I have never bothered encrypting my hard drive because I usually only use my computer at home. However, life circumstances have changed and I find myself working at a coworking space on a weekly basis. I don't like needing to pack my stuff up every time I go to the bathroom or step outside for fresh air, but if I do worry that anyone who gets my drive could get a huge amount of info about me.
I assume I should start encrypting my drive. What sort of tools would you recommend for this?
LUKS encrypted drive should be fine. Do you have external hard drive?
Would recommend getting an external drive and encrypting that. Put some funny cat videos on there. test the key recovery. Test backups.
Then, when you're comfortable, flash it, encrypt it with a new key. Secure the key. Put all your data on there that you don't need access to. Secure that drive. do not take it with you. And only then, encrypt your entire drive. Hopefully with not much on it.
Full disk encryption is good to have, but it's only at-rest, when the device is shut down. If someone manages to steal it and keep it powered, while you're logged in, the data is accessible - after all, it was accessible to you. So what you want to do is make as much of your data offline and at-rest.
There are many that work well and are simple; you should keep in mind your operating system. I'm sending you these because I don't know which operating system you use!
For me I just use what the OS gives you.
Windows = BitLocker, Mac = FileVault, Linux = LUKS during install. All of them work fine, no extra software needed unless you want to hide stuff extra.
If you want cross platform, VeraCrypt still solid. Just make sure you backup your recovery key somewhere safe - losing that key na real pain.
For coworking, also set auto-lock to 1-2 mins, that one save you more than encryption self.
LUKS is a must for any laptop that leaves the house