Imagine a situation: You are on your dream vacation, enjoying with your family and friends. All of a sudden you find that your hotel room has been burgled and thieves have stolen all your luggage: Clothes, tooth brushes and your precious gadgets (laptop, Smartphone, tablet). OK! You can still buy yourself a new pack of shoes or even a new device. However, what about the data stored on those stolen devices. What if your device gets into wrong hands? You may not save your crucial bank details and business deals on your PC, still it may have other data like your email login details, work related data, and much more. Thieves may use it for their own gain. That’s when you feel the need to encrypt your PC, phone and tablet. If your device is encrypted, no one can access it; unless that person is a hacking expert or already knows your device password.
So if you haven’t encrypted your PC, phone and tablet yet, it’s high time you go for it now. It’s quite easy. You just need to follow some simple steps. Let’s get started:
How to encrypt your PC, phone and tablet
Windows
Lot of Windows 10 PCs now come with encryption enabled by default. To check if encryption is already running on your device:
- Navigate to the Settings and click System > About
You can also turn Drive Encryption on if your device supports it.
In case you don’t see anything related to Device Encryption, your device might just not be supporting it.
However, if you have Windows 7, 8, 10 pro or above; you can still encrypt your PC using the in-built BitLocker tool.
To enable BitLocker,
- Navigate to the Control Panel and click on BitLocker Drive Encryption
If it is turned off, you will need to turn it on by clicking Turn on BitLocker option next to your drives.
In case you are running the Home edition of Windows, and don’t have access to Drive Encryption or BitLocker, you can use third-party programs like VeraCrypt to encrypt your drive.
Gentle Reminder
BitLocker only comes with the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows.
OS X
All Macs feature FileVault, Apple’s built in encryption. However, it’s still not enabled by default. To enable it:
- Open System Preferences and click Security & Privacy
- Open FileVault tab
- Click on the lock icon in the lower-left icon to make further changes
In case the FileVault is not enabled, you’ll need to enable it by using the Turn on FileVault option before making any further changes.
FileVault is, indeed, an ultimate feature to secure files on your Mac. You must definitely enable it.
iPad and iPhone
iPhones and iPads are encrypted by default. Any chance your device isn’t encrypted is very small, especially if you’re using a passcode. Remember! Data encryption on your device is tied to your passcode. So make sure that you set a passcode that is hard to guess. You can also choose a stronger 6-digit passcode instead of using a weaker 4-digit one. For this you’ll need to follow some simple steps mentioned below:
- Tap Settings > Touch ID & Passcode
- Tap Turn Password On Option
- Now you’ll be prompted to enter your existing 4-digit passcode
- Tap Passcode Options to reveal a drop down list of menus
- From here tap 6-digit Passcode option
- Enter new 6-digit passcode twice to confirm it
Next time you login your device, you’ll be asked to enter a 6-digit passcode instead of a 4-digit one.
If you want to verify whether your device is encrypted or not, scroll down to bottom of Touch & Passcode settings and check to see whether it says Data protection is enabled.
Android
On Android, encryption is not set by default. Instead you need to set it manually on your phone or tablet, which you can do easily.
On most devices, you just need to:
- Open Settings and tap Security
Here you’ll see the Encrypt Phone option. Just tap it to begin encryption on your device.
Gentle Reminder
While encrypting your device you must plug in your device to a power source. Also make sure to apply a strong password or screen lock, which is quite hard to guess.
So you’ve come across encryption methods to encrypt your PC, phone and tablet. However, just reading the article isn’t going to help you much. You’ve to implement these methods practically. Now it’s time for some practicals. So grab your device, apply any of the above methods to encrypt your PC, phone and tablet, and secure your gadgets from thieves and intruders. Remember! Do it today, or regret tomorrow. So hurry up!
Read More: Apple confirms iOS kernel code left unencrypted intentionally
