Microsoft has therefor created a solution for this problem by introducing the Bitlocker To Go Reader so that the data on the portable device can be read in operating systems that are not supporting Bitlocker. Microsoft’s solution is the Bitlocker To Go Reader, a software program compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 that can be used to decrypt the data on a Bitlocker encrypted removable storage device.

Bitlocker To Go Reader is added to the removable storage device when it is encrypted. The program will automatically be displayed if autoplay is enabled on the computer system when the user connects the removable storage device that has been encrypted with Bitlocker To Go. A right-click on the device and the selection of autoplay or a double-click on the drive icon in Windows are the other options to display the Bitlocker To Go Reader window.

The user only needs to enter the password the data was encrypted with to decrypt and access it on the other operating system. An alternative to encrypt file systems, removable storage devices and other data is the open source software True Crypt which we have reviewed in the past. True Crypt offers the advantage of encrypting and decrypting data not only in Windows but also Linux and Mac OS.wp-image-19416″ />

A SSH connection can be used to use an encrypted channel to transfer the unencrypted data so that the data is protected from third parties. To make use of this encrypted channel a connection has to be established and maintained between the local computer and a SSH server on the Internet. If your Email provider would offer SSH access for instance it could be setup to create a connection with their SSH server to retrieve and send emails.

My Encrypted Tunnel is a free application that makes use of Putty Link to establish an SSH connection:

MyEnTunnel is a simple system tray application (or NT service) that establishes and maintains TCP SSH tunnels. It does this by launching Plink (PuTTY Link) in the background and then monitors the process. If the Plink process dies (e.g. connection drops, server restarts or otherwise becomes unreachable) MyEnTunnel will automatically restart Plink to reestablish the tunnels in the background. It tries to use as little CPU and system resources as possible when monitoring (When the “Slow Polling” option is enabled it only does one context switch per second).

It can also be used to exchange data between two computers. To do this one computer needs to act as the SSH Server. Users looking for an advanced Windows client with additional functionality might find it in Tunnelier which is free for personal use.