Select “Use a password to unlock the drive” and enter and re-enter a password that will be used to unlock the drive. Wait while BitLocker initializes the drive. Right click on the drive you want to turn into an encrypted flash drive in Computer, and select Turn on BitLocker. If that use case is similar to your own, the easiest way to encrypt the contents of your flash drives is to use BitLocker, the drive encryption system built into the Ultimate, Enterprise and Pro versions of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and later.īitLocker Pros: Free available in many business versions of Windows very easy to use requires no extra software downloadsīitlocker Cons: Only designed for Windows computers (although software is available for purchase that allows the use of BitLocker on other operating systems, e.g. How to Encrypt a Flash Drive Using Microsoft’s BitLockerĪ typical business user works from a Windows PC in their office and a Windows laptop while on the move or when working from home. The good news, though, is that it is relatively straightforward to encrypt the contents of any flash drive using free software. The drawback of these types of encrypted flash drives is that they are expensive – an 8GB Aegis Secure Key costs around $100 – and may not always be available. The Ironkey requires a password to be typed into a window that pops up on screen before files on the drive can be accessed, while the Aegis Secure Key requires a PIN or password to be entered using tiny keys on the flash drive itself before its contents can be accessed. If you’re in the market for an encryption solution for your enterprise, see our list of top enterprise encryption products The easiest way to ensure that data on flash drives is protected by encryption is to buy an encrypted flash drive such as the IronKey or Aegis Secure Key, both of which encrypt data automatically in hardware and can be used on computers running Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

In fact, in many cases the use of an encrypted flash drive is required for regulatory compliance or data protection law. That’s why you should carry your data on an encrypted flash drive. If you carry corporate information on a standard USB flash drive and it gets lost or stolen, the resulting data breach can be catastrophic.

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