Microsoft BitLocker Reviews

Encrypting the help desk system with BitLocker serves as a crucial security measure. If a laptop or device falls into unauthorized hands, the encryption ensures that data cannot be decrypted without proper authentication which enhances system security and provides a reliable recovery mechanism to safeguard sensitive information.

It provides a comprehensive level of protection against unauthorized access. 
It holds significant value as it reduces the need for extensive IT management to handle security across networks and environments. Its significance goes beyond BitLocker alone; it encompasses the entire product suite or platform.

The primary aspect for improvement lies in expanding our developer base, which would accelerate the development process and bring these enhancements to fruition. For the upcoming release, I'm interested in seeing additional features, particularly the ability to synchronize usernames and passwords into a pre-boot authentication system.

I have been using it for a few years.

It's stable and well-established. Over the past few years that we have been using it, it has proven to be reliable and robust. I would rate it ten out of ten.

It provides high scalability.

In terms of Microsoft tech support, the speed, knowledge, and customer-friendliness can vary. Microsoft support may have its complexities, but when using our management tool for BitLocker, the process is streamlined.

The initial setup is straightforward. It involves leveraging our SaaS platform, allowing the backend to be subscribed.

The deployment process is streamlined: you need to create a configuration and effortlessly roll it out to your machine. It's an easy and user-friendly procedure.

It operates on a subscription model on an annual basis.

Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

We're using it to encrypt our drives. To encrypt the drives on our machines, laptops, and desktops.

The best thing about it is the encryption type and how it looks out when someone tries to access the drive.

In future releases, I would like to see a feature where I can have a view of each device that has BitLocker to see if these machines are encrypted or not. So, I just want a view or a dashboard that can tell us so that I can remediate and add BitLocker to those systems or devices.

So, it should have the ability to view which devices are using Microsoft BitLocker.

We have been using this solution since 2019. So, it has been four years. 

It's stable for me. It's been working properly for us.

There are 1200 users in our company. We are planning to expand further usage for this solution. 

Microsoft has so many workarounds and solutions on the website. I'm usually able to figure out things for myself.

The setup, like any other, was done at a corporate level. We are using it because we are licensed to Microsoft. It was a requirement to use all Microsoft products.

The licensing is cheap because it comes with Microsoft. It's not expensive because you have to pay for a Microsoft product.

It is a good product. I would rate it a ten out of ten. It's a product that helps us virtually protect important reporting data for user devices.

We primarily use the solution for encryption. 

You have to do a bit of reading to understand the logic; however, after that, it becomes pretty straightforward to use it.

Feature-wise we have the ability to encrypt fast. This means when you enforce the policy and when you onboard a device via the Azure AD, it comes online pretty quickly. The speed at which BitLocker engages is pretty strong. That's a significant thing. You can even control your external devices, like your USB devices. You can allow or deny, or even encrypt those devices. There are lots of useful things like that available in this product.

In terms of improvement, they should look at file encryption. When the files are being moved out or something, sometimes we need encryption in transit. Meaning when your system, your laptop you're using, the files are idle, then they are encrypted. And if you are sending the files out, let's say you're mailing the files out, that's data in transit. The encryption over there is controlled differently. It depends on what tool you're using for sending the files. However, the encryption is controlled there. The thing is, if you could have one single point of the solution, no matter if you're using Office 365 as an organization, to have just one encryption system across multiple systems, rather than having one BitLocker on the drive, then another encryption rule-set for sending an email, that would be easier.

Maybe the solution could use some more capability within the reporting system, et cetera. The reporting in Microsoft is very minimal. If you had a third-party tool, they will give you very high-level, very detailed reporting across various categories and conditions. Microsoft doesn't do that. That's a huge drawback in the system. You open the control, you get a lot of information; however, that information, you can't export.

I’ve been using the solution for almost a year now.

The solution is absolutely stable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn’t crash or freeze. It’s reliable.

We currently have about 150 people using the solution across every level of the organization.

Scalability doesn't really come into play since it's applicable only to the endpoint. BitLocker is applied to the laptop. You can set the policy to apply to all the drives on the laptop, and you can set the policy when the system is starting up and ask for a pin or just run it without the pin when it starts up. All that stuff is configuration-driven. There's no issue with scalability there. It just applies to all the machines, and once encrypted, all the machines will report to the central consoles.

Technical support varies since Microsoft tech support is outsourced to other organizations partnering with Microsoft. Therefore, even though I'm raising a ticket with Microsoft, it can go anywhere across the globe. Eventually, it is a third-party organization that's representing Microsoft that will handle the ticket.

The problem is the individual's expertise will vary. Some of them are very well versed in a particular product. Some are not so well versed. Eventually what happens is if they're not so well versed, then they'll go back to the Microsoft documentation and give you details based on that, and they'll work it out with you. The important thing is they always make it a point to achieve case closure. I'm not saying that it's very brilliant, however, it does a very good job. 80-90% of the time, it actually works.

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution, however, the critical thing to note is Windows 10 and 11 come with built-in encryption enabled. You have to disable that encryption. Only then will your centralized policy for BitLocker take over. Otherwise, it will throw up an error.

The initial setup is pretty simple. You might have to do a bit of education in terms of understanding the logic, however, after that, it’s all very simple.

For the actual deployment, basically, I did it in pieces. I did the initial deployment on my laptop. I had raised queries with Microsoft Support for this. Once I got the basic settings in place, I stabilized this as my policy, and then I drove it out to all my users.

I handled the initial setup myself. I didn’t need the help of any integrators or consultants.

You only have to pay for it. BitLocker is already present within the operating system. It's part of the OS. When you buy your laptop or a desktop, BitLocker is already present. The important thing here is the configuration part of it. BitLocker comes on your laptop, and it's 128-bit encryption, which comes by default. It's the unmanaged variety. The managed variety can be 128 or 256 bits. As a matter of industrial practice, we will all deploy 256 versions and there's no software cost coming in.

The important thing here is the deployment tool that you have. There are lots of tools in the market. Microsoft has an app called Intune, which gives you native control of the system. If you don't use Microsoft, if you don't have Intune, then you could look at some other products which give you control over the native encryption rather than deploying their own. Many products are there in the endpoint security domain which provides you encryption. If I decide to go that route, I will disable the BitLocker on both and I will apply this encryption software. However, I’m forced to rely on that encryption tool to do that management.

I’m using the latest edition. I started off on a trial basis for a couple of weeks, and now I've taken it to production. All my laptops are now on BitLocker.

I’d rate the solution nine out of ten.

If you want a free solution and work on Microsoft, use Windows BitLocker. That should do the job for you. Unless otherwise explicitly required for business needs, Encryption is basically a compliance requirement from an audit compliance requirement perspective. Encryption of your hard drives is a compliance requirement. However, there are businesses and industries wherein the data has to be encrypted, and it’s mandatory. This is not an issue of compliance for them. It's a work requirement. In those kinds of scenarios, then you would have to probably look at third-party solutions, which give you something beyond just the basic encryption. If you want to do basic encryption and you have your Intune, just use that. No money needs to be spent. You just need to put a little effort into creating a policy to push and apply to all the systems. End of story. However, if you have something more significant, you may have to look at other solutions.

I use BitLocker to keep our work computers and files safe. Since we deal with sensitive data, I asked the developers to turn on BitLocker on their computers. This makes sure that our information stays private and secure.

I like BitLocker because it gives us strong encryption to protect our data. The fact that it uses a 256-bit key with AES makes the encryption super secure. It is kind of like having a tough lock on our digital stuff. Additionally, it is easy to use, which is a big plus. The application doesn't make things complicated, and that makes it convenient for everyone to keep their computers and files safe without a lot of hassle.

The only thing that could be slightly improved is the occasional stability issue.

I have been using Microsoft BitLocker for a little over a year.

I would give it an eight out of ten for stability. It is not a perfect ten because I have encountered occasional issues, especially when starting up my computer. Sometimes there seems to be a problem with the files, and I notice certain restrictions. When this happens, I reach out to our tech person who handles the BitLocker setup to fix it.

BitLocker is fairly scalable. We have less than 20 users of the solution at our company.

The initial setup is quite simple. Deploying BitLocker took a relatively short time since we had a tech expert familiar with it. We had less than 20 laptops to secure, and the deployment speed was impressive. With the technical guidance in place, they could deploy it on about five to ten laptops simultaneously in a single day.

BitLocker is not very expensive.

I would recommend BitLocker to others. As part of the development team, we take the lead in creating plans, and we have suggested using BitLocker for critical users who need to protect their laptop content. It has been effective for us, providing a solid layer of security, especially for sensitive data. If someone is looking to safeguard their information, BitLocker is a reliable solution worth considering. Overall, I would rate it as a ten out of ten.

Microsoft BitLocker can be used to ensure that stolen PCs or laptops do not lose their data.

We recently found some stability issues with Microsoft BitLocker. We found that quite a few users on the web are complaining about the solution's stability, especially after the Microsoft update. One user's laptop did not boot because of such an issue.

I have been using Microsoft BitLocker for about eight to ten years.

I rate Microsoft BitLocker a nine out of ten for stability.

Microsoft BitLocker's initial setup is extremely simple.

Microsoft BitLocker's pricing is included in the Microsoft license, and you don't have to pay an additional fee for it.

Microsoft BitLocker is directly deployed on the end user devices. Microsoft BitLocker is an encryption solution that ciphers the disk of the local machine. If you carry around your devices and somebody steals them, they cannot read the data off it even if they attach it to another device.

Microsoft BitLocker is directly deployed on the end user devices. Microsoft BitLocker is an encryption solution that ciphers the disk of the local machine. If you carry around your devices and somebody steals them, they cannot read the data off it even if they attach it to another device.

Using Microsoft BitLocker is very easy. After ciphering the data, it unlocks itself if you have a modern PC attached to the correct PC. However, you must have your old company username and password to create an account and see the data. You cannot see the data if you don't have the password. Nothing much can be done regarding the software's usability or evolution.

Microsoft BitLocker should not be considered as an end-user software. It's a system software that protects your hard disk.

Microsoft BitLocker is not hard to use.

Overall, I rate Microsoft BitLocker a nine out of ten.

We put BitLocker on all our consultants' laptops to protect their data in case they lose their machines.

I like the fact that you can get a BitLocker encryption key out of OneDrive.

BitLocker should be available on standard Windows. We need to spend money on a Pro license to get BitLocker because it's essential to protect our customers' data. We don't want that to fall into the wrong hands.

I have used BitLocker for five years.

BitLocker is stable.

We haven't rolled it out on a large scale. We're enabling it one computer at a time. 

BitLocker is pre-installed on Windows Pro, so you only need to switch it on. It takes a while to run, but you can switch it on and go do something else. It takes a minute or so to find it in the settings and enable it. 

BitLocker is included in the Windows Pro license. The Pro version of Windows costs about 100 pounds more than the Home Edition, so you need to decide if it's worth upgrading to Pro. That extra cost might be a tough pill for some companies to swallow, but it's necessary if you don't want to worry about your data if an employee loses their laptop. 

I rate Microsoft BitLocker 10 out of 10. It's a simple tool that does what it says. I recommend using it if you have access. 

We use Microsoft BitLocker to encrypt the data.

Before logging into the system, we enable Microsoft BitLocker so that the data will be automatically encrypted.

The best feature of Microsoft BitLocker is how it encrypts the data. The solution has a feature that automatically asks the users to upgrade their password once we set up the process. Microsoft BitLocker will not allow users to have the same password for the next five to six times.

The solution’s user interface could be improved.

I have been using Microsoft BitLocker for six to seven years.

Microsoft BitLocker is a stable solution.

Microsoft BitLocker is a scalable solution. More than 5,00,000 users are using the solution.

The solution’s initial setup is straightforward for an end user.

Microsoft BitLocker is a cloud-based solution. I would recommend Microsoft BitLocker to other users. The solution's performance lags a little. Your process will get a bit slow whenever you start encrypting the data.

I rate the solution a five out of ten for ease of use and effectiveness.

Overall, I rate Microsoft BitLocker an eight out of ten.

We've been using BitLocker to secure our user systems.

One significant aspect is that without the BitLocker key, you can't log in to the user's laptop. I appreciate the capability to encrypt the user's hard drive, ensuring access only with the recovery key. In an enterprise setup, we store all BitLocker keys on our server. 

So, whenever a user attempts to log in, the architecture authenticates with the key. This ensures that our data is secure. Even if the user's laptop is lost, we have confidence that the data remains inaccessible. So far, our user data is well-protected.

For improvement, as it is now, I do not have any support from anyone. There should be a web interface to manage BitLocker. But for now, all I do is just install a new product on the user's machine and create it. 

I would like to be able to see everything that is happening, even if it is just through a web interface. I would also like to be able to see how many users are provisioned, which users are using BitLocker, and how to disable or enable it.  That's what I would like to see.

I've been using this solution for over seven years.

We're utilizing BitLocker, albeit an older version, to secure our user systems.

I've used it for the last seven years, and it's been reasonably stable. As long as Active Directory is up and running, then BitLocker is also fine for us.

It is very scalable. There are about 150 to 200 users using this in our company.

We plan to increase the further usage. The more mobile devices and laptops we buy, the more licenses we require for those users.

With newer versions of Windows,  the initial setup has become better. It was a challenge with Windows 8 because you needed to first put the TPM in a certain mode and things like that. Where Windows 10 or Windows 11, once we enable BitLocker, it could be straightforward. So, there's been a lot of improvements in that.

We have the expertise in-house, so we do it ourselves. The deployment is straightforward. You just go to one of your Active Directory components and enable BitLocker.

Enabling it on the server to allow users to come back to it, install the TPM on the user system, and then create the team and share it with the user. That's all. So it's straightforward. One of the most common times to add a system is when it's locked out on a user's machine. It takes us about 10 minutes then.

We require around two admins and technicians for the deployment and maintenance of the solution.

I have seen a return on investment because it's ensured that even when laptops are stolen, the users' data is protected because it's encrypted.

For the version that comes on the machine, you don't need a license. But you may need a license for support. We need to license users on the individual virtual system.

Although, the license should be part of the product.

I would highly recommend it. Even personal users should enable it. I encourage them to print out a copy of their recovery key and keep it somewhere safe.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.