In corporate environments - if a pc/laptop is encrypted - are there any other issues in saving data locally? or is it easy to disable saving data locally? Is there any point though? whats the risk? if its encrypted who is going to get at it? or is there other non security risks?

The main risk in saving the data locally is that there will be a hardware failure and the user will loose their data. In a corporate environment users should never be allowed to save locally. It is easy to accomplish by use of GPO and re directing the users My Documents to the server as well. JamesCCA

The main risk in saving the data locally is that there will be a hardware failure and the user will loose their data. In a corporate environment users should never be allowed to save locally. It is easy to accomplish by use of GPO and re directing the users My Documents to the server as well. JamesCCA What about for laptop devices though if a user wants to work on a word docuemnt / excel document when truly offline? If the device is encrypted whats the issue - or whats the best practice solution? In fact if its encrypted, whats the problem at all? Is it to due with virus/vulnerabilities? Are they easier to get at data on a local machine that a domain file server?

In tryly offline mode if the laptop encrypted correctly using PGP or Truecrypt or Bitlocker then there should be no issue. The user should select a suitable strong password and the admin should have a way of recovering the password is the user forgets it, in my experience, mainly of PGP this happens all the time. Encryption will have no bearing on wether a pc gets a virus or other security vulnerabilites. All laptops should be encrypted so that if someone looses a laptop or leaves it on a train, the data cannot be accessed by someone else.JamesCCA

In tryly offline mode if the laptop encrypted correctly using PGP or Truecrypt or Bitlocker then there should be no issue. The user should select a suitable strong password and the admin should have a way of recovering the password is the user forgets it, in my experience, mainly of PGP this happens all the time. Encryption will have no bearing on wether a pc gets a virus or other security vulnerabilites. All laptops should be encrypted so that if someone looses a laptop or leaves it on a train, the data cannot be accessed by someone else. JamesCCA My concern is, if you configure, no user can save locally - if then a user needs to work offline and cant save a to a server - how can they work and save their data?

You would set it up so they can save to My Documents. My Documents would be re directed to the Server somehwere. If they were offline you would setup Sync Centre or File Sync so that anything they work on would sync to the server when they have a connection.JamesCCA

You would set it up so they can save to My Documents. My Documents would be re directed to the Server somehwere. If they were offline you would setup Sync Centre or File Sync so that anything they work on would sync to the server when they have a connection. JamesCCA And encrypt the local my documents, or the entire disk? Do you have any documentation on how to set this all up?

I always encrypt the whole drive. What software are you using. PGP is here - http://www.symantec.com/business/theme.jsp?themeid=pgp Truecrypt is here - http://www.truecrypt.org/ There are many guides on both products on there. I would recommend using on a test system first, test the install, use and recovery from an issue.JamesCCA

I always encrypt the whole drive. What software are you using. PGP is here - http://www.symantec.com/business/theme.jsp?themeid=pgp Truecrypt is here - http://www.truecrypt.org/ There are many guides on both products on there. I would recommend using on a test system first, test the install, use and recovery from an issue. JamesCCA Do you encrypt desktops as well as laptops? Is the main issue in not saving data locally due to the fact its not backed up? As if its encrypted, how cares if they are saving it locally? On our laptops we use pointsec, on desktops we use nothing. I cant see the point in IT ordering new desktops with 250GB encrypted hard discs if we are going to deny saving locally.