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Encrypting your personal computer
This guide will provide information for members of the Rice University community about how to ensure that their personal computers are encrypted.
Note: This guideline is for informational purposes only. Rice University and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) do not make any product endorsements for any products. Additionally, no warranty or support for data recovery efforts can be provided.
Rice policy requires that any device that has access to Rice University data be encrypted. You can find the full details of this policy here https://policy.rice.edu/808
Windows Personal Computers
Windows 10 has two ways of protecting your computer with device encryption, depending on which Windows 10 edition is installed on your computer. For Windows 10 Education, Enterprise, and Pro editions, BitLocker whole drive encryption is available as part of the operating system and Rice OIT recommends enabling this protection. For Windows 10 Home editions, there is another built-in operating system encryption simply called device encryption. The Microsoft article at the link below provides setup instructions to turn this encryption on.
For the purposes of encryption recovery, making sure you're signing into Windows with your Microsoft account will ensure you can recover access to your data. The link below outlines how to ensure you're signing into Windows with your Microsoft account
If you're using BitLocker, you'll want to backup your recovery key in as many ways as possible. This article provides some options for using and finding your recovery key (which you can use in case you forget your BitLocker PIN).
Macintosh Personal Computers
In OS X Lion and later versions, FileVault will allow you to encrypt your Macintosh's hard drive to protect your data. The Apple support article below lays out how to turn FileVault encryption on for your computer as well as how to backup the recovery key. It's recommended to back this key up to your iCloud account as well as print a copy of the key out for your records.