BitLocker

BitLocker supports full disk encryption and provides maximum protection when BitLocker is used with the TPM (Trusted Platform Module). This protects data from threats due to data theft or due to disclosure of lost, stolen or improperly decommissioned data carriers.

The advantage of using the TPM is that a check is carried out to see whether the hardware is unchanged and therefore trustworthy before the operating system is started. This means that unauthorized persons are no longer able, for example, to insert the data carrier into another industrial PC and boot from the data carrier.

In contrast, Windows provides the EFS (Encrypted File System), an encryption function that can be used to encrypt individual files or entire directories (for more information, see: EFS, Encrypted File System).