Symantec Endpoint Encryption and Microsoft BitLocker are both prominent players in the data encryption market. Microsoft BitLocker appears to hold the upper hand due to its integration with Windows environments, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness, as it is included for free with Windows OS.
Features: Symantec Endpoint Encryption provides robust data protection with disk and file encryption, reporting, and cloud security, featuring a management console for extensive visibility and control. Microsoft BitLocker offers whole-disk encryption, seamless integration with Windows environments, and uses TPM for enhanced security. It also supports encryption of external drives and has flexible passphrase options.
Room for Improvement: Symantec could enhance integration with non-Symantec products, improve technical support, and streamline its deployment processes. Additionally, better management of encryption keys and updates is needed. BitLocker could improve its speed and expand its feature set, particularly in data transition and management functionalities, as well as enhance its cross-platform compatibility and reduce encryption times.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Symantec Endpoint Encryption often requires more effort for deployment, especially in on-premises environments, with users citing slow technical support response times. BitLocker benefits from its Windows integration offering easier deployment, although initial setup may present some complexities and technical challenges. Microsoft's support is seen as more consistent due to familiarity with Windows systems.
Pricing and ROI: Symantec involves licensing costs, typically bundled with other Symantec products, which can be expensive but considered fair by some users. In contrast, Microsoft BitLocker is included with Windows, minimizing direct costs and providing strong ROI for enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure. BitLocker's pricing is competitive, offering cost-effective encryption as part of Windows.
BitLocker is a full disk encryption solution that protects your data from theft, hacking, and loss. BitLocker achieves this by encrypting the entire drive that hosts your operating system and all your data. BitLocker can work on all operating systems, drives, or devices, including portable storage devices.
After BitLocker completes the data encryption, it generates a recovery key. Only those with the correct encryption key will be able to decrypt and access the encrypted files and information. Attempts to access secured data on premises or over the network will be met with either authentication prompts or error messages saying the data cannot be accessed.
BitLocker provides its users with peace of mind by improving security and reducing risks of critical data loss and intrusions.
Benefits of Microsoft BitLocker
Reviews from Real Users
Microsoft BitLocker stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its powerful encryption capabilities and its user-friendly user interface.
An ICT operations and security manager notes, “It is free and native to the OS. We don't have to worry about upgrades or maintaining the product. You encrypt the disk, and you save the recovery key. That's it. The person puts their password in, and after that, it is up to them. If they forget their password, they have to bring it in to get it unlocked.”
Kevin C., a director at Pathfinder, writes, “Theease of use is the most valuable feature. The ability to import data to build your frontend on top of the data is very simple and very useable.”
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