much stronger keys than the passphrase.

You can require that BitLocker be used for both removable and unremovable data drives. When the policy is enforced for removable data drives, all removable drives will require BitLocker protection in order to have write access. As soon as a drive is plugged into a machine, a dialog is displayed to the user to either enable BitLocker on the device or they will only have read-only access. The user gets full access only after encryption is completed and  can alternatively enable BitLocker at a later time.

You can also decrypt if you decide that you don’t want it encrypted anymore or you encountered some kind of compatibility issue. It is a simple process to perform.