make it essentially impossible to decrypt data, no matter how much trickery or brute force the thieves use.Įncrypted folders are particularly good if you carry your data around on a laptop. My proposed solution: an encrypted folder, where she could store her most sensitive files.Įncrypted data is thoroughly scrambled and can be unscrambled only with the correct password. Within days, Annie had a replacement MacBook Pro, and she asked me to help her set it up so she wouldn’t have to endure that anxiety again. While she hoped that the thief would simply junk or erase the hard drive, there was no way for Annie or her employer to be sure that the many office and personal files she had on the PowerBook hadn’t been compromised. Among the stolen items was the PowerBook she used for work. True story: A friend of mine-a programmer I’ll call Annie-came home one day to find her new town house burglarized.