Enforce Bitlocker Encryption

When should you use the Enforce BitLocker Encryption Worklet?

This Worklet uses PowerShell to make it easy to enable BitLocker to encrypt drives on a device. You may want to enforce BitLocker compliance on a device for several reasons, primarily related to managing BitLocker and ensuring the desired BitLocker encryption status.

How to enforce BitLocker encryption on devices using PowerShell via this Worklet

This Worklet is designed to grant an admin the ability to encrypt physical drives on a client device using BitLocker. A TPM chip is required to perform the default actions of this Worklet. If a non-TPM device is encountered, the Worklet will exit without making any changes, and a note will be added to the Activity Log in the Automox console.

Four variables can be customized when deploying the Worklet. These variables specify the drives to be encrypted, the type of encryption to be used, the type of recovery method to be used, and the path to where a recovery key will be stored if applicable.

This PowerShell script is designed for Windows 8 (Server 2012) and above.

Why enable BitLocker and enforce Bitlocker drive encryption on your devices?

Enforcing BitLocker compliance on client devices strengthens data security, helps meet regulatory requirements, mitigates data breach risks, protects intellectual property, prevents unauthorized access, and enhances data loss prevention practices.

Data Security

Enforcing BitLocker compliance helps you maintain data security by ensuring that client devices have the appropriate level of encryption. By enforcing BitLocker compliance, admins can verify that BitLocker is enabled and configured correctly on the device, providing a robust defense against unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Policy Compliance

Organizations often have security policies or standards in place that require the use of encryption on client devices. By enforcing BitLocker compliance, you can make sure you’re in compliance with your organization's policy requirements and security standards.

Risk Management

Encryption plays a crucial role in mitigating the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access. By enforcing BitLocker compliance, you can actively manage the risk associated with unencrypted or improperly encrypted client devices, reducing the potential impact of security incidents and protecting sensitive data from unauthorized disclosure.

Compliance Audits

Many industries and regulatory frameworks mandate the use of encryption to protect sensitive data. Enforcing BitLocker compliance allows you to demonstrate compliance during audits and regulatory assessments. 

Incident Response

In the event of a security incident or device compromise, enforcing BitLocker compliance allows you to assess the impact more effectively. You can quickly determine the encryption status of the affected device and take appropriate actions to mitigate further risk, such as initiating incident response procedures or initiating data recovery processes.

Centralized Management

Enforcing BitLocker compliance enables IT admins to centrally manage and monitor the encryption status of client devices. You can leverage endpoint management tools, like Automox, to streamline BitLocker deployment, configuration, and reporting, ensuring consistent encryption across the organization's devices.

What is BitLocker encryption?

BitLocker is a full-disk encryption feature included in various editions of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It provides data protection by encrypting the entire hard drive or other storage devices, such as a USB flash drive or external hard drives. IT admins use it because it offers a convenient way to protect sensitive data on Windows-based systems by encrypting the entire drive, making it an effective tool for data security and privacy.

When BitLocker encryption is enabled, it uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm with 128-bit or 256-bit encryption keys to encrypt the data on the drive. This ensures that even if someone gains unauthorized access to the drive, they won't be able to access the encrypted data without the correct encryption key.