January 28th is European Data Protection Day: In c’t uplink we give tips on encrypting data on PCs, notebooks and external storage media. Most operating systems can encrypt the entire computer by default. In the current episode of c’t uplink we explain exactly how this works and how to configure your system for it. Windows comes with the BitLocker SSD and hard drive encryption – even in the home version in a slimmed-down form as “device encryption”. An alternative is the open source tool VeraCrypt, which can be used on Linux, macOS and Windows. Both BitLocker and VeraCrypt have their pitfalls, which is why c’t Windows expert Jan Schuessler often gets questions from readers.
The weekly c’t podcast c’t uplink is available …
Christof Windeck from the hardware department explains how security chips on the PC interact with encryption software and why it’s all pretty secure, even though you don’t have to enter a complicated password to unlock an encrypted Windows notebook. That’s why you have to be extremely careful: If something goes wrong with an update and the Bitlocker recovery key is requested, you should definitely have it ready. It is best to print it out and file it away just in case.
Lutz Labs also tested special USB sticks, hard drives and SSDs with integrated encryption in c’t. To unlock it, you have to enter a PIN on a built-in keypad or identify yourself by fingerprint. For the test, Lutz also sent the hardware to a security expert who drilled things out and tried to hack them.
Also present: Achim Barczok, Lutz Labs, Jan Schüßler, Christof Windeck
the c’t 4/2023 is available at the kiosk, im browsers and in the c’t app for iOS and Android.
On our new YouTube channel c’t 3003 there will be a new video every Friday at 17 pm!
(acb)
