However, earlier research from Gemalto has shown that less than 5 percent of breaches involved encrypted data. Research by Risk Based Security found that 7.9 billion data records were breached between January and September 2019. See also: How to encrypt email Encryption trends

Tip: Alternatively, if all you are concerned about is avoiding somebody snooping at home, you can encrypt or password-protect individual MS Word or MS Excel files quickly from within documents. For some operating system editions like Windows 10 Home, this is the only option. The third option to encrypt files and folders in Windows is to use third-party software.Encrypting File System (EFS) is the alternative, but is not recommended for super-sensitive data.BitLocker is the preferred and most secure method, but it will not allow you easily to select and encrypt individual files and folders (you can do this by creating an encrypted file container using VHD.To encrypt files and folders in Windows, you can use the two encryption capabilities built in to Windows (and a third option, depending on the software you’re using): This article will explain several methods you can use to encrypt your data.

Only someone with the correct password, or decryption key, can make the data readable again. If you encrypt files and folders in Windows, your data will become unreadable to unauthorized parties.

Encrypt folder