Encryption & Lock Discipline

What You'll Learn

• Verify that full disk encryption (BitLocker or FileVault) is enabled on your work devices and understand what it protects against
• Configure automatic screen lock timers to activate within 1-5 minutes of inactivity depending on your work environment
• Recognize what an attacker can accomplish with physical access to an unlocked device in under two minutes
• Apply different security practices for office, home, and public environments based on the threat level of each setting
• Understand why encryption and screen locking serve different but complementary security functions, and why both are required

Training Steps

1. A Busy Morning at Cascade Financial

   Welcome to Cascade Financial Partners! You are Alice, a client relationship manager who handles sensitive financial data for high-net-worth clients. It's a busy Thursday morning — you're reviewing three client portfolios ahead of quarterly review meetings this afternoon.

2. Reviewing Client Portfolios

   Alice opens the internal client portal to review the Henderson, Park, and Okafor accounts. She logs in and pulls up the portfolio dashboard.

3. An Urgent Phone Call

   Alice's phone rings. It's David Chen from the Henderson account — he needs the Q3 performance summary urgently for a board meeting that was moved up to this afternoon. The physical file is in the records room down the hall.

4. Rushing to the Records Room

   David needs that file NOW. Alice jumps up from her desk, grabbing her badge. In her rush, she completely forgets to lock her workstation. The client portfolio data — Henderson, Park, and Okafor accounts — remains fully visible on screen. Three client portfolios. Wide open. Anyone walking by can see everything.

5. Back at Your Desk

   Alice returns with the Henderson file. Her screen is exactly as she left it — portfolios still visible, nothing seems disturbed. She doesn't think twice about it. She sends David the information he needs and continues her day.

6. A Normal Week Passes

   One week later. Alice is starting her Monday morning when an email from IT Security stops her cold.

7. The Incident Report

   The email is devastating. Three of Alice's clients — Henderson, Park, and Okafor — reported receiving targeted phishing emails containing their exact portfolio details. The data exposure was traced to Alice's workstation.

8. What Happened While You Were Gone

   The incident report reveals exactly what happened during those 5 minutes Alice was away. Security camera footage and badge scan logs paint a clear picture.

9. The Damage

   The impact assessment shows the full scope of the damage. What seemed like a harmless 5-minute absence has become a serious security incident.

10. What Should Alice Have Done?

    Before continuing to remediation, let's reflect on what went wrong.