Encrypting data the easy way
Never again worry about the wrong people getting their hands on your sensitive data. In this post I’ll tell you about a great tool for encrypting data & files - and it’s free!
What a busy week! What with the usual IT stuff and now podcasting work (more of that later). A recent job got me thinking just how lucky we are to have Open Source software - and specifically a little masterpiece for encrypting data called Truecrypt.
One of my clients called me the other week - he wanted to be able to store special files on his computer such that nobody else could have access to them - he wanted them to be stored encrypted.
Well, with Truecrypt I was able to create a funny little file on his PC, and, subject to the provision of a password known only to him, present it as a local drive that behaves just like any normal local drive. You can create, edit and delete files in it etc. But the really cool thing is, Trucrypt is encrypting all the data on the fly - you wouldn’t even know it was doing it! The bottom line is - all the data stored in that local drive (and hence in that funny little file on his PC) is stored encrypted - so when he dismounts the drive, that funny little file is just full of random noise. No good to anyone.
How cool is that? Well, it gets even cooler. With Truecrypt you can also encrypt USB drives and even CDs and DVDs. And to top it all - it’s free. I need to go and sit down now before I overheat.
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