Tag Archives | encryption software free

Lacie Private-Public AES256 encryption based on Truecrypt

/ 31 January, 2012 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Truecrypt alternative

Lacie Private-Public is a multilingual free encryption program for Windows and Mac computers based on Truecrypt, it comes with Truecrypt license included. What makes it different from Truecrypt is its simplicity of use, while Truecrypt will give you many encryption algorithms and options this tool sticks to the standard AES256 encryption and does not give the user any kind of option, you can create an encrypted virtual drive with just three clicks without reading the manual, which is available online. Encrypted containers are saved with the .lc extension and automatically named “La-Private” inside a folder bearing the same name, the software does not need installation you can carry it with you on a USB thumbdrive, however, administrator rights are still needed.

Encrypted containers larger than 4GB can not be created in FAT32 drives, to achieve this you will have to reformat to NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (Mac). Anyone familiar with virtual drive encryption software will instantly know how to use this program, after creating an encrypted container you will see a new drive letter appear next to your C: hard drive, anything you store in there will be automatically encrypted.

Lacie Private-Public AES256 encryption

Lacie Private-Public AES256 encryption

To lock the container right click on Lacie’s logo in Windows toolbar and select dismount, to access the data again execute the program and enter the password. The only possible settings are password change, mount encrypted volume as read-only and timed self-dismounting, Lacie Private-Public appears to be directed towards the 100% newbie person that knows nothing about encryption products and is not interested in learning about them or customization options.

The company claims that there is no backdoor, if you forget your password that is it. Full disk encryption has been eliminated, to use this capability you will have to look for something else, the only advantage Lacie Private-Public seems to have over Truecrypt is that it is extremely simple to use and it should not frighten off computer ignorant people.

Note: This software can not run if you have Truecrypt installed, they both use the same drivers.

Visit Lacie Private-Public encryption tool

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Chrome browser plugin Crypter encrypts text&files

/ 21 November, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Chrome browser privacy plugin

Lazar Crypter is a Chrome app encryption plugin that ciphers text and files with the standard AES256 cipher, to encrypt the files or text data does not need to be uploaded to any server, encryption is carried out in the browser using Javascript, this makes man in the middle attacks impossible as well as stopping any remote vulnerabilities on a server relied on for encryption. The size of encrypted files is limited to a few Megabytes due to the plugin saving it as data URI.

Lazar Crypter Chrome browser encryption plugin

Lazar Crypter Chrome browser encryption plugin

To use this encryption plugin simply copy and paste any text inside the box, or upload a file from your computer hard disk selecting it, enter a password and click on “Encrypt”, you can then copy the resulting ciphered text to a webmail message, the receiver will need to have the same Crypter plugin installed or use a web based encrypt and decrypt form implementing the Lazar Crypter and located in the Lazar homepage and click on the “Decrypt” button after entering the password.

This can be a good plugin for those who travel as it could be added to a portable Chrome browser, the only problem is that your friend will need to have it too.

Visit Lazar Crypter Chrome web store

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Review file encryption program ProtectOrion Data Safe

/ 14 November, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Secure AES encryption software

ProtectOrion Data Safe is an user friendly file encryption software made by an Austrian company, after installing it you will be prompted to create a masterpassword, a password strength meter will let you know how secure your password is, the user is forced to enter a password made up of a combination of letters and numbers or special characters, otherwise it will be rejected for being too weak.

ProtectOrion main window is very informative, a toolbar above lets you know the full file path where data is being stored in Windows, and below you are shown the remaining free hard disk space and encrypted database size. Through the interface you can create folders where to classify your encrypted data (files and folders), just like you would do working on your operating system but with the data encrypted, a wastebin securely keeps any files you erase in case you change your mind.

ProtectOrion file encryption software

ProtectOrion file encryption software

A Windows widget, called SafePad, holds over your desktop at all times if you choose so, it can be used to drag and drop files or full folders for automatic encryption with the AES256 cipher (used by many government agencies and banks), after dragging a file you can choose in what encrypted folder you would like to place it, ProtectOrion options allow you to specify if the original file should be securely wiped after encryption or only copied, leaving the original file intact, the software can be set to autolock after a preset time or manually locked if you need to go away from your computer, the encrypted database can easily be backed up anywhere you like and restored.

Another feature is a password manager where you can create groups of passwords, usernames and URLs, all nicely put together, you can paste passwords to the clipboard with a single click, for security, the passwords are automatically erased from the clipboard after 15 seconds. There is a portable version of this software that can be installed on a USB thumbdrive with ProtectOrion ToGo (7MB), encrypted passwords can be synchronized in between the desktop and USB thumbdrive.

Most of the software functions are intuitive but a complete well structured PDF manual is included anyway, my main concern with this software is the existence of temporary files when you open them, a common Windows problem is that the operating system can create automatic unencrypted backups of photos or documents you are viewing in hard to find places.

Freeware encryption ProtectOrion

Freeware encryption ProtectOrion

Protectorion Data Safe claims to securely wipe files after adding them to the encrypted database but besides the fact that it stops data recovery software, they do not mention anywhere what method and how many wipes they use.

I think this could a good program for people who want something very easy to use with no learning curve, an eye candy interface and have very low security needs, if your opponent is someone well funded stay away from this encryption software, I saw decrypted temporary files created on the hard disk while the safe was open, once you close the encrypted safe the temporary files vanish, but I don’t know if they are securely wiped or not, there is no information about this anywhere.

Other encryption programs (Safetica, DiskCryptor, etc) create encrypted virtual drives where to store the data, that appears to me a far more secure solution than encrypting and decrypting every single file when you view them, even if they were wiped, the data leakage risk is still higher, the more files need to be wiped, the easier it is something can go wrong (ie computer crash leaving files decrypted before they have been erased).

ProtectOrion is the living example of why just because certain encryption software is using an unbreakable cipher like AES256 does not mean it is secure, how encryption is implemented needs to be considered too.

Note: The free version of this software is limited to 100 files and 5 passwords, a popup window invites you to upgrade your version when you open the software.

Visit Protectorion Data Safe homepage

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Encrypt and compress files with Secure Archive

/ 6 October, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

File compression alternative to WinZip and WinRar

Secure Archive is a file encryption, data compression and file wiping utility suitable for individuals and businesses alike, it is simple and easy to use with right click integration and drag and drop, unlike other compression programs with encryption, like WinZip or WinRar, Secure Archive allows for high customization of encryption, you can choose to secure your files with Advanced Encryption System (AES), aka Rijndael, Blowfish, a patent free encryption algorithm, or NASCLL which appeared to be a proprietary encryption cipher of which the help file did not included any information at all, you will be better off using one of first two ciphers as they are tried and tested.

This free file encryption program options allow you to choose by how much data should be compressed (none, low,high), I failed to see its usefulness as I would imagine everyone wants it set at a high compression, the default setting, but no harm in including that. When you encrypt a file Secure Archive will let you know the password key strength in bits as you type together with a message saying if it is an acceptable password or not, in advanced options you can select what metadata should be saved together with the encrypted file, for example, time stamps, file attributes, CRC file integrity, you can choose to wipe the original file after encryption too.

Secure Archive encryption file utility

Secure Archive encryption file utility

The only shortcomings I found in Secure Archive is that the help manual failed to mention anything about their NASCLL encryption method, the secure wipe window could not be resized and it did not have a progress bar, it puzzled me that the developers claim that file wiping is being implemented using the standard US Department of Defense 5220. 22-M method which consists of a three wipe pass, but Secure Archive data wiping window indicates a single secure delete pass by default, my wild guess here is that it could mean a 1 time US DoD 5220.22-M data wiping pass but I can’t really be sure.

Secure Archive encrypted file properties

Secure Archive encrypted file properties

Secure Archive can be a good alternative to AxCrypt, useful for anyone in need of a free program to secure single files before emailing them, the .SAef file extension will confuse the other end, you both will have to be using the same software unless you create an encrypted self-extracting file which Secure Archive can do, data compression appeared to perform well, it managed to reduce my the seize of my WordPerfect document by 70%, I compressed the same file using WinZip .zip method and it compressed it by 71%, pretty much the same result.

If you are afraid that someone can guess your password using a brute force attack, Secure Archive lets you create what they call a HardKey, called keyfile in other software like Truecrypt, you can secure your compressed file with a password and a HardKey needing both to open it, something you know and something you have, but this HardKey can not be anything you like, it needs to have been created with the Secure Archive and anyone coming across it will know what it is for but it can enhance your security when emailing confidential documents if these happen to get intercepted or end up in the wrong inbox.

Visit Secure Archive homepage

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Encrypt text files using the AES cipher with Scrambled Egg

/ 8 September, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Text encryption software freeware

This open source cross platform program will encrypt text messages using a wide range of algorithms to choose from, AES, Blowfish, ARC2, CAST, 3DES or RSA using your own public encryption key, text compression with Zlib or Bz2 can be performed before encryption.

Scramble-Egg has a portable version to take it with you in a USB thumbdrive, needing 20MB of space, the software doesn’t need any administrator rights or special plug ins to run, it is an ideal portable encryption tool, the resulting encrypted text can be saved as XML, Json, UU or a .png image, a “No tags” option can be turned on and off depending on if you want the receiving end to know algorithm combination has been used leaving an attacker intercepting the encrypted message wondering what kind of file it is as it doesn’t have any identifying sign giving away what tool has been used for encryption, in order for someone to decrypt the message, besides the password, they will also need to know the cipher combination, if you eliminate tags you will have to inform the receiver about the used combination.

You can copy the ciphered text and send it by email, paste in a document or post it to a Usenet group, encryption is performed in real time slowing down your computer as you type with the CPU load spiking implementing the encryption algorithm, as soon as you add a character or change some setting you will see the resulting ciphered text straight away on the second pane.

Scrambled-Egg text encryption software

Scrambled Egg text encryption software

For covert communications you could easily embed a small encrypted text message in a webpage HTML code and in the event that anyone looked at the source code, which few people do, they would not be able to work out what the message says or what has been used to cipher it, the advantage of embedding an encrypted message on a website as opposed to sending it is that if the website has lots of traffic, it becomes impossible to know who received/read it.

The help file is very basic and it could be improved, Scrambled Egg is easy to use but it appears to assume that people using it already understand what each one of the compression and encryption algorithms mean as the instructions do not explain anything about them, I would recommend you use AES for encryption as it is a standard algorithm widely reviewed by cryptographers and regularly tested for weaknesses. My favourite feature is that Scrambled Egg works in Windows, Linux and Mac, this makes it easy for your friends to use this encryption tool regardless of their operating system.

Visit Scrambled Egg homepage

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Easy to use file encryption software Lazar Crypter

/ 23 August, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Windows file encryption

This small free open source software will encrypt single files using using Windows context menu, it uses AES256bit algorithm for encryption and it is very easy to use. You only need to select a file, or multiple files, right click and select “Encryt” or “Decrypt” from the context menu, you can also decrypt a file by double clicking on it.

Lazar Crypter Windows file encryption

Lazar Crypter Windows file encryption

Lazar Crypter will save encrypted files with its own file extension, .icr, encryption of multiple files at once is possible, but no multiple file decryption, this could be because each single file should have its own unique password. This program is lightweight on resources, only 400Kb in size, there is no helpfile and you don’t need one, encryption can not get any easier than this, if you know how to copy and paste a file then you know how to encrypt and decrypt.

Lazar Crypter could come in handy to email an encrypted file to someone who also has the program but it is not very useful to store encrypted files in your hard disk because temporary and original data is not wiped, you will need a data wiper if you are going to use this program to guard stored files in your hard disk from unwanted eyes.

Visit Lazar Crypter homepage

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Free backup software with AES256 encryption Duplicati

/ 5 July, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Open source backup software

Duplicati is a free open source project for Windows and Linux to back up your data encrypted on the cloud, a USB device or a network drive. The software has a user friendly interface where you can configure and monitor your backup jobs, the best feature is probably its built-in support to backup data on the cloud, Duplicati can use FTP, Webdav and SSH to send your data to a remote server, you can use one of the supported services,  Amazon S3, Cloudfare (Rackspace) and Tahoe-LAFS (open source P2P decentralized system), or rent a cheap VPS (Virtual Private Server) and use it for your own backups keeping control of everything with no third party reliance.

A wizard will guide you through the process of creating your first backup job, you can choose one of the folder suggestions given (My Documents, My Music, etc) or select custom folders you would like backed up, the screen will show how much free hard disk space you need for the job, the data is all encrypted using AES256 by default or you can use Gnu Privacy Guard with PGP keys to encrypt it,  everything is digitally signed so that nobody can tamper with the data.

Duplicati data backup with encryption

Duplicati data backup with encryption

 Duplicati main features

  • Data encrypted and digitally signed
  • Built-in support for backing up data on cloud services
  • Support for differential backups
  • Real time backup error notifications

Restoring a backup job is as easy as choosing “View contents” from the backup logs and launch the wizard, you will be asked if you want to schedule, edit, remove or restore files, after choosing restore files you are then offered different dates and the option to change the default location where to save the content.

Duplicati doesn’t have a fancy interface like other free backup software but it is easy to use and the encryption and SSH options make this program one of the best for backing up sensitive data. If you are worried that the files you store on the cloud can be leaked, subpoenaed, etc, or worried about your cloud storage provider so called encryption having a backdoor (like Dropbox), use Duplicati, do not give the authority to others to look after something as important as your encryption keys, data leakage liability will be yours not theirs, this backup software encryption has no backdoor, you can even use your own PGP encryption keys (created using GNU Privacy Guard) for peace of mind.

Visit Duplicati homepage

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Digital certificate email encrytion with Comodo SecureEmail

/ 12 June, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

Email encryption with digital certificate

Sending email via Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail it is like sending a postcard, anyone who comes across it can read its contents, that includes your ISP and your email provider, Gmail even scans your email contents to introduce what they call relevant publicity, encrypting email messages is the only way to make sure that no third party can eavesdrop on your communications.

There are a few specialist webmail providers that use encryption end to end but you are trusting them with your encryption keys, in security you must trust as few people as it is possible, the more people has access to your private encryption keys the easier a data leakage will be.

Comodo SecureEmail works locally in your computer to send, receive and store encrypted emails, including attachments, it is easy to use and deploy, and free, you can digitally sign emails to confirming the sender’s identity, a digital signature is even harder to fake than a real life pen and paper signature. The software is compatible with Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, Eudora and other IMAP and SMTP email clients. Comodo SecureEmail comes with a wizard to easily import a Comodo email certificate for encryption and digital signing, or just choose to import someone’s public encryption key instead.

Comodo SecureEmail encryption software

Comodo SecureEmail encryption software

If the receiver of the emails does not use Comodo SecureEmail he can still read the encrypted messages using a web based reader, the messages will be encrypted using a single use session digital certificate.

Comodo SecureEmail main features

  • Easy to use for newbies with automatic encryption and decryption of emails
  • It supports most email clients even if they haven’t got built-in encryption
  • Wizard to install the necessary digital certificates to encrypt and digital sign messages
  • Web reader service to decrypt messages encrypted using a single use digital certificate (aka session certificate)

This email encryption software is light in resources, a small 6.5MB download and it is very flexible, you will not have to swap email software, once the digital certificates have been installed the whole encryption process is automated without having to exchange public encryption keys, encrypting emails using a digital certificate is as secure as using PGP keys to secure messages and easier to use for newbies.

Visit Comodo SecureEmail homepage

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iSafePDF to encrypt and digitally sign PDF documents

/ 9 May, 2011 / Encryption Software / Permalink

PDF documents security

iSafePDF is a free open source utility to encrypt, digitally sign and timestamp your PDF documents, after using it, the encrypted document will still be viewable with any PDF reader (if you know the password), the program is very easy to use, divided into tabs, each one of the tab can carry out a function, like encryption and digitally signing the document, there are additional security options to stop document printing and modification.

iSafePDF document digital signature

iSafePDF document digital signature

You can create a time stamped signature using a Time Stamping Authority (TSA), making your digital signature valid even if the certificate key expires, in the Document tab you can change the PDF MetaData information, like author, title, subject and keywords (to find the PDF easily).

This free software to encrypt and digitally sign PDF documents is portable, no installation is needed to use it, the only downside it is that documents can only be encrypted/digitally signed one at a time, it has no batch processing.

Visit iSafePDF homepage

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S10 Password Vault a free password manager

/ 11 January, 2011 / Computer Security / Permalink

Secure offline password manager

The problem using always the same password is that if one of the sites you are member of gets cracked then that person will get access to all of your other accounts as well, using a secure password manager is the best way to be able to use a hard to crack passphrase for each website and remembering all of them at the same time.

S10 Password vault is a free offline password manager utility that uses the uncrackable AES256 cipher for encryption, it foils keyloggers, autolocks after a predetermined set time, tells you if your password is strong enough or generates it for you, and it has a portable edition. All of this in just 670Kb, a really tiny application with lots of great features.

When you install S10 Password Vault for the first time it will create an encrypted .s10p database where all of your passwords will be stored, make sure to back it up and do not worry about losing it as only with the masterpassword it is possible to look at its content.

The coolest time saving feature of S10 Password Vault is that to log into a site you won’t even need to type in your password, as long as S10 Password Vault is open you can use a keyboard shortcut and S10 Password Vault will automatically fill in the password for you.

The only downside I found with S10 Password Vault is that the help file is online, it could probably be improved if a PDF file with the manual could be made available for download, I also think that the password manager window and fonts could benefit from being a little bigger than they actually are.

S10 Password Vault

S10 Password Vault

What I liked most is the structure of the folder hierarchy that helps to get a quick access to your passwords, the autologin feature that saves you time by entering the password for you, and the embedded anti keylogger that sends lots of random hidden decoy keystrokes to obscure the real password as it is typed, very useful to use in conjunction with the portable S10 Password Vault edition at a public computer.

There is a premium, very cheap, business edition of S10 Password Vault that includes automatic central back up of employee passwords, central control over configuration settings and ability to use a private synchronization server. S10 Password Vault is an entirely free password manager for home users, if you like the software you can make a donation to the developer.

Visit S10 Password Vault homepage

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