FREE: Encryption Tools to Protect Your Data

Bob: I am in a quandary as to the actual safety of the data that one encrypts. If a person developed the encryption system, another person could develop a decryption system to crack the first. I recall hearing or reading something from a data security expert who posited that if someone or some agency wants my data badly enough, that someone or agency will be able to get it, regardless of the encryption. Now I know why we still need the US Mail. It's very slow by today's standard, but fortunately, most of our old-style correspondence does not get opened and perused. However, since that was SOP for the Soviet Union, it would not surprise me that our government would do the same thing. I'm beginning to think that the only way to keep anything secure is to buy a vault and store it in there. :) Thanks, again, for the wonderful service you provide your perusing public!

I am not a big fan of password programs because to create a new list, you have to enter them one at a time. With hundreds, this can take hours.

I much prefer all my pw's in one simple text file, and then encrypt that file with a tough pw.

Encryptfree works perfectly for that. But there are tricks. Click the box to decrypt into word chunks and the into tweetable chunks. Otherwise, the encryption is one single line with no word wrap that goes on forever. One gigantic single line that is difficult to swipe and copy.

Then sent to myself, and no matter where I am, or on any computer, I can access my hotmail and all my pw;s.

Hi Bob and thanks for the timely article. I am looking for a way to encrypt a single file on a PC which can then be placed into Evernote (as an attachment) and shared with all of my computing devices while also being stored on a cloud server. Do you know of something reliable that will do that other tan TrueCrypt?

Hi Bob, As far as keeping ones traffic secret from the government, I dont think that'l happen. When I was in the AF working for the NSA our operators would go after our own countries best encryption for practise and usually break it in a matter of a few hours. Really pissed off the Crypto Kids that were trained at Kelly. I don't think anything -we- can get hold of now is REALLY that secure.

Encrypted files, folders are a P.I.T.A. when moved to a new computer and you don't remember how, with what password they were encrypted.

Suppose I encrypt some stuff using, for example, TrueCrypt. Suppose it's 20 years later and I want to decrypt it, but TrueCrypt is defunct. Can I use some other software to decrypt?

Hi Mr. Rankin!

You always have a Treasure-Trove of fine information to dispense to your audience. You need to have your own TV show or at least one on YouTube (though your name has already been taken)!

I really LOVE TrueCrypt; have been using it for years and feel really confident in using it!
However, I have my suspicions about SafeHouse Explorer as I wrote to its founder (some years ago) and asked if there was a backdoor. He replied with a terse, "no" or something to that effect without elaborating (which put me off).

In addition, it has been rumored that Hushmail is actually a tool of a certain government-run agency which shall be nameless (at this time).

Just some thoughts . . . for now.

TR

I asked a question yesterday (further up the line) and just came up with a perfect answer and I want to share it with others here who are also looking. The solution is SSE (Secret Space Encryptor) by Paranoia Works . It is cross-platform (Android, PC, Linux, MAC OS), and it handles all of the following: Message encryption; File encryption; Folder encryption, (including nested folder encryption); Password Vault; Password Generator; Clipboard Cleaner.
Everything is encrypted using strong encryption algorithm: AES (Rijndael) 256bit, RC6 256bit, Serpent 256bit, Blowfish 256bit/448bit, Twofish 256bit, GOST 256bit
The Android version is available through Google Play and the other downloads are available through the aforementioned website.
And best of all it is free, although I have voluntarily paid for it through a PayPal contribution.

Is that PGP (or GPG)?

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you wanna get all geeky about it, GnuPG (GPG) is the GNU project's implementation of the OpenPGP standard. :-)

With revelations now out that Microsoft has been providing the NSA with un-encrypted copies of everyone's emails from both Hotmail & Outlook there is no way people should be using or relying on ANY encryption tools provided by Microsoft or for that matter, the other email providers either. Encrypt your text and files on your local PC before you even copy it to a browser for sending via email.

Bob, you should remove the section titled "Encrypting Your Email" and replace it with encryption at the user's PC prior to doing anything online.

Kinda late, but I have to go along with Tristram - what happens if I use a encryption program and it goes belly up before I have a chance to decrypt my data? How would that be taken care of?
Thanks!

hi there Bob, boxencryter....is a good one for the cloud