You may wish to encrypt that information to stay it from getting into the incorrect hands.
When you encrypt information, you utilize a special algorithmic program to scramble the bits that structure that file into nonsensical info, which might be restored to its important state only with the right password.
TrueCrypt may be a free, open-source encryption application that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Given the right credentials, TrueCrypt creates a virtual hard drive that reads and writes encrypted files on-the-fly. This hack explains how to encrypt your private files using TrueCrypt on Windows and UNIX operating system.
Set Up the Encrypted Volume Location
Here’s how to set up an encrypted virtual disk with
TrueCrypt:
1. Download TrueCrypt from http://truecrypt.org. Install and launch it.
2. Click the create Volume button to launch a wizard that prepares the encrypted drive location. Choose create an Encrypted File container, click Next, and then select Standard TrueCrypt volume and again click Next.
3. On the volume Location page, click the Select File button, navigate to the location where you want to store your encrypted files, and type a name for it such as C:\Users\adam\Documents\4myeyesonly, as shown in Figure 2-15.
The name (4myeyesonly in this example) isn’t the file you want to encrypt; it’s the container that will store the files you encrypt. Click Next.
Figure 2-15: Create an encrypted volume with TrueCrypt.
4. Choose your encryption algorithm. The curious can flip through the drop-down list and view info on each option, but you can’t go wrong here; the default Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) selection works for most purposes. (Hey, if it works for Top Secret government files,3 it should work for you.) Click Next.
5. Choose the size of the virtual drive — for example, 100MB, as shown in Figure 2-16.
Figure 2-16: Set the size of your encrypted container.
The advantage here is that the file can forever look as if it’s specifically 100MB, giving no hint on the actual size of its contents. Click Next.
6. Choose your volume password. TrueCrypt needs one thing hard to crack, such as 20 characters with letters and numbers mixed together. The whole purpose here is to stay snoopers trapped, so make your password a non-dictionary word that’s difficult to guess. Alternatively, you can use a key-file to lock your volume. warning confine mind that if you forget your password or your key-file gets corrupted or lost, the files on your TrueCrypt volume will be inaccessible — forever.
7. Format the volume. This part is fun: TrueCrypt gathers random info from your system — together with the location of your mouse pointer — to format the file drive location with random data to make it impossible to read. Click the Format button to go ahead with this operation. (Don’t let the word format scare you; you’re not erasing your hard drive, you’re just formatting the drive location file — the 4myeyesonly file in this example — that you just created.)
When the data formatting is complete, your encrypted volume location is ready for use.
Store and Retrieve Files from the Encrypted Volume Your TrueCrypt file will hold your sensitive files locked up as tight as a drum. Here’s how to get to it:
1. From TrueCrypt, select choose File, and navigate to the volume file you only created.
2. choose an available drive letter like X: from the list in TrueCrypt (see Figure 2-17). Figure 2-17:
To mount a TrueCrypt drive, choose the file container ANd an available drive letter.
3. Click the Mount button and enter your volume positive identification. If you enter the proper password, the virtual drive X: are mounted.
4. Go to Computer. Listed alongside all the other drives on your pc may be a new one: local Disk X:. Drag and drop all of your sensitive data to this drive and work from it as you'd any other disk.
5. once you finish working with the data, in TrueCrypt, select the mounted drive (X: in this example) and click the Dismount button. The X: drive will no longer be available; all you have left is the 4myeyesonly file you created, which can be dropped onto a thumb drive, emailed to yourself, burned to CD, or placed on your iPod, totally encrypted.
If somebody managed to open this file, its contents would be meaningless, indecipherable nonsense. Only a user with TrueCrypt installed and also the password or key-file could mount the drive and access the files on that.
TIP Using TrueCrypt you can secure
an entire drive — like a USB thumb drive. To do so, click choose Device rather than choose File, and choose your thumb drive. You can additionally install TrueCrypt to the thumb drive.
When you encrypt information, you utilize a special algorithmic program to scramble the bits that structure that file into nonsensical info, which might be restored to its important state only with the right password.
TrueCrypt may be a free, open-source encryption application that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Given the right credentials, TrueCrypt creates a virtual hard drive that reads and writes encrypted files on-the-fly. This hack explains how to encrypt your private files using TrueCrypt on Windows and UNIX operating system.
Set Up the Encrypted Volume Location
Here’s how to set up an encrypted virtual disk with
TrueCrypt:
1. Download TrueCrypt from http://truecrypt.org. Install and launch it.
2. Click the create Volume button to launch a wizard that prepares the encrypted drive location. Choose create an Encrypted File container, click Next, and then select Standard TrueCrypt volume and again click Next.
3. On the volume Location page, click the Select File button, navigate to the location where you want to store your encrypted files, and type a name for it such as C:\Users\adam\Documents\4myeyesonly, as shown in Figure 2-15.
The name (4myeyesonly in this example) isn’t the file you want to encrypt; it’s the container that will store the files you encrypt. Click Next.
Figure 2-15: Create an encrypted volume with TrueCrypt.
4. Choose your encryption algorithm. The curious can flip through the drop-down list and view info on each option, but you can’t go wrong here; the default Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) selection works for most purposes. (Hey, if it works for Top Secret government files,3 it should work for you.) Click Next.
5. Choose the size of the virtual drive — for example, 100MB, as shown in Figure 2-16.
Figure 2-16: Set the size of your encrypted container.
The advantage here is that the file can forever look as if it’s specifically 100MB, giving no hint on the actual size of its contents. Click Next.
6. Choose your volume password. TrueCrypt needs one thing hard to crack, such as 20 characters with letters and numbers mixed together. The whole purpose here is to stay snoopers trapped, so make your password a non-dictionary word that’s difficult to guess. Alternatively, you can use a key-file to lock your volume. warning confine mind that if you forget your password or your key-file gets corrupted or lost, the files on your TrueCrypt volume will be inaccessible — forever.
7. Format the volume. This part is fun: TrueCrypt gathers random info from your system — together with the location of your mouse pointer — to format the file drive location with random data to make it impossible to read. Click the Format button to go ahead with this operation. (Don’t let the word format scare you; you’re not erasing your hard drive, you’re just formatting the drive location file — the 4myeyesonly file in this example — that you just created.)
When the data formatting is complete, your encrypted volume location is ready for use.
Store and Retrieve Files from the Encrypted Volume Your TrueCrypt file will hold your sensitive files locked up as tight as a drum. Here’s how to get to it:
1. From TrueCrypt, select choose File, and navigate to the volume file you only created.
2. choose an available drive letter like X: from the list in TrueCrypt (see Figure 2-17). Figure 2-17:
3. Click the Mount button and enter your volume positive identification. If you enter the proper password, the virtual drive X: are mounted.
4. Go to Computer. Listed alongside all the other drives on your pc may be a new one: local Disk X:. Drag and drop all of your sensitive data to this drive and work from it as you'd any other disk.
5. once you finish working with the data, in TrueCrypt, select the mounted drive (X: in this example) and click the Dismount button. The X: drive will no longer be available; all you have left is the 4myeyesonly file you created, which can be dropped onto a thumb drive, emailed to yourself, burned to CD, or placed on your iPod, totally encrypted.
If somebody managed to open this file, its contents would be meaningless, indecipherable nonsense. Only a user with TrueCrypt installed and also the password or key-file could mount the drive and access the files on that.
TIP Using TrueCrypt you can secure
an entire drive — like a USB thumb drive. To do so, click choose Device rather than choose File, and choose your thumb drive. You can additionally install TrueCrypt to the thumb drive.