Working with encrypted devices when there is no access to them

Accessing encrypted devices

A user may be required to request access to encrypted devices in the following cases:

• The hard drive was encrypted on a different computer.
• The encryption key for a device is not on the computer (for example, upon the first attempt to access the encrypted removable drive on the computer), and the computer is not connected to Kaspersky Security Center.

  After the user has applied the access key to the encrypted device, Kaspersky Endpoint Security saves the encryption key on the user's computer and allows access to this device upon subsequent access attempts even if there is no connection to Kaspersky Security Center.

Access to encrypted devices can be obtained as follows:

1. The user uses the Kaspersky Endpoint Security application interface to create a request access file with the kesdc extension and sends it to the corporate LAN administrator.
2. The administrator uses the Kaspersky Security Center Administration Console to create an access key file with the kesdr extension and sends it to the user.
3. The user applies the access key.

Restoring data on encrypted devices

A user can use the Encrypted Device Restore Utility (hereinafter referred to as the Restore Utility) to work with encrypted devices. This may be required in the following cases:

• The procedure for using an access key to obtain access was unsuccessful.
• Encryption components have not been installed on the computer with the encrypted device.

The data needed to restore access to encrypted devices using the Restore Utility resides in the memory of the user's computer in unencrypted form for some time. To reduce the risk of unauthorized access to such data, you are advised to restore access to encrypted devices on trusted computers.

Data on encrypted devices can be restored as follows:

1. The user uses the Restore Utility to create a request access file with the fdertc extension and sends it to the corporate LAN administrator.
2. The administrator uses the Kaspersky Security Center Administration Console to create an access key file with the fdertr extension and sends it to the user.
3. The user applies the access key.

To restore data on encrypted system hard drives, the user can also specify the Authentication Agent account credentials in the Restore Utility. If the metadata of the Authentication Agent account has been corrupted, the user must complete the restoration procedure using a request access file.

Before restoring data on encrypted devices, it is recommended to cancel the Kaspersky Security Center policy or disable encryption in the Kaspersky Security Center policy settings on the computer where the procedure will be performed. This prevents the device from being encrypted again.

In this section: Recovering data by using the FDERT Restore Utility Creating an operating system rescue disk

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