What is Encrypting File System?
The EFS or Encrypting File System is a file system available in Microsoft’s Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Media Center 2005, and now Windows Vista operating systems. The technology transparently allows files to be stored encrypted on NTFS file systems to protect confidential data from attackers with physical access to the computer. NOTE: EFS uses public key cryptography to encrypt files seamlessly within Windows. NOTE: NTFS or New Technology File System is the standard file system of Windows NT and its descendants: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. EFS Disadvantages EFS will not protect files transferred from one computer to another. It is only file system level encryption. EFS cannot be used to encrypt an entire drive’s contents because it is only used to decrypt in the context of a user’s rights. Hence, system files accessed by the system once encrypted under a user’s rights will no longer be viewable by the
