BitLocker secures a laptop by encrypting the whole disk, so that a lost or stolen machine is useless to whoever finds it. Without the right credentials, the data simply cannot be read. Managed properly, with recovery keys stored safely and the process handled for you, it protects your data quietly without getting in your team’s way. For any firm holding code or client data, it is a basic, essential control.
Laptops get lost and stolen, and that is when unencrypted data becomes a breach. Here’s how disk encryption prevents it.
1. What encryption protects against
If an encrypted laptop is lost or stolen, the data on it stays unreadable. That turns a potential data breach, with all its cost and reporting, into a simple hardware loss. It is one of the highest-value, lowest-effort protections available.
2. Managed keys and recovery
Encryption is only useful if you can still get into your own machines. We manage the recovery keys centrally and securely, so an encrypted device can always be recovered by the firm when needed, without weakening the protection.
3. Applied across the fleet
Encryption only protects the machines that have it. We make sure it is enabled and healthy across every laptop, so there are no gaps, and we check that it stays that way.
4. Invisible to the user
Once set up, disk encryption runs in the background with no day-to-day impact on your team. They get on with their work while their data stays protected.
A real example: encryption as standard
We supported a software company serving financial trading firms where laptops were protected with disk encryption as part of a managed, secure device build, so a lost machine never meant lost data. Built into the standard setup, it protects every device from day one.
For most technology and trading firms, this sits within fully managed IT at about £45 to £100 per user per month, billed per user, with the security and resilience these businesses rely on built in.
Why technology and trading firms choose First Stop IT
First Stop IT has supported businesses since 2002, including software and technology companies and firms that serve financial markets. We know the systems these teams depend on: secure VPN and remote access, source control and build pipelines, virtual dev and test environments, Microsoft 365 and Teams, and the security that banks and regulators expect, from multi-factor authentication and endpoint protection to application allowlisting and email security. We work with technology and trading firms in London and across Essex and Hertfordshire. Our credentials include:
- Cyber Essentials Certified
- IASME Cyber Assurance (Gold)
- NCSC Assured Service Provider (Cyber Advisor for Cyber Essentials)
- Microsoft Partner
- Crown Commercial Service Supplier (G-Cloud)
- Quality Principles Certified
We look after more than 2,000 endpoints across 50 companies, we’ve been named a Top 50 UK MSP for three years running, and we support organisations with 10 to 100 employees across Essex, Hertfordshire and London, including Harlow and Bishop’s Stortford.
Book a free IT and cyber security review
Are all your laptops encrypted? Book a free IT and cyber security review with First Stop IT and we’ll make sure of it.