stolen laptop with sensitive Outlook emails

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pcuser#1

Does outlook encrypts its *.pst files by default?
All employees got the letter from HR, someone's laptop got stolen from the
car and it had personal info like SSN etc. on the Microsoft Outlook emails.
I know that it is very easy to get windows files even if it password
protected. My concern is over the possibility that the pst files can be put
on another pc with outlook and viewed.
 
No, Outlook doesn`t encrypt pst-files. If your pst-file was not
protected by a password it is no problem to read the e-mails.

Best regards
Peter
 
Even if there was a password, simply downloading a password cracker, freeand
easy to find, would open the the pst. Only way to go is encryption!
TrueCrypt is free and very good.



Peter Marchert said:
No, Outlook doesn`t encrypt pst-files. If your pst-file was not
protected by a password it is no problem to read the e-mails.

Best regards
Peter

--
Peter Marchert
[EDP-Service Marchert]
Homepage: http://www.marchert.de
Excel- and Outlook programming

pcuser#1 said:
Does outlook encrypts its *.pst files by default?
All employees got the letter from HR, someone's laptop got stolen from
the
car and it had personal info like SSN etc. on the Microsoft Outlook
emails.
I know that it is very easy to get windows files even if it password
protected. My concern is over the possibility that the pst files can be
put
on another pc with outlook and viewed.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
In
pcuser#1 said:
Does outlook encrypts its *.pst files by default?
All employees got the letter from HR, someone's laptop got stolen
from the car and it had personal info like SSN etc. on the Microsoft
Outlook emails. I know that it is very easy to get windows files even
if it password protected. My concern is over the possibility that the
pst files can be put on another pc with outlook and viewed.
Click to expand...

To echo the other replies - no, sorry. Even if it were protected by a
password, anyone who wanted to spend a few minutes on Google would be able
to get to the data.
Local computer file encryption or no, that data should *never* be allowed to
leave your properly secured servers/network in the first place.
 
If you use encryption, what's to stop someone using a password cracker on the password that is used
for the encryption?


Even if there was a password, simply downloading a password cracker, freeand
easy to find, would open the the pst. Only way to go is encryption!
TrueCrypt is free and very good.



Peter Marchert said:
No, Outlook doesn`t encrypt pst-files. If your pst-file was not
protected by a password it is no problem to read the e-mails.

Best regards
Peter

--
Peter Marchert
[EDP-Service Marchert]
Homepage: http://www.marchert.de
Excel- and Outlook programming

pcuser#1 said:
Does outlook encrypts its *.pst files by default?
All employees got the letter from HR, someone's laptop got stolen from
the
car and it had personal info like SSN etc. on the Microsoft Outlook
emails.
I know that it is very easy to get windows files even if it password
protected. My concern is over the possibility that the pst files can be
put
on another pc with outlook and viewed.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I don`t know how long it takes to crack a 128-bit encryption key, but I
think it will not be done in few days.

Best Regards
Peter

--
Peter Marchert
[EDP-Service Marchert]
Homepage: http://www.marchert.de
Programming for Excel- and Outlook


If you use encryption, what's to stop someone using a password cracker on the password that is used
for the encryption?

Even if there was a password, simply downloading a password cracker, freeand
easy to find, would open the the pst. Only way to go is encryption!
TrueCrypt is free and very good.



No, Outlook doesn`t encrypt pst-files. If your pst-file was not
protected by a password it is no problem to read the e-mails.
Click to expand...
Best regards
Peter
Click to expand...
--
Peter Marchert
[EDP-Service Marchert]
Homepage:http://www.marchert.de
Excel- and Outlook programming
Click to expand...
pcuser#1 schrieb:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jay said:
If you use encryption, what's to stop someone using a password
cracker on the password that is used for the encryption?
Click to expand...

Because the key used for the encryption can be long enough that it would
take more time than the universe will exist before a computer will determine
the key.
 
Thanks for your replies Brain + Peter.

128 bit encryption is presumably only as strong as the password.

What I'm suggesting is that someone could crack the password used for the 128-bit
encryption/decryption, rather than try to crack the encryption itself.

Jay


Jay said:
If you use encryption, what's to stop someone using a password
cracker on the password that is used for the encryption?
Click to expand...

Because the key used for the encryption can be long enough that it would
take more time than the universe will exist before a computer will determine
the key.
 
If somebody save a password on the same computer with the encrypted
data he don`t need to encrypt his data.

Best Regards
Peter
 
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