Asked by: Tom Pickford, Bath
Yes it is. Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate editions support BitLocker Drive Encryption and Mac OS X has File Vault – just check out the ‘help’ menu for details. There are also many third-party encryption programs that can encrypt anything from a whole disk to a single file. Some programs, such as Microsoft Word, also offer a password protect feature to for individual documents. Beware, though: if you forget the password, it is often impossible to recover the data.
Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun science facts.