The ICO recommends that portable and mobile devices including magnetic media, used to store and transmit personal information, the loss of which could cause damage or distress to individuals, should be protected using approved encryption software which is designed to guard against the compromise of information.  To help you comply PEM IT Services provides several encryption solutions.

Email and file encryption

Egress Switch allows you to encrypt data sent by email, protect large files sent over the Internet via file sharing services, and encrypt sensitive files on your own local network.  Access is controlled by permissions set by the sender, with an audit trail showing all access to the documents.

Laptop and USB drive encryption

For portable devices such as laptops and USB memory sticks we recommend full disk encryption.  Laptops are key targets for theives, and many people don't realise how much data they store on them until it is too late.  USB memory sticks are now everywhere and, as they are so cheap, are now considered almost disposable items.  However even a small USB device can hold a large amount of sensitive data and their simple portability makes them easy to lose.