It is UBC policy that all devices connecting to university IT networks must be encrypted (Standard #5).
This pertains to personally-owned computers as well as computers and devices that were purchased through UBC/grants, and it applies to TAs as well as faculty and staff.
Desktop encryption works by encoding everything as it is written to your computer's storage (hard disk or SSD) and decoding everything as it is read out of storage. You will not notice it as you use the computer since there is minimal performance using modern equipment and operating systems. If your storage device ever falls into hostile hands, UBC will not be embarrassed because the device will be unreadable to anyone who does not have the key to do the decoding. You have the key, and in most instances this key is stored via your password, so all you must do is remember your password.
After you have encrypted your device, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RECOVER YOUR STORED DATA IF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR KEY AND PASSWORD. Save a copy of the recovery key to your OneDrive or in a secure hard drive and send a copy to us.
Turn on FileVault.
We recommend using Bitlocker which, like FileVault on the Mac, is the encryption method built into the operating system, rather than a third party program.
Visit this guide to learn how to encrypt your device.
Remember to save your Bitlocker recovery key!
If you lose your encryption key, there is no way to access your data. We recommend saving a copy of the recovery key to your OneDrive or secure hard drive and sending a copy to us.
What if I don't have the latest version of Windows?
We recommend that you upgrade to a version of Windows that will support BitLocker. If this isn't an option, and the version of Windows on your personally owned computer does not support native BitLocker encryption (e.g. Windows 10 Home) then the best route to encrypt your computer is to use VeraCrypt.
If you have any further questions, please email zoology.support@ubc.ca.
Visit this guide to learn how to encrypt your Linux computer.
Please contact zoology.support@ubc.ca if you have any questions about encrypting your device.