Summary of Encrypted Storage

As companies strive to protect their internal information stores, many have moved to place encrypted storage containers on desktops and laptops company-wide. As discussed in this section, large amounts of internal, proprietary data is lost or stolen every year through portable company assets. Many of these losses are preventable if the owners of the information had simply insisted on using basic encryption to protect their data.

Once an attacker has his or her hands on an encrypted storage container, he or she can attempt to break through the encryption to obtain the information within. This could be done through a simple brute force attack, although that can be the slowest method available, depending on the complexity of the password. Attackers can also attempt to perform a cold boot attack on a live and running machine to pull the encrypted keys straight out of memory. Besides being able to crack into your company's data, hackers themselves can also use encryption to exfiltrate their own stolen information out of your network without detection.