2008 Jan 28 - Mon
Open Source Site of the Day -- TrueCrypt: Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Linux
When trying to keep things private and personal, and to carry things around securely on
USB keys, or even hard drives, nothing beats the simplicity and flexibility of
TrueCrypt. It is free and and it
is Open Source. A new release is scheduled for February 4, 2008.
Here is a feature list from the main web page:
- Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
- Encrypts an entire hard disk partition or a storage device such as USB flash drive.
- Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
- Provides two levels of plausible deniability
- Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: LRW.
The software is well documented and has a good startup tutorial.
I had seen this software a while ago, and hadn't done much with it. I was recently
reminded of this through
A Nice Surprise, an article written by a SANS' NewsBytes Editor regarding
data loss and theft. As the author says, with software so simple and easy, why isn't it
used more often?
The same author has a page designated as the
The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security. In brief, the points are:
- Default Permit
- Enumerating Badness
- Penetrate and Patch
- Hacking is Cool
- Educating Users
- Action is Better Than Inaction
The article is well worth the read. It is an excellent dissertation on how one should
change one's security philosophy to get at problems at the source, rather than attempting to
make the symptoms go away.
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