Small Business Encryption

Encryption on Laptops & Workstations

The Challenge

A returning client came to us aware of the GDPR regulations about protecting their customers data and they wanted thecitysecret to advice and implement a solution to ensure their devices were secure. They had a number of laptops going offsite on a regular basis, whilst the majority of data they store within the cloud there was still some customer data stored on their laptops.

 Key Points

 • They had 4 laptops and 2 workstations

 • Most devices had Windows 10 Professional

 • A few devices had Windows 7 Home editions

• The customer was on a budget 

The Solution

With the customer on a budget we decided going with Bitlocker Encryption which is built into Windows 10 Pro which is already on most of their devices, so there was no extra cost. On the laptops running Windows 7 Home, Bitlocker isn’t included and with Windows 7 end of life support ending at the start of 2020 we decided the best path was to upgrade them to Windows 10 Pro now so it got 2 jobs done for the client.

Once the devices all had Windows 10 Pro edition we encrypted both laptops & workstations. Once finished we provided the encryption keys on paper print outs & a USB stick so they could recover the devices if they ever lost their encryption password or for any unforeseen event.  The workstations were encrypted even though they stay onsite it made sense to protect them all incase of theft and so they could rest knowing all devices were protected.

Key Fixes

 • Upgraded Windows 7 devices before end of life to Windows 10 Pro

• Setup Bitlocker Encryption on all laptops & workstations

• Provided a demo of how the encryption works and provided some documentation on the project for the clients records

 

The Outcome

This was a short project which we carried out for one our small business clients and they were very happy with how it went and the total cost to encrypt all their devices. Since GDPR came into play and more businesses are becoming aware of the need to encrypt customer data, we have found we are carrying out mroe and more encryptions.