encryption
Communicate
Norbt Sends Top Secret, Encrypted Messages
10:30AM Sarah Rae Trover | Web application Norbt (short for “no robot”) creates web pages with encrypted text; only people who can answer your challenge question can access the text. Got anything secret you want to share? More »
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2:00AM Kevin Purdy | Every kid has a creative stash for secret stuff, and that useful enthusiasm doesn’t have to die off just because we’ve traded treehouses for desks. See how you can hide money, files, workspaces and more in today’s Top 10. More »
Top 10 Tricks For Creatively Hiding Your Stuff
2:00AM Kevin Purdy | Every kid has a creative stash for secret stuff, and that useful enthusiasm doesn’t have to die off just because we’ve traded treehouses for desks. See how you can hide money, files, workspaces and more in today’s Top 10. More »
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Vanish Gives Your Message An Expiration Date
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | (Windows/Mac/Linux): Encrypting a message is an excellent way to protect it from prying eyes. What if you want to protect it against prying eyes and make it disappear? Expiring-message service Vanish can help. More »
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Crypo Encrypts Text On The Go
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | If you’re uncomfortable sending a message from your mobile phone in plain text Crypo offers a mobile solution for encrypting and decrypting messages on the go. More »
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SecureFiles Is A Dead Simple Volume Encryption Application
2:30AM Lifehacker US Edition | Mac OS X only: Disk image encryption software SecureFiles creates AES-128 encrypted volumes for securing sensitive files without a lot of hassle. Installing the application is as simple as any OS X application—just drag it to your Applications folder. Once installed, open the main window to create a new disk image and choose whether to allow Spotlight to index the files (they will only show up if the image is mounted). As noted in the Switching to Mac tutorial, you probably will want to uncheck the box for remembering the password since that would make encryption pointless. Using the encrypted disk images is as simple as double-clicking on the image file to mount it. Security-focused and more tech-savvy individuals will probably want to stick with the previously mentioned cross-platform, open-source TrueCrypt to encrypt their data, but SecureFiles is a great solution for the everyman. SecureFiles is a free download for Mac users only. SecureFiles [via Switching to Mac] More »
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WinPT Portable Encrypts And Unlocks Your USB Drive Data
3:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Windows only: If you’re looking to securely store files on your flash drive and unlock them without any installed software, WinPT is like a TrueCrypt you can take anywhere. TrueCrypt, one of our favourite apps for securing data on any system, requires administrative privileges to run on any system—a source of frustration for many commenters, and a non-starter when it comes to being truly portable. WinPT is a nice step-in solution as a portable, graphical front-end for GnuPGP, an open-source implementation of the Pretty Good Privacy encryption. Portable versions of both WinPT and GnuPGP are available from PortableApps.com, tweaked and ready to play nicely with each other right out of the box. All the standard encryption key tools are available, including a symmetric encryption option that does away with keyrings (but makes choosing strong passwords a must). The application is listed as an in-development beta on PortableApps.com, but in testing the product performs like a polished release. WinPT Portable is freeware, Windows only and requires portable GnuPGP. WinPT Portable [Portable Apps] More »
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Top Ways To Lock Down Your Data
2:00AM Kevin Purdy | This past week proved that you can’t rely on something as simple as a web browser to keep your personal data and identity safe from harm. Critical flaws were found in the Internet Explorer and even Firefox web browsers, leaving users potentially vulnerable to spyware, viruses, and password-sniffing. But don’t throw up your hands in defeat—with the right software tools and a little Advanced Common Sense, you can secure your data so that even if someone did get onto your computer or into your email, they’d find nothing but headaches and woe. Read on for our list of software apps and strategies for locking down your online life. Photo by Anonymous Account. More »
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Espionage Locks Down Secret Folders
3:30AM Lifehacker US Edition | Mac OS X 10.5 only: While every machine running Mac OS X comes with the FileVault encryption tool, Espionage can lock down a single folder, and nor will it add all the processing and disk overhead or delay shutdown like FileVault will. The download is quick and painless, and creators TaoEffect have put together a screencast tutorial to get you started. The Espionage demo is a free download for Mac OS X 10.5 (”Leopard”); the full version costs $US14.95. Espionage [via MacUser] More »
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Create An Encrypted Private Directory In Ubuntu
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Ubuntu 8.10, the release of the popular Linux distribution due out Oct. 30 (and code-named Intrepid Ibex), will give every user an encrypted private directory by default, one that mounts with you at login and protects your data from any command prompt trickery. In the meantime, the Tombuntu blog explains how to set up an encrypted folder in current versions of Ubuntu, using the same eCryptfs tools as 8.10. The tutorial requires a bit of terminal work, but nothing too complicated, and by the end you’ll have simple shortcuts for mounting and unmounting your private drive (with a password, of course). Got a better or easier solution for simple, single-folder encryption in Linux? Tell us in the comments. Create an Encrypted Private Directory with eCryptfs [Tombuntu] More »
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