Imagine that you lost your laptop at an airport. Or someone sat down at your computer while you stepped out of the office. What information could a potential identity thief access? Please encrypt any information you wouldn't want in the hands of a criminal.

"Sensitive" information includes student records, employee records, financial records, social security numbers, driver's license numbers, etc. Hampshire IT's Data Security Policy strongly discourages storing sensitive College information on computers. If at all possible, you should store all such data on a Hampshire server, in an appropriately secure area. If you must have sensitive files on your computer, it is mandatory that they be encrypted.

The encryption instructions at left will walk you through creating an encrypted container on your computer. Any sensitive Hampshire information must be stored in this password-protected container. That way, even if someone gets general access to your computer, that person won't be able to access the encrypted files.

Feel free to contact the help desk with any questions at helpdesk@hampshire.edu, or at x5418.