Anyway to completely lock a system?

[ERmergency]

My neighbor was asking me about this. His wife recently started a new job, and they're talking about all the breakins that have been going on recently at small businesses.

Someone will brake in, steal one of there towers, and take all the data off it. Like social security numbers and such, and sell them.

I was telling him there is really no way to lock it down with Win2000 where they couldn't some how get around it.

There isn't right? Is there any software out there that will?

 

[sxr7171]

You can usually set a password in the bios to prevent bootup - but I don't know how effective that is. Then there is EFS (encrypted file system) in Win2k and WinXP if everbody uses a strong logon password.

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: sxr7171
You can usually set a password in the bios to prevent bootup - but I don't know how effective that is. Then there is EFS (encrypted file system) in Win2k and WinXP if everbody uses a strong logon password.

Yea, this kind of stuff is what EFS was made for. Just make sure you have a backup of the keys stored somewhere (NOT on the same machine as the encrypted data )

 

[ProviaFan]

Set a password to prevent unauthorized access to the BIOS. This can be defeated, but it requires knowledge of removing the battery to clear the CMOS, and hopefully the dumbasses that steal the towers don't know how to do that. :|

Next, use group policy (or local security policy) settings to enforce password length, complexity, and expiration policies. Also, use Encrypted File System stuff, but be sure to back up the keys. There is a howto in the FAQ here that will explain the process if you don't know how to already.