SafeGuard EnterpriseEncryption

Hi thanks for that

Do I have to go through all this rigmarole just to encrypt 3 laptops??

Paul

Hi Paul - If you're just trialing the software, I would ask to have some licences for Sophos Central Device Encryption instead. This is the cloud hosted version so no servers to manage/configure on site - just point the clients at the cloud host.

You didn't say if you're getting more clients or if 3 is just the lot? Without meaning to undersell the product I would argue that having a "managed" solution to manage just three machines is a waste of time and I would do something cheaper and easier. If they're Windows machines it's a two second job to configure AD so that the recovery keys are pushed into that. There would be no cost to this - just a small amount of time.

If you need File Encryption instead of (or as well as) FDE (full-disk-encryption) then there's still some cheap tools you could use - depends entirely on if this is a test/concept or it's the full estate?

All the best 

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the reply, I have 3 Windows 7 Pro laptops that need encryption - I bought 3 Sophos Safeguard enterprise licences, whether that was a mistake or not I don't know.  I just need a bit locker type solution instead of installing management centres etc. but if that's what I have to do I'll do it.

Paul

Honestly if you bought 3 licences for just three PC's and it's now purchased....Ask Sophos (and your account manager if you have one) to transfer them to Central licences.

This "should" be free/cheap but would mean an ongoing cost.

However - If you want to write-off the purchase - You can configure AD (assuming these PC's are bound to a domain?) to store the keys and then assign permissions to your staff (?) to read the key from AD. Good article here - a little dated but still relevant.

http://jackstromberg.com/2015/02/tutorial-configuring-bitlocker-to-store-recovery-keys-in-active-directory/

You've bought a enterprise product I'm afraid Paul, and I feel that should have been explained to you/the purchaser. You've chosen a HUGE hammer to break just three nuts! It's a good product - I'm not knocking that, but I don't think a full-blown console and management is worthwhile for 3 PC's. The SSG setup can handle thousands of clients so you can appreciate it's quite a complex and chunky setup because it has to be. 

So I would personally - 1 - Transfer to cloud licences if possible. Make finance aware there will be an on-going cost.  or 2 - Sack it off, write off the expense already spent and use AD.

HTH

Hi Michael,

BitLocker isn't available for Windows 7 Pro though???  Would this still work with the AD thing???

Paul

Sorry - completely missed that...Yes you'd need Enterprise/Ultimate for BitLocker. Is there a good reason why you wouldn't upgrade the PC's to Win10 with the support for Win7 rapidly running out?

Sorry - completely missed that...Yes you'd need Enterprise/Ultimate for BitLocker. Is there a good reason why you wouldn't upgrade the PC's to Win10 with the support for Win7 rapidly running out?

No good reason, money maybe the only one I can think of dude - anyways I have asked to see if they can transfer the licences to my Sophos Central - lets see what they say.

Are there any other disk encryption products out there that you would suggest?

I'd push for that regardless, you're out of extended support from Jan 2020 and this should be a factor in Finance making their decision. Sooner you install Win10 the better really - not that I'm plugging MS here, but for security and support it's best to move on. 

I'll not recommend any other products here, but will send you a DM. We looked at a few products when we purchased SSG quite a good few years ago and there's more competition now. To be honest if they're as good/worse I'm not too sure.