The Costs of BitLocker

Most security features require a tradeoff. The benefit to any security feature is that it reduces risk and thus reduces the cost associated with a security compromise. Most security features also have a cost-purchase price, increased maintenance, or decreased user productivity.

The benefit of using BitLocker is reduced risk of loss of data confidentiality in the event of a stolen hard disk. Like most security features, BitLocker has costs (aside from any software or hardware costs):

• If a PIN or external key is required, the startup experience is not transparent to the user. If the user loses his PIN or startup key, he will need to wait for a Support Center representative to read him the password so that he can start his computer.
• In the event of hard disk failure or data corruption, recovering data from the disk can be more difficult.

More Info You should implement BitLocker in your organization only if the reduced security risks outweigh these costs. For more information about cost/benefit analysis, read the Security Risk Management Guide at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc163143.aspx.