Protect Your Hard Drive From Data Snoops

Protect Your Hard Drive From Data Snoops
original article taken from WIRED.com



Ask most people about computer data encryption and you're likely to hear something about James Bond or the CIA, but protecting data isn't just something for superspies.

With data breaches, identity thefts or stolen laptops filled with personal data becoming increasingly common scenarios, applying some sort of encryption to your own hard drive is a must. In fact, so many simple data encryption tools are available today, there's no reason to not to take the proper steps to safeguard the PCs in your home.

TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is a free, open-source disk encryption program that will work with Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. TrueCrypt offers the ability to encrypt your whole hard drive, select volumes or encrypt disk images.

The software is simple to install and there's no need tweak the default settings, though there are two gotchas to watch out for.

TrueCrypt will offer to remember passwords when mounting an encrypted volume, and it will also let you auto start the program when you boot. While both of those things are convenient, they also defeat the purpose -- if TrueCrypt automatically remembers the password for you, it will remember it for a thief too. If you're serious about protecting your data, make sure both of these options are turned off.

For those worried about performance, TrueCrypt is surprisingly light on your processor. Despite the fact that TrueCrypt encrypts and decrypts data on the fly, opening files is very nearly as fast as a system without any encryption.


Windows Vista BitLocker

The Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista include a new tool known as BitLocker. With BitLocker, you can encrypt your whole disk or just a single partition.

Unfortunately, BitLocker is tied to Microsoft's controversial Trusted Platform Module which includes some other things you may not want -- like DRM. BitLocker also doesn't work with other editions of Microsoft Vista. Either Enterprise or Ultimate are required.


OS X File Vault

Apple's Mac OS X operating system also ships with an encryption tool by the name of FileVault. FileVault's chief disadvantage is that it won't encrypt your entire drive. Instead FileVault locks down only your user folder. Mac OS X uses a Unix folder structure, which dedicates a single folder to each user on the computer. So even though your user folder will be locked, hackers can still boot up your hard drive and see everything else on it.

For casual users that may be enough, but if you're looking for more robust security, FileVault will leave you wanting.


Link to original article -
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Protect_...om_Data_Snoops

[binary_jester]

I am a huge fan of TrueCrypt. I keep one file encrypted on my hard drive and one on my flash drive. And for the truly paranoid, you can create a container inside a container for true protection.