I'm not talking about access to encrypted files on a local box. There are any number of pretty good encryption tools available, have been for years. Windows has had "on the fly" encryption since 2K.
Yes, it can render hard drive data useless even if the machine is compromised. It can also render data useless if the user screws up. If you have users that never *ever* screw anything up I highly recommend having them encrypt their local data. Otherwise, you know of course that they'll be blaming YOU when their data is useless because they forgot their password on the day of the big presentation.
Windows has had "on the fly" encryption since 2K. Is it a standard feature of the operating system?
Otherwise, you know of course that they'll be blaming YOU when their data is useless because they forgot their password on the day of the big presentation.
There is not much danger of that happening. On Mac OS X 10.3, the user only needs to remember is their login password - something they typically already use. After they login, the encryption/decryption process works automatically and transparently.
Now, if the user dies and someone else needs to access the files, that could be a problem.