TrustRadius Insights for BitLocker Drive Encryption are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Ease of Use: Users have highlighted that the disk encryption software is user-friendly for both technicians and general users. They appreciate the straightforward installation process and simple setup, making it easy to encrypt their computers.
Efficiency and Performance: Users noted that the software is efficient and does not heavily impact system resources when encryption is enabled. They mentioned that their computer's performance remains unaffected, except during the initial encryption process.
Enhanced Security Features: Reviewers find the software valuable for protecting computers from intrusions and data breaches, particularly for sensitive information. They appreciate features like seamless hard drive encryption, added security with drive encryption, and functionality for encrypting removable media. The robust disk encryption algorithms were also praised for effectively improving security measures.
BitLocker Drive Encryption is being used as the global standard solution for Drive Encryption, it's deployed across the organization to fulfill regulatory needs in terms of Data Protection. It's intended to Protect Data from stolen and lost assets and it's helping Risk Information Security Officers to reduce the gap in terms of Threats
Pros
Agent Initialization
Robust Disk Encryption Algorithms
Reporting on Compliance
Cons
Encryption key Management
OS Compatibility
Console Management
Likelihood to Recommend
It can be used if you are already familiar with other Microsoft System Center tools, it will provide integration and it will be easy to use from an Administrator's perspective. However, if you want more detailed information related to the troubleshooting, specific fields, or data, it will not be that granular.
VU
Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology (Hospital & Health Care company, 10,001+ employees)
We are using it across the whole organization. It has been implemented campus-wide, and each department is responsible for deploying/supporting Bitlocker for all its users. We are using it across our organization to fully protect desktops, especially in cases where users are accessing sensitive data. It addresses the business problems of how to protect computers in the best manner possible, in which the computers either store or access sensitive data (this could be either be local or across the network).
Pros
It is fairly easy to use, from both a technician and users point of view. The install itself is pretty simple, and setup of the software is also fairly simple. For users, it is easy to use the software to encrypt the computer.
It doesn't seem to use a whole lot of system resources when the encryption is enabled on the computer. You shouldn't experience any slowness of the computer, other than the time it takes to first encrypt the computer.
It serves its main purpose very well, and that is to protect computers from intrusions/data breaches. It is particularly good for protecting computers that are accessing/storing sensitive/confidential data.
Cons
Users need to make sure their computer can support encryption. There is a special TPM chip that is needed to be able to encrypt the computer, but most newer computers today should have this built-in.
There is some slowness of the computer with the encrypting/decrypting part of the software. This part can also take a long time to complete, depending on the size of the hard disk.
It is very important that the recovery key is never lost, or else the user may never be able to unlock their drive. Microsoft should look into maybe having a feature which would automatically upload the recovery key to the cloud (in a secure manner).
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited especially for users that access or store sensitive/confidential data on their computers. In the case of where users are accessing confidential data over the network, it is highly recommended to use Bitlocker to encrypt the computer. In the case where users are storing confidential data on their computer, it should be a requirement that BitLocker is used/enabled.
It would be less appropriate if someone was using a computer and they were not dealing with any sensitive data, or in cases where the computer is used for recreational purposes (browsing the web, playing games, etc).
VU
Verified User
Supervisor in Information Technology (Education Management company, 1001-5000 employees)
Protect data to be extracted from the hard drive once out of the computer
Cons
Bitlocker should be paired with a proper backup solution, if no backup, data is gone for ever when the drive has an issue.
Bitlocker mainly works if the encrypted drive is pulled out of the computer, it is useless when paired with the computer. I mean if someone stills the computer, the hard drive will be inside so the the real life scenario of someone stealing the drive but not the computer is very unlikely to happen.
Likelihood to Recommend
I am not sure I can think of a single real life scenario for end-user laptop, I mean BitLocker only triggers once the HDD is separated from the TPM chip and I am not convinced a thief would only steal the hard drive and not the computer.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (Retail company, 1001-5000 employees)
In this world with an increased need for data security and all the compliance initiatives, data and drive encryption has become a necessity. We use BitLocker Drive Encryption (BitLocker) on any Windows server that contains any personally identifiable information (PII), or sensitive personal information (SPI) or Protected health information (PHI). It has become a standard part of our security policy. BitLocker can only be used to encrypt the entire drive in a Windows product and not specific folders. If you see a folder option to encrypt contents to secure data, that is Encrypting File System (EFS) not BitLocker. We also use BitLocker on laptops to protect and secure information in the case of loss or theft.
Pros
Encrypts the entire drive and provides a high level of security.
In an Active Directory environment, you can set up BitLocker to automatically save keys to AD.
As part of Windows, no additional licensing costs.
Set up and configuration is relatively easy.
Uses TPM module to increase security.
Cons
There is a read/write impact on performance, but the protection is well worth the minor performance hit.
Likelihood to Recommend
BitLocker Drive Encryption is only designed for use with Microsoft Windows O/S's.
