Suppose you were being seated in a roller coaster car. You pull down your lap bar, and the guy sitting next to you refuses, saying he will just hold on while the car twists and turns and flips upside-down, because he finds the restraints uncomfortable. This is obviously foolish; the safety measures are there for a reason, and anyone who doesn’t use them is just asking for trouble.

Business security today is much like our hypothetical roller coaster, with its ups and downs that require protection for our intellectual property and other assets. And one of the most fundamental – yet widely neglected – security measures is the use of full disk encryption (FDE). Let’s look at some of the fundamental questions surrounding FDE, and why you should take another look at it.

Why aren’t more businesses taking advantage of it?

The year 1991 was an important year for the Internet. In August 1991 came the announcement of the World Wide Web project, which has changed the face of our world forever. Another event that year,though less publicized, has had an equally important impact online: the release of the first PGP software.

Even back in the days of Usenet, many people were concerned about privacy and whether the government would have ultimate control over information in the digital age. In an effort to give individuals the right to control their own data, Phil Zimmermann developed PGP and released the first version, to rave reviews. Soon engineers around the world were clamoring to port the software to different platforms, and Zimmermann began to see his project take on a life of its own. In many ways, the privacy we enjoy today online is a direct result of PGP and the power it gives each user to control his online privacy.

Last November, we posted about a potential issue with the Mac 10.6.5 (or later) upgrade process and PGP Whole Disk Encryption 10.0.X. Since then, Symantec has provided both a workaround and hotfix to address the client problem encountered with PGP Whole Disk Encryption when updating Mac OS X. A maintenance release that will proactively address this issue is now available.

Symantec has released PGP Whole Disk Encryption 10.1.1 for Mac OS X. After installation of this update, PGP customers can safely update their OS version to Mac OS X 10.6.5 (or later).

For more information on this maintenance release, refer to the post on Symantec’s Encryption Blog.

Complete instructions for how to successfully update to 10.6.5 can be found in this Knowledgebase article.

Note: This post has been updated on Jan. 7, 2011

Symantec has identified a potential issue with the Mac OS X 10.6.6 upgrade process and PGP Whole Disk Encryption. Until this issue is resolved, we strongly recommend that customers using PGP Whole Disk Encryption do not upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.6. Customers that have already successfully upgraded should take no action.

If the update to OS X 10.6.6 has already been made and the machine fails to boot, the data on the machine is not lost. The system can be restored using the PGP Recovery CD. Instructions can be found in this Knowledgebase Article.

This issue has the highest internal priority at Symantec, and we’re working on a maintenance release that will proactively address this issue. We will update our customers with the resolution information as soon as it becomes available.

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Following the recent acquisitions of PGP, GuardianEdge and VeriSign, Symantec has prioritized customer, partner, and media communication, especially around our integration plans for encryption and authentication as well as its vision for the future of data protection. Symantec has been conveying the message that these acquisitions will be immediately integrated into its enterprise security portfolio helping enable our customers to further manage and secure sensitive data as part of an information-centric security vision.  As a result, Symantec has organized a roadshow through the United States, Europe and Asia to communicate these key messages.

Symantec kicked off its Data Protection Tour in the heart of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, on Sept. 9, 2010. During a half-day of briefings, Symantec outlined its strategic vision for data protection and identity as well as explained how integrated encryption and authentication offerings will fit with the new advances in Symantec Data Loss Prevention.