Do you encrypt your data?

[Coldblackice]

Do you personally use any sort of data/drive encryption?

(local, personal/home data only, not pertaining to employers' computers)

If you have a quasi-answer arrangement, please detail in a thread post.

I've recently been contemplating enacting full-drive encryption on my machines and phone/tablet devices, having shunned the notion in the past -- attributing the idea to an overzealous/paranoid measure, having nothing worth "hiding", and likewise, wanting to avoid any performance loss associated with encryption.

I'm curious what others' experiences are, and what kind of numbers are using drive or file encryption.


EDIT:

Agh, didn't mean to enable multi-answer on the poll, and can't edit it now. I guess overall percentages will be a bit skewed.

 

[lilfiend]

i use truecrypt with a very long password that i do not use anywhere else to encrypt my official documents like tax records and the like, I used to keep my laptop entirely encrypted so my friends couldn't screw with it but after I forgot its password (I don't use my laptop all that much) I just reformatted it and gave up with encrypting it.

You will have some performance loss with encryption but Its worth it so long as you are actually serious about security, remember, YOU are the weakest link in encryption most of the time, so be smart about it.

 

[FearXI]

I only encrypt some files but I have BIOS passwords as well and a required password to enter the BIOS too. I haven't thought much about encrypting my laptops SSD.

Are there any guides to do this? I've only learned how to do files.

 

[ADRENALIN_2099]

I only encrypt my external backup drive

 

[FearXI]

Do any of you use Windows 8?
The file encrypt I have only does files and the encrypt I know of doesn't support Windows 8.

 

[KarsusTG]

With modern processors and hard drives there is little loss in performance unless you are trying to get bleeding edge fps or something. Encrypting my drives and externals has saved my bacon several times. My dropbox folder only has an encrypted container in it as well. I have had TSA officers try to force me to unlock my laptop and externals. It's kinda crazy. But then again, I rarely web browse outside of a VM client. Rarely download outside one. I use a VPN and have a VM Client specifically for tor web browsing.

I am not even remotely close to paranoid compared to some people I know lol.

 

[FearXI]

With modern processors and hard drives there is little loss in performance unless you are trying to get bleeding edge fps or something. Encrypting my drives and externals has saved my bacon several times. My dropbox folder only has an encrypted container in it as well. I have had TSA officers try to force me to unlock my laptop and externals. It's kinda crazy. But then again, I rarely web browse outside of a VM client. Rarely download outside one. I use a VPN and have a VM Client specifically for tor web browsing.

I am not even remotely close to paranoid compared to some people I know lol.

If I can put a password on it I'll do it.
This post made me think I should just encrypt my whole drive rather than a few files here and there.

My passwords I use sentences with punctuation and some numbers.
One password for my banking stuff is 79 characters long with numbers, punctuations, and ASCII characters. I guess you could say I'm a little paranoid....

 

[Cheetoz]

just a small truecrypt volume to store sensitive stuff.

 

[Liger88]

Encrypted volumes using Free OTFE. Encrypting the entire drive is kind of pointless and a unnecessary performance hit unless absolutely necessary IMHO. I mean, I'd love to do it now that I have an SSD just for giggles, but many people who have done it ran into some quirky performance issues that if you forget about can be a troubleshooting headache.

 

[nick8571]

Encrypted volumes using Free OTFE. Encrypting the entire drive is kind of pointless and a unnecessary performance hit unless absolutely necessary IMHO.

I don't know... Windows might still be leaving data in temporary files on the system partition, and although the risk might be pretty small, if the entire drive is encrypted at least you can be sure you've got everything.

I don't bother encrypting my home PC, but my laptop is encrypted with Bitlocker full-disk encryption for the simple reason that it's much more likely to get stolen or left on a train (or something).

 

[Liger88]

I don't know... Windows might still be leaving data in temporary files on the system partition, and although the risk might be pretty small, if the entire drive is encrypted at least you can be sure you've got everything.

I don't bother encrypting my home PC, but my laptop is encrypted with Bitlocker full-disk encryption for the simple reason that it's much more likely to get stolen or left on a train (or something).

True. I should have also mentioned I take the proactive measures to wipe all data and regularly do so with all temp files/folders using various software and have used recovery software to verify it's cleaned. This on a monthly basis. A lot more work probably even more so than just encrypting the whole drive, but I'm stubborn lol.

 

[Ur_Mom]

I use BitLocker on my laptop, but that's it. Desktop and server, no. The backup's are encrypted (CrashPlan), though.

So, as the majority of my stuff isn't - I voted no.

 

[CrimsonKnight13]

I usually don't, since recovery with encryption can be quite painful. I don't store all that much highly sensitive data on my home network & I don't really have that type of paranoia and/or security awareness. I might look into it more if I'm given a strongly compelling reason.

 

[devman]

I don't know... Windows might still be leaving data in temporary files on the system partition, and although the risk might be pretty small, if the entire drive is encrypted at least you can be sure you've got everything.

I don't bother encrypting my home PC, but my laptop is encrypted with Bitlocker full-disk encryption for the simple reason that it's much more likely to get stolen or left on a train (or something).

Dead on. Trying to encrypt individual folders or files is a recipe for leaky protection. Any non-volatile storage the data could rest in should be encrypted, that includes the entire system drive and swap (if your using an OS where swap is a separate partition).