TrueCrypt is an essential drive encryption application for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux users who want to encrypt real or virtual drive partitions. It’s free, easy to use, and it even runs on Windows Vista 32/64 bit. The 5.0 release allows you to encrypt the boot drive partition in Windows, so if your server or laptop falls into the wrong hands, no data whatsoever can be gleamed from it.
An interesting feature of TrueCrypt is the “plausible deniability” option, which allows you to encrypt any number of hidden partitions in the empty space of an outer partition, so even if you are forced to reveal the outer partition, you can plausible deny the existence of inner partitions. Get it now!
How many of the 79 million personal records compromised in 2007 could have been avoided simply by installing this program?
I used to have PGP but now I’ve switched to TC. I wonder though how secure it is ?
How can end users who don’t know cryptography be sure that it really ‘works’ ?
“I used to have PGP but now I’ve switched to TC. I wonder though how secure it is ?”
PGP and TrueCrypt are complementary products. PGP is used for encrypting communications and individual files, whereas TrueCrypt is for encrypting entire disk volumes.
“How can end users who don’t know cryptography be sure that it really ‘works’ ?”
Are you asking whether the algorithm is secure, or whether the implentation in any particular program is secure?
Encryption algorithms become publicly accepted by independent validation by numerous public and private organizations. Algorithms are mathematical formulas, which can be “proven” to be secure. (“Proof” means that the amount of effort necessary to decrypt the message is not practical with available hardware.)
The only way to be sure that a particular implementation of an algorithm is secure is to use one for which the source code is available and has been reviewed by independent security experts.