[GUIDE] How to protect your USB stick with Bitlocker (Windows)

[Ipheuria]

USB sticks/drives have now become as ubiquitous as CD/DVDs once were. They carry some of our most personal, private or confidential data. So they should be protected because their small size makes them very easy to leave behind or lose. There are third party file encryption programs out there that can do the job. However Bitlocker, which is built in to the Ultimate or Enterprise versions of Vista\Windows 7, and Pro or Enterprise versions of Windows 8 is also a consideration. If you have any of these versions of Windows you can use Bitlocker to protect your USB drives from unauthorized access. Once you enable Bitlocker on your USB drive using a secure password, the password must be entered to unlock the contents of the drive. So here are the steps to enable Bitlocker on your USB stick/drive:

Plug in your USB stick/drive and open "Computer". Right click the drive and click "Turn on BitLocker"



Place a check mark in the box next to "Use a password to unlock the drive"
Click Next



Enter the password you will use to protect the drive (More secure passwords work better)
Click Next



You will be asked to save or print a copy of your recovery key, choose your option
Click Next



Choose how to encrypt the device from two options "Encrypt used disk space only" or "Encrypt entire drive"
(both options will encrypt the drive one is faster than the other)
Click Next



You are now ready, click "Start Encrypting"
(the process can take a very long time depending on the amount of data to be encrypted)



While the drive is being encrypted the process must be paused if the computer needs to be shut down or before the drive can be removed



Once the process is complete the USB key/drive will be locked when it is removed from the computer. The password will then need to be entered in order to unlock the key/drive so the data on it is accessible.

 

[bamf-hacker]

Securing thumb drives is a great idea!!! Good post.