Skip to main content

Encrypt personal data with TrueCrypt

WARNING - TrueCrypt has stopped development and issued security warning. Please don't use TrueCrpt. Maintaining this blog for historical purposes. Updated 29th May 2014. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You got personal data or photos that you don't want anyone to see ? Got confidential files in your external-HDD/Pendrive and want to share it with your friends?  Or want to create a secure vault to store sensitive data ?  Answer is TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is Open-Source, free disk encryption software available for Windows/Mac & Linux. http://www.truecrypt.org/



Main features -

  • Create virtual disk within the real hard drive - You can create a vault and lock it using a password. You can then see all files within it with password
  • Encrypts entire hard-disk or pen-drive. If your laptop is stolen or you lose pendrive with data then no one can read the content and see your files
     
  • Encryption is automatic and thus you can open / edit files using regular applications such as MS-Word, Excel, etc. 




How to create a secure vault and store files ? 

Download TrueCrypt from http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads and then follow Bigginer Tutorial from here -  http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/tutorial#Y0

High level steps detailed in above link -

Step1 - Create a 'Volume' or container in which you will store your files

Step2 - Setting the password to your 'Volume'

Step3 - Mounting the volume as a another drive - E:\ or F:\

 Step4 - Copy files and close the volume. Any time after that if you wish to open/edit files then follow Step3 and that’s it.

Secure your files online : 
You can now backup these volumes which contain all you files on Google Drive or Dropbox and an open it on any other machine with same password. No one will be able to open or see content of this volume as it has a password set.

Multiple Volumes:
TrueCrypt allows you to create multiple volumes with different sizes. Thus you can categorize your files e.g family-photos, bank/tax/expense documents, passport-documents etc. Of course you should give different passwords to each of them and keep a note.

Can I trust TrueCrypt to be secure enough ?
TrueCrypt has been around for a while and proved to be a standard in encryption. It uses right set of methods and keys to ensure data is not accessible without the required password.

TrueCrypt is open source and thus people around the world can see and find any issues in the source. This give high level of confidence that by now if any flaw would have been there would have been already found and fixed.

Further reference - TrueCrypt documentation - http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malls track your visits by Wi-Fi tracking

How does Wi-Fi works ?  Wi-Fi is preferred wireless way of internet connectivity on mobile devices. We connect to Wi-Fi at home/office/cafe/Hotels and public places to get fast internet connectivity and do all stuff using it. Usage of Wi-Fi has spread fast with smartphones/tablets as compared to laptops couple of years back. Wi-Fi uses network name (SSID) and shared-password to connect and that makes it easy for users to get internet without much hassle. Once you connect to a network, your mobile device remembers the network and tries to auto-connect to it whenever its available. Mobile devices store all this Wi-Fi network info and use to auto-connect on periodic basis so as to provide preferred connectivity; and all that happens behind the scene. May be its your android/iphone/blackberry/windows phone/tablet all work same way. Your phone tries to connect to Wi-Fi automatically. You can see list of Wi-Fi networks connected by your device going to settings > WiFi Wh...
9 comments
Read more

Use Bookmarks for Bank websites!

Online banking is preferred way for bank transactions and we hardly visit bank building. Most banks do provide android/iphone apps  to take it further. Bank websites are here to stay and do provide rich set of services for customers; and here lies the security issue. You need to protect you identity while logging in and prevent using your credentials on any other fake websites. Use browser bookmarks to open bank website: Always visit your bank using a bookmark on your browser. Simple practice can save your money Never search for bank URL in google or any search engine. You may land up in fake website Never search bank website URL in emails, you might open fraudulent email with URL pointing to site that looks similar to your bank. You may end up entering credentials and give away access to hackers Do NOT bookmark 'Sign in' page as it can change, always bookmark main website of bank e.g. https://www.hsbc.co.in, you can then follow the 'Sign in' page from there. Jus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Securing your account with password only? That’s not enough anymore - Use two-factor authentication

Using userID and password only to login to your account is old method to ensure security to your account(email, bank, facebook, etc.). It has been reported numerous times that passwords can be stolen, leaked, cracked, captured, sniffed & guessed. Bad guys (may be your own people with bad motives) are trying hard to get your password and get into your account to steal data/money/identity/photos. You need to protect your account with something more than just UserID and password. Strong password is not enough to protect your account and you need to go beyond that to make your account secure. What is two factor authentication ? In simple terms you can consider two factor authentication as "Two Locks" for your account. You need to open both the locks before your get into your account. And to open two locks you of course need two separate keys. Two factor authentication is security process in which you use your userID+Password and physical token. Its "something you ...
Post a Comment
Read more