Encryption on both computers and mobile devices in your business is a crucial step to securing not only your technology but also the data contained in your business.

In this article, we are going to highlight some of the basic steps of implementing encryption across your company.

As a bonus, we will also disclose an efficiency hack to perform device encryption with just 2 clicks of the mouse.

Modern windows based systems have an inbuilt feature called BitLocker.  This service allows you to encrypt the whole storage area of your system.

Beware – by default this service may not be enabled and you should seek professional advice.

We’ve seen businesses enabling BitLocker and losing access to their computer systems too many times.

Any professional IT services firm will implement BitLocker device encryption system-wide using either a remote management software or using windows server-level BitLocker encryption policy.

Many mobile and smartphones now come with encryption as standard.  However, this is not always the case.  Worst still, most devices don’t require any form of security access.  You can quite easily disable pin codes and passwords on a mobile device.  With this fact, any form of encryption the device has is useless.

This is why we always suggest you implement mobile device management on company devices.

Once the MDM software is installed, you can easily enforce security on devices with only a couple of clicks.  This includes encryption, strong passcodes and fingerprint ID where necessary.

As a bonus, MDM also allows you to deploy new business apps without the need for performing a manual install on each device separately.

We’ve covered both PCs and mobile devices.  Nevertheless, what about other forms of devices that might hold valuable company data?  What do you do with them?

The most common is the USB key.  These are extremely handy and practical for many purposes but the disadvantage to these devices is that they can easily be lost or get into the wrong hands.

Many organizations outlaw USB storage device completely and block the use of them on their systems as they can also be used to transport viruses.

However, not everyone wants to give them up that easily.  Hence, we always suggest purchasing USB storage devices with some form of encryption on them.

Many devices now come with software encryption when you plug them into your system.  You’ll be asked for the password before you can open the files.

Some devices even have a pin keypad physically on the device.

No matter what the choice is, it’s worth encrypting the data that ends up on these devices.

If you would like to find out more about how you can protect your company data, please get in touch with us here.

Please email [email protected] or call 1300 766 455.