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Hard drive encryption has never been easier

As more organisations move to ensure the safety and confidentiality of information on their PCs and laptops, the need to encrypt hard drives has become more important. Fortunately, new technology makes the encryption of hard drives a simple, manageable process that occurs seamless to the user, while providing the optimal data security.

Safend Encryptor, which forms part of the Safend Data Protection Suite, is one of the leading technologies in this space. Distributed and supported by Magix Security, Safend Encryptor enforces policy-based encryption to protect the data stored on laptop and desktop hard drives.

Charmaine Geyer, Safend product manager at Magix Security explains that Safend Encryptor uses Total Data Encryption technology to automatically encrypt all data files on a hard drive, while avoiding the unnecessary encryption of the operating system and program files. “This minimises the risk of operating system failure, makes it easier to perform upgrades and has a negligible performance impact,” she says.

“More importantly, the solution provides transparent hard disk encryption, which means it seamlessly protects data without changing any end-user or helpdesk workflows. The installation and encryption happens while the user works. It can even stop when the user shuts down and resume when the computer is restarted. A small application called an agent is all that needs to be installed on the target computers for the encryption process to be initialised.”

Safend Encryptor provides companies with single sign-on (SSO) functionality, which means it makes use of the existing Windows login interface for user authentication and requires no changes to work processes. For large organisations, this is crucial as it means the user keeps on working as normal and does not require additional training.

“The SSO function results in there not being an additional password for users to remember,” adds Geyer. “And, since the encryption password is synchronised with Microsoft's Active Directory or Novell's eDirectory, lost passwords can be easily reset through the company's normal helpdesk procedures.”

Safend Encryptor provides full visibility and an audit trail that provides detailed logs and reports on security incidents, encryption status and administrative actions. In addition, it provides organisations with automatic key management and escrow. This means all encryption keys are centrally generated and securely stored on the Safend Management Server before encryption is initialised. A single management server can manage more than 75 000 agents, making it sufficient for most organisations in South Africa.

“To ensure that users' data remains secure, even if the user device is compromised, Safend Encryptor is tamper resistant. The agent includes multitiered anti-tampering capabilities to guarantee permanent control over enterprise endpoints. With Safend Encryptor, encryption becomes manageable, even for thousands of computers, while the user impact is minimal.

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