TrueCrypt could also encrypt whole hard drives. (For this idea to work, you have to give up something worth encrypting, not cat videos.) If government agents forced you to hand over your password, they would get the fairly valuable data but not all of it. For example, you could have some fairly valuable data in a container while hiding much more valuable data. Off-hand, I can’t think of another free way of doing this, though for Windows 7/8 users, Rohos Mini Drive will create a hidden encrypted partition on a thumbdrive.Īnother important feature was TrueCrypt’s ability to create “hidden volumes”. TrueCrypt also let you create a container file on a USB thumbdrive and plug it into a Windows PC, Mac or Linux box. This made it handy for dispersed groups of developers with different hardware. TrueCrypt’s main appeal was that its encrypted “virtual drives” (container files) were cross-platform, and could be used with Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. On the other hand, you don’t seem to be using any of the functions that made TrueCrypt popular, so you could easily switch now. I’m not sure this is allowed by TrueCypt’s license, but the original programmers would probably have to reveal their identities to bring a lawsuit.Īt the moment, VeraCrypt has some momentum, but we don’t know which of the forks will find widespread support. Some other developers are continuing TrueCrypt’s development under different names. If you were starting from scratch, I wouldn’t recommend it, but I think you can continue to use it until you find a good replacement. There doesn’t appear to be an urgent need for anyone to stop using TrueCrypt. ![]() The audit identified some glitches, but the Windows code is sound. The NCC audit found no evidence of deliberate backdoors, or any severe design flaws that will make the software insecure in most instances.” On 2 April, Matthew Green, research professor at Johns Hopkins University, reported that “based on this audit, TrueCrypt appears to be a relatively well-designed piece of crypto software. ![]() However, the TrueCrypt code has now been audited by the independent NCC Group, using crowdsourced funds. Even today, nobody outside TrueCrypt knows what happened. This came just after Edward Snowden’s revelations, so there was a lot of speculation about backdoors, US government pressure, and so on. The unknown developers decided to quit, and changed their home page to say: “WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues.” The page then explained how to switch to Microsoft’s BitLocker. ![]() TrueCrypt was the most popular encryption program for Windows PCs but, as you know, it closed down last year under very odd circumstances.
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