Hi all users, as we all know how easy it is for snoopers to get their hands on private and confidential data. That’s the main reason we need to constantly refine our security policies to keep confidential data safe. While there are many software applications that will do the job they could be easy to crack; at least for a seasoned hacker. That’s not the only reason to be worried. Imagine losing your laptop or even your portable drive which contains important data.
What we are referring to is hardware based encryption rather than the more common software based methods. To begin with you will need a PC with a motherboard that has an embedded TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip. So before we even get into the intricacies of setting up the encryption system, let’s go a little further and understand the basic functionality of a TPM based motherboard.
In very simple terms, a TPM chip basically generates random encryption keys where half of the key is stored within the chip and is encrypted/decrypted using an incredibly strong 2048-bit RSA algorithm. This essentially makes it impossible to recover data from the encrypted drive, making it unique to the machine that was used for encryption. In other words, the contents of a protected drive are unreadable when connected to another machine or read by any unauthorized person.
Before we start, make sure that your motherboard or laptop has the Trusted Platform Module chip. Refer to the manual to confirm this. If it does you will need to make sure it is enabled in the BIOS. Before we progress further make doubly sure that you have not already encrypted any files using this method. If the user information is ever cleared, encrypted files will become inaccessible. Please do back up any protected files first! We also suggest backing up important data before proceeding.
Start your machine and press the [Delete] key to get access to the BIOS. For laptops it should either be the [F12] or the [F8] key. Search for the term “Security Chip Configuration” or a similar title and press [Enter]. Now select “Enabled” for the Security Chip and move to “Clear Security Chip”. Once the user information has been cleared save changes to the BIOS by pressing [F10], and restart.
Once you have logged into Windows install the TPM driver (check your motherboard CD/DVD) and restart again. This workshop uses a Gigabyte board that had an Infineon TPM chip. If you have a different chip note that the steps will be a little different, so excercise caution and check all options first.
