Slashdot Mirror
Bitlocker No Real Threat To Decryption?
An anonymous reader writes "The Register is running a story called 'Vista encryption 'no threat' to computer forensics'. The article explains that despite some initial concerns that lawbreakers would benefit from built-in strong encryption, it's unlikely the Bitlocker technology will slow down most digital forensic analysts. What kind of measures does one need to take to make sure no one but yourself has access to your data? Is Bitlocker just good enough (keeping out your siblings) or does it miss the whole purpose of the encryption entirely?" One would hope an international criminal mastermind could do better than the encryption built into Vista.
Seconded. There's a sort of chain mail floating around on piracy sites regarding truecrypt, the covers some of what has already been mentioned here. I wonder if someones up to a viral marketing campaign or something.
FWIW here it is:
Peace for the paranoid.
If you have files on your computer that are very personal, embarrassing or plain illegal, you probably want to use encryption. There are a number of solutions out there, both free and commercial. My recommendation goes to truecrypt ( http://www.truecrypt.org/ ) which is free, open-source and very easy to use.
Truecrypt can create a file on your computer that has to be "mounted" to a drive letter (like F:) before it can be read. It then shows up under 'my computer' much like a CD player or something, ready for use.
The file itself can be named anything and placed anywhere on your hard drive, or a CD, USB key etc. And if you analyze it without having the pass-phrase it will look like a random sting of numbers.
The default algorithm for truecrypt is AES, which the US department of defense deems strong enough even for 'top secret' documents.
How to use truecrypt is well enough described on the website. Go to http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/ and click 'Beginner's Tutorial'.
I'd like to add some notes though:
Pick a strong password. You have up to 64 characters so use a whole sentence. A quote from a movie or a line of a song works well. If you want something shorter go for something purely random.
You can strengthen it further by using keyfiles. Any file that never changes can work as a key file. Now you adversary not only have to crack your password, but also has to know which files on your HD to give as key files.
It's overkill for most situations, but if you keep some home made MP3-files on a USB drive and use these for keys you have the dual protection of something you must have (USB key) plus something you must know (pass phrase).
If you live in a country where use of encryption is in itself illegal, or considered suspect do the following:
* Use the hidden volume feature of truecrypt. This creates two volumes baked into one, with different passwords. If you are forced to reveal the password you can give out the one to the wrong volume.
(Where you have conveniently stored some embarrassing but perfectly legal Pr0n. What if you were to die suddenly and your mom got your computer! Plausible deniability).
Another similar option, is to simply create another encrypted volume with some non-critical stuff in it. This gives you an easy out if someone asks why you are using an encryption program.
* Hide the volume file itself. Give it a name and location that is similar to a TMP or system file like 'WINDOWS/Temp/~GH7876.tmp'. Given that the file itself doesn't advertise what it is finding it becomes very very hard. Many applications dump random stuff in tmp dirs. Another nice place is hidden folders beginning with $ in the WINDOWS dir. These are uninstallers for windows update, but they are almost never used. Be creative.
I think this is better than keeping it on a separate medium like as CD (why did you burn a block of random numbers to CD, huh?). especially if you need to work on the files.
* You can use TrueCrypt in 'traveler mode' which means you don't have to install the program itself. You can keep it on a CD or something. I find this awkward though.
Most of the above is overkill to me though. How far to take it is a trade-off between convenience and paranoia. But it's not illegal to use encryption in most of the world so there is no particular reason to obfuscate it. Better to be prepare with a good answer if someone asks. Either way, unless you have NSA on your ass, your adversaries will never get into your files without your pass-phrase.
Help out by copying this text and spreading it around. Help people protect their privacy.