{"id":1898,"date":"2025-05-20T14:19:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T20:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/?page_id=1898"},"modified":"2025-05-20T14:20:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T20:20:41","slug":"disk-encryption","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/disk-encryption\/","title":{"rendered":"Disk Encryption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disk Encryption<\/h1>\n
\n

Why full disk encryption?\u00a0 If your laptop is ever stolen with sensitive data on it, the person who stole it could retrieve every bit of data stored on that laptop, regardless of if it is password protected.\u00a0 It is crucial that any device that contains sensitive data and is transported off district property utilize full disk encryption.\u00a0 With full disk encryption, the data on the device would be worthless to any person who stole it without the users password.<\/p>\n

\n

WINDOWS<\/h3>\n

For Windows\u00a0 first we need to verify that you are running Windows Pro.\u00a0 To verify this we need to run a tool called \u201cSystem Information\u201d.\u00a0 To do that, you will click on the Start Menu, and then start typing \u201cSystem Information\u201d without the quotes.<\/p>\n

\"System<\/p>\n

Once you launch System Information, check on the Windows Version located next to OS Name.<\/p>\n

\"Clip<\/p>\n

Specifically you are looking for the \u201cPro\u201d.\u00a0 Most computers ordered through a approved District quote should have this.<\/p>\n

If you have a \u201cPro\u201d version of Windows 10 or Windows 8, then you should be able to set up Full Disk Encryption through BitLocker.\u00a0 \u00a0No, this is not Ransomware, it is a built in Windows utility that provides full disk encryption, that only you can decrypt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have a \u201cPro\u201d version of Windows, please reach out to the technology department for a quote.\u00a0 Upgrading is inexpensive and easy.<\/p>\n

Next, you will want to again click on the start menu and type \u201cBitlocker\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bitlocker<\/p>\n

You want to then launch the \u201cManage BitLocker\u201d.<\/p>\n

You should then see the drives you have in your system.\u00a0 You will want to \u201cTurn On BitLocker\u201d on any drive where you store sensitive data.\u00a0 For most of you, this will only be on the C: Drive, or the Operating System Drive.<\/p>\n

After you have clicked on \u201cTurn On BitLocker\u201d and authenticated yourself, Windows may ask you to save your private key to your Microsoft account or other location.\u00a0 We recommend you do this so that if for some reason you forget your password, you will not loose access to your files.\u00a0 Afterwards you should see a screen like this:<\/p>\n

\"Bitlocker<\/p>\n

Indicating that BitLocker is On.<\/p>\n

At this point, Windows will start encrypting your drive, it may take some time to encrypt all the files you already have on your drive, but Windows will do this silently in the background for you.<\/p>\n

\n

MAC OS X<\/h3>\n

In Mac OS X, you will need to start buy clicking on the Apple Menu in the top right hand corner and select \u201cSystem Preferences\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/p>\n

Once the \u201cSystem Preferences\u201d window opens, you should locate and click on \u201cSecurity & Privacy\u201d<\/p>\n

\"System<\/p>\n

Afterwards, click on the \u201cFileVault\u201d tab at the top, and click \u201cTurn On FileVault\u201d.\u00a0 It will ask you to save a private key, and we recommend that you do that.\u00a0 If not, and you forget your password you will be unable to access your files.<\/p>\n

Once everything has been setup correctly, the FileVault panel will look like this:<\/p>\n

\"File<\/p>\n

\n

CHROMEBOOK<\/h3>\n

On by default.<\/p>\n

\n

IPAD<\/h3>\n

On by default, just make sure to lock your device with a good pass-code (preferably one longer than the standard 4 digits)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disk Encryption Why full disk encryption?\u00a0 If your laptop is ever stolen with sensitive data on it, the person who stole it could retrieve every bit of data stored on that laptop, regardless of if it is password protected.\u00a0 It is crucial that any device that contains sensitive data and is transported off district property […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1898","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1901,"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1898\/revisions\/1901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washk12.org\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}