CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

18.9.11.2.4 (BL) Ensure 'Choose how BitLocker-protected operating systemdrives can be recovered: Allow data recovery agent' is set to 'Enabled: False' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

 Level 1 (L1) + BitLocker (BL)

 Level 2 (L2) + BitLocker (BL)

 BitLocker (BL) - optional add-on for when BitLocker is deployed

Description:

This policy setting allows you to control how BitLocker-protected operating system drives are recovered in the absence of the required startup key information. This policy setting is applied when you turn on BitLocker. The "Allow certificate-based data recovery agent" check box is used to specify whether a Data Recovery Agent can be used with BitLocker-protected operating system drives. Before a Data Recovery Agent can be used it must be added from the Public Key Policies item in either the Group Policy Management Console or the Local Group Policy Editor. Consult the BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide on Microsoft TechNet for more information about adding Data Recovery Agents.

The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled: False (unchecked).

Rationale:

Should a user lose their primary means for accessing an encrypted OS volume, or should the system not pass its boot time integrity checks, the system will go into recovery mode. If the recovery key has not been backed up to Active Directory, the user would need to have saved the recovery key to another location such as a USB flash drive, or have printed the recovery password, and now have access to one of those in order to recovery the system. If the user is unable to produce the recovery key, then the user will be denied access to the encrypted volume and subsequently any data that is stored there.

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