Dell Technology Brief Sample

Storing sensitive information on a portable PC is a risk. And thefts or breaches can cause severe consequences for the organization involved. There is often bad publicity, loss of customer confidence, and possible regulatory fines for exposing certain data. In many cases, organizations incur additional fees to notify customers of the breach, as is now mandated in many states. Additionally, companies that expose personal information often pay for a credit monitoring service for one to three years for each customer impacted. Such services can cost up to $100 per year per person.

These problems are only going to get worse as states, industry groups, and government agencies introduce new data privacy and retention laws and regulations.

One way to minimize damages when a laptop is lost or stolen is to have systems in place to protect data and the user’s information (including passwords) stored on the machine. A strong solution would be to use Windows Vista’s BitLocker Drive Encryption feature in combination with the Dell Latitude E Family’s hardware-based Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to encrypt entire hard disk partitions and volumes. This safeguards the data in the event the laptop is stolen.