Windows 10: You better add Pin Protection to your Bitlocker configuration

Bitlocker is a popular encryption technology by Microsoft that is used to protect data on Windows devices. Home users and Enterprise customers may protect the system and data using Bitlocker.

Bitlocker works in a convenient way by default, as users don't need to enter a pin or password during boot, as all of this is handled by the system automatically.

Tip: check out our how to setup Bitlocker on Windows 10 guide.

Setting up a pin is optional, but highly recommended, as a recent story on Dolos Group's blog suggest. The company received a laptop from an organization that was configured with the standard security stack of the organization. The laptop was fully encrypted with TPM and Bitlocker, had a BIOS password set, locked BIOS boot order and used secure boot to prevent unsigned operating systems from booting.



The security researchers discovered that the system was booting right to the Windows 10 login screen; this meant that users did not have to type a pin or password prior to that, and that the key was pulled from TPM.

The researchers looked up information on the TPM chip and discovered how it communicates. Bitlocker is not using "any of the encrypted communication features of the TPM 2.0 standard", and that means that communication is in plain text.

The laptop was opened and probes were used to record data during boot. The open source tool https://github.com/FSecureLABS/bitlocker-spi-toolkit was used to detect the Bitlocker key in the data; it was then used to decrypt the Solid State Drive of the laptop.

The researchers managed to get into the sytem after booting its image in a virtual environment. From there, they managed to connect to the company VPN.

Mitigation

Bitlocker supports setting a pre-boot authentication key. If that key is set, it needs to be entered before the system boots; this works similarly to how VeraCrypt and other third-party encryption programs work. VeraCrypt displays a password and PIM prompt during boot if the system drive is encrypted. Users need to type the correct password and PIM to get the drive to be decrypted and the operating system booted.

The researchers suggest that users set the PIN to protect the system and its data.

Pre-boot authentication set to TPM with a PIN protector (with a sophisticated alphanumeric PIN [enhanced pin] to help the TPM anti-hammering mitigation).
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Setting up a Bitlocker pre-boot authentication PIN


Note: Bitlocker Drive Encryption is available on Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. Home devices have drive encryption, which is different. You may want to consider using VeraCrypt instead to better protect the data on your Home devices. On Windows 10, you can check if Device Decryption is used by opening the Settings, searching for device decryption and selecting the option from the results.

1. Open the Group Policy Editor:
   1. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R
   2. Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter-key.
2. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives using the folder structure of the sidebar.
3. Double-click on Require Additional Authentication at Startup in the main pane.
4. Set the policy to Enabled.
5. Select the menu under "Configure TPM startup PIN" and set it to "Require startup PIN with TPM".
6. Click OK to save the changes that you just made.

You have prepared the system to accept a PIN as a pre-boot authentication method, but you have not set the PIN yet.

1. Open Start.
2. Type cmd.exe.
3. Select Run as Administrator to launch an elevated command prompt window.
4. Run the following command to set a pre-boot PIN: manage-bde -protectors -add C: -TPMAndPIN
5. You are prompted to type the PIN and to confirm it to make sure it is identical.

The PIN is set, and you will be prompted to enter it on the next boot. You may run the command manage-bde -status to check the status.

Now You: do you encrypt your hard drives? (via Born)

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extend bitlocker protection with pin, usb pen drive, or TPM

Hi, I was reading elsewhere, and not covered by this guide, that I could extend bitlocker protection with a pin and even an usb pen drive in addition to the key stored in the tpm. Is there a simple step by the step guide that shows you how to do this correctly? I was briefly looking at different settings in the local group policy editor and found some relevant options, however, I don't want to try to turn it on without having some guidance. Thank-you.

 

Need to turn off Bitlocker to install Windows 10

Hi,

We suggest doing the following steps again to resolve the issue. To complete the procedure, make sure that you have the following information:

• You must be able to provide administrative credentials.
• The drive must be BitLocker-protected.

To suspend BitLocker Drive Encryption on an operating system drive, please follow the steps below:

• Click Start, click Control Panel, click
  System and Security, and then click BitLocker Drive Encryption.
• Click Suspend Protection for the operating system drive.
• A message is displayed, informing you that your data will not be protected while BitLocker is suspended and asking if you want to suspend BitLocker Drive Encryption.
  
• Click Yes to continue and suspend BitLocker on the drive.

Let us know how it goes.

 

BitLocker encryption missing PIN configuration

Hi,

I need some help on the BitLocker. We have corporate Windows 10 Enterprise OS and need to configure BitLocker to encrypt C drive.

However, BitLocker doesn't have PIN option to configure. Anyone can help? Any idea ?