[–] [deleted] ago
[–] jammi 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago (edited ago)
That was like more than a decade ago, which is in OS X adoption time like someone mentioned some Windows 3.1 or 95 limitation in Windows context. But yeah, the first version of FileVault encrypted the home directory as an encrypted disk image volume.
Alright as someone who actually uses whole disk encryption and has for years for HIPAA, here is my experience.
I've used TrueCrypt for a long long time, it's been vetted and found to be essentially unbreakable if you use a strong pass phrase. It will do exactly as you envision, it prompts you every time you boot and the disk itself will not work without that key. Next up we have, on newer machines BitLocker. We have, again, whole disk encryption and this time the key is actually kept for us. If the drive is removed it won't be mountable. You can read much more of how BitLocker works by googling it. Finally there is speed, ok there is a speed cost. However even on a very low spec laptop is was virtually unnoticeable. So in short, rock on your encryption.
As always please please please please make sure you keep your keys safe, both from people stealing them and just from loss. This encryption means your data is basically totally lost without that key. TrueCrypt will make you, or at least prompt you, to make a recovery disk. BitLocker will print you a copy of your key. Keep them safe.
[–] zeitsieben ago
At my work, directors use Symantec Full Disk Encryption. The OS itself is encrypted, but not the bootloader so, theoretically, you can at least read what's going on under the table (I have no idea how one would do that). There's a master key in the administration system, so if someone knows it, they have the keys to the kingdom and can modify every single computer that uses it that's inserted in the domain.
The laptops run VERY slowly; 5400RPM hard drives are virtually unusable if you want to do anything (I'm talking about 7+ minutes boot time). Trust me, you need an SSD to run that. Also, they're prone to bootloader corruption, and if that happens, we decrypt it with the master key and a software called BartPE. After decrypting, the OS always corrupted itself somehow and I don't know if that's intended (well, must be), so you have to use that program to copy whatever data you have in the hard drive to a external storage. It's a necessary evil to us.
[–] e0steven ago
Or maybe the Symantec product is crap? Their antivirus is horrendous
[–] zeitsieben ago (edited ago)
Well, I wouldn't say that. Their antivirus provides us with a centralized administration console which the security guys can put all kinds of rules. I'm pretty sure there are better solutions out there, or ones that do the same thing/have more functions that cost less than it. In the corporate world, you essentially need to put the blame on someone if things go awry and as far as I know, their support was top notch and the new vulnerabilities that appear on our networks are dealt swiftly due to the policies updates.