Is there a financial cost associated with this BitLocker software?
If you are using Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education editions, BitLocker is a part of those versions and does not have a direct fee.
Before you celebrate, note that Windows 11 24H2 is turning on BitLocker by default. Now, you might want to be careful with that because if you happen to lose your key, and you're not in a managed environment, an encrypted hard drive means you've just lost all of your data, unless you're synchronizing it to the cloud using a tool like onedrive or something. Full disk encryption is a great thing but it does have some pitfalls if you're not careful.
This is Windows 11's ultimate trust exercise: "This is your encrypted hard drive; keep the key close at hand!" We're all probably only one misplaced recovery key away from becoming experts in cloud storage.
It was simply demonstrated by the CrowdStrike event that BitLocker truly locks!
Alrighty, the extra precaution is noted! If I'm ever in a position where I do lose my key, and I'm not maintaining a copy on a separate resource, shame on me!!!
Is there supposed to be some challenge with keeping up with the keys??????
Indeed! CrowdStrike now has a case study if they wanted one for "BitLocker means business."
Not if you're extremely well-organized! The recovery key, however, typically winds up in the "Where did I put that?" black hole for the rest of us mere humans.
Just goes to support something that we all know, and that is, there is some good that can come from the not-so-good!!
Indeed! Even a difficult lesson can teach us something useful. BitLocker demonstrated that when it locks, it truly locks in this instance! We sometimes get the best reminders of why we utilize particular tools in the first place during the bad times.
