312-50V9 · Question #430
What is the most secure way to mitigate the theft of corporate information from a laptop that was left in a hotel room?
The correct answer is B. Encrypt the data on the hard drive. Full-disk encryption protects data from unauthorized access even when the physical device is stolen and the attacker bypasses OS-level controls.
Question
What is the most secure way to mitigate the theft of corporate information from a laptop that was left in a hotel room?
Options
- ASet a BIOS password.
- BEncrypt the data on the hard drive.
- CUse a strong logon password to the operating system.
- DBack up everything on the laptop and store the backup in a safe place.
How the community answered
(31 responses)- A3% (1)
- B87% (27)
- C3% (1)
- D6% (2)
Why each option
Full-disk encryption protects data from unauthorized access even when the physical device is stolen and the attacker bypasses OS-level controls.
A BIOS password prevents unauthorized booting but can be reset by removing the CMOS battery or is bypassed entirely by removing the drive and connecting it to another system.
Encrypting the hard drive ensures that all stored data is unreadable without the correct decryption key, regardless of how the drive is accessed - even if removed and connected to another machine. BIOS passwords and OS logon passwords can be bypassed by booting from external media or removing the drive entirely, but encryption renders the raw data useless to a thief. Technologies such as BitLocker (Windows) or FileVault (macOS) provide this protection transparently to the user.
An OS logon password only blocks access through the operating system's login screen and is bypassed by booting from external media or mounting the drive on a different system.
Backing up data protects against data loss but does not prevent the attacker from reading the original data on the stolen laptop's drive.
Concept tested: Full-disk encryption for data protection at rest
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/operating-system-security/data-protection/bitlocker/
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