Get free laptop encryption Aug. 6-10

Join more than 200 others Centerwide; protect your laptop against identity theft at Laptop Encryption Festival

By JOHN KUO

Last January, an article in Center News introduced the importance of laptop encryption. President and Director Dr. Lee Hartwell said at the time, "Several other major organizations have experienced laptop thefts in the last few months that have compromised hundreds of thousands of personal data records. Anyone with an unencrypted laptop should feel quite vulnerable."

Today, approximately 200 Center laptops have received encryption; for Administration and Clinical Research Division faculty and staff, laptop encryption is mandatory.

To facilitate laptop encryption Centerwide, the Information Security Office is sponsoring a Laptop Encryption Festival Aug. 6-10. Get encryption for any laptop that accesses sensitive Center information by calling your local IT help desk or dropping the laptop off during the festival.

The Information Technology Resources and Policy Committee recommends whole-disk encryption for all Center laptops. The software encrypts every single data bit of the hard drive with a password chosen by the user. Without the password, the laptop will not boot and the data cannot be read, even by forensic software. A thief can reformat the hard drive and sell the laptop, but he or she can never read what's inside.

• Aug. 6-8, Yale Building, J2-108, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Aug. 8-10, Thomas Building, B1-076 (across from the library), 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

To receive free encryption, bring your laptop, its power supply and your Hutch NetID and password (for software-registration purposes) to the festival. Depending on your laptop's CPU speed and hard-drive size, the encryption process will take four to five hours.

We will also hand out free ($65 value), hardware-encrypted, 1GB USB flash drives (Microsoft OS only) to those who travel with sensitive data. Together, we can better protect the Center's information assets.

Encryption facts at a glance

• Encryption is free ($200+ value)
• Microsoft operating systems only
• Total transparency, no extra password to remember
• Negligible (~1 percent) performance impact

» Read more news from Center News Weekly.