U have two open source options. TrueCrypt and FreeOTFE. FreeOTFE (http://www.freeotfe.org) is also available for Windows Mobile PDAs as of now.
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Encryption: open-source more secure than closed-source?
I remember reading somewhere that backdoors are left in some commercial encryption software so that the government can easily access encrypted files, saving them man hours and computers cracking the encrypted file to recover the plain text.
Is this true?
Should I use an open-source software TrueCrypt (which my friend advised me to use) over the closed-source MyWinLocker that came with my recently bought Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810TZ-4274 NoteBook?
And how does MyWinLocker compare to TrueCrypt in terms of features?
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by: richrumblePosted on 2009-10-10 at 20:36:18ID: 25544783
It is and it isn't. While someone could still be clever and maybe not put a backdoor in, but weaken the ciphers or as in EFS's case, use solid, gov't approved (fips140-2 certified) crypto apis, but still leave plain-text traces behind, make it easy to reset the users password to gain access, don't keep the encryption keys safe. One could make a backdoor in a closed source product easier than an FOSS one and it's been done to one degree or another: http://securology.blogspot
These are very interesting each year... so opensource increases the odds of it being found and reported... but you still need someone to catch AND report it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
(more specifically http://underhanded.xcott.c
I believe TC has many features over MWL, full disk encryption, meaning the OS itself, not just an extra drive or partition, the ability the have a "dummy" OS, so if you were forced by gun/knife point to type in or reveal your password, you could give a fake one that unlocks the second hidden OS on the system instead of the target one, but if that does happen make sure you login to the fake one enough to make it believable :)
Further, TC has keyfiles, a more secure way of managing passwords or adding a second form of authentication as well, you browse to a file on the HD, a CD, an image on the internet... and that is the key or one of the keys to unlock your TC container, so no keylogger, because all you did was browse to a spot on the HD and select a file. You can use a password in addition to that. TrueCrypt can do self-decrypting containers, but it requires admin rights, but I don't believe Mac's or Linux typically allow "autorun" on cd's and usb's so it's probably only going to work on windows.
I love TC, I could use it at work if someone would pay the $$$ to have TC FIPS 140 certified one day. But that cert from the gov't aint free so...
0rich