Home Forums Discussions General Discussion i need to make my data more secure

i just had a duh.... moment.
i have been copying information onto a portable hard drive to be used as a backup in case of loss of data - failure.
i realized that if this hard drive were to be lost, that i would have a major hippa event.

i need to encrypt and password protect my portable hard drives, and then what about my main computer and what about my computer stations.
i have heard about a software product 'veracrypt'.
any advise on this topic would be appreciated.... thanks

Bitlocker To Go aka Bitlocker for Removable Drives

i used the bitlocker for my two removal drives; and it was very simple to do.
thank you.

my main computer is only password protected.
will this be enough security for hippa issues or
should i need to password / encrypt my main computer as well?
my system is still windows 7
if i should encrypt the main computer, will i be creating any network issues / problems

Bitlocker's main job is to protect against physical threats. Theft, drive removal, etc.

Encrypting your main computer is probably the most important. Passwords are basically useless if someone has physical access to machine that isn't encrypted. Windows 7 is EOL at the end of the year. Win 7 Ultimate does have bitlocker protection but I would just implement Bitlocker when you switch to Windows 10/Server 2016/2019.

You have to keep the password/key in a safe place. There is no way to get your data back if you lose the key. It's transparent to the network.

Does bitlocker slow down the access to and from the server computer?

Google for bitlocker server speed and you'll find tests like this:

https://www.isumsoft.com/computer/how-much-does-bitlocker-impacts-on-hard-disk-io-performance.html

I have used Bitlocker on all my computers and hard drives . I have found no significant effect on performance or speed.
Bala