The process of encrypting individual files on a storage medium and permitting access to the encrypted data only after proper authentication is provided.
21
votes
5answers
1k views
Do spaces in a passphrase really add any more security/entropy?
I often see passphrase suggestions written as a sentence, with spaces. In that format are they more susceptible to a dictionary attack because each word is on it's own as opposed to a large unbroken ...
11
votes
4answers
317 views
Encrypting data by parts vs encrypting the whole data
Suppose I have a file with records, and I have two options to encrypt it:
encrypt the file as a whole
encrypt each record separately and store them together.
Which way is generally preferable and ...
10
votes
5answers
315 views
Security of using passwords or even passphrases to encrypt files
Is it ever appropriate to use real-world passwords to encrypt files to be sent via unsecure means.
By real world, I mean a password that is memorable and memorisable by a mere person?
I am implying ...
10
votes
2answers
469 views
How to encrypt data on the server?
I have some data on the server (running Linux) which needs to be encrypted (company policy). This data is being served by an application running on this machine. Now I consider a few possibilities:
...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
What are you doing when you move your mouse randomly during a truecrypt volume creation?
Is that called a 'round' every time you move your mouse when creating a new volume? I'm talking about the screen with the random numbers during the volume creation process. What is the purpose of ...
9
votes
4answers
4k views
What's the standard way to encrypt a file with a public key in Java?
I'm writing a client app in Java that sends encrypted data back to the server. All clients have my RSA public key. Is there a standard way to encrypt a given file with it to send it back to the ...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
Does password protecting an archived file actually encrypt it?
For example if I use WinRAR to encrypt a file and put a password on the archive how secure is it? I keep a personal journal and am thinking of doing this, or is there a better way? It's just one huge ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
time to crack file-encryption password - more than just iteration
I have often seen that takes x amount of time to crack a certain length password. But this just seems to be the amount of time it takes to iterate through all the possibilities. What about the time it ...
8
votes
5answers
2k views
How can I decrypt data with Java, without hard-coding the key?
I hope this is not a chicken-egg problem or reinventing the wheel but here goes.
I have a Java application that needs to access a password protected file (actually during the application startup).
The ...
8
votes
5answers
5k views
How secure is NTFS encryption?
How secure is the data in a encrypted NTFS folder on Windows (XP, 7)?
(The encryption option under file|folder -> properties -> advanced -> encrypt.)
If the user uses a decent password, can this ...
7
votes
6answers
12k views
How secure is a Windows password protected zip file?
I need to send some sensitive information to a client. I thought I would email a password protected zip file I created using Windows XP and then call them with the password. Presuming I pick a good ...
7
votes
4answers
994 views
when people say a file has a checked md5 hash, what exactly does that mean?
ok I was just reading this site: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/stay-safe-online-5-secrets-every-pc-and-mac-owner-should-know/3542?pg=4&tag=mantle_skin;content
and thought of something I always ...
7
votes
3answers
261 views
Secure cleaning of deleted files
So I know how to secure delete files. But at our company, we have a laptop which had many important documents, which now have been deleted, but not in a secure way.
We can't perform a full format of ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Simple way to encrypt files on Linux and decrypt on Windows?
We are in need of an encryption process for backups of very valuable data. This data will be stored on a distributed filesystem, so even with permissions set right, its not out of reach that this data ...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
Good file encryption tools
Could you please help me find a good file encryption tool? The target OS is Linux, but tools for Windows are welcome, too. FOSS tools are preferred. The tool must be reliable both for the recovery of ...
6
votes
8answers
419 views
How do I secure patient data cheaply in a small doctor's office?
I am a single practitioner with 3 work stations and a server. What is the best cost effective way to secure my data and I suppose encrypt it. The gov't wants us to prevent any unsecure access to ...
6
votes
5answers
2k views
Encrypting files in a windows environment
We have certain client data which must be encrypted at all times. The part we have been struggling with is encrypting files on network shares.
Currently we have network folders encrypted using PGP ...
6
votes
3answers
757 views
How secure are the password files used by Password Safe and Password Gorilla?
Password Safe and Password Gorilla are both programs to manage passwords. Both store a list of user passwords in a file, which is encrypted using a master password. They use the same file format, so ...
5
votes
6answers
367 views
Applying file deltas to an encrypted file
I am developing software that will be used for data backup.
The server will run on Linux. Security in transportation is not an issue (HTTPS or SSH), but the data must be stored encrypted on the ...
5
votes
7answers
961 views
Verify the password of an encrypted file without waiting for complete decryption
I am currently working on an application that encrypts files with AES 256.
The problem is that I want the user to see whether the password is wrong before the file is decrypted.
For example if you ...
5
votes
3answers
457 views
Will editing a Word file from a mounted Truecrypt volume leave any trace behind on the host computer?
I've heard that even if you have a Word document encrpyted (just using the built in Word encryption tools) and are editing it, it can still leave behind remnants of a file on the local computer in ...
5
votes
1answer
145 views
Could a consumer-friendly PGP-like file encryption application theoretically be secure?
In a situation where there are desktop and mobile clients, and a central public key repository to and from which the desktop and mobile clients automatically upload and download public keys as needed, ...
5
votes
1answer
114 views
Should an app remove or encrypt locally stored user data after a user logs out?
I’ve been poking around in the Application Support folder of a popular app, trying to extract some chat logs. (By “popular”, I mean that most people reading this will have heard of it. I’m not sure if ...
5
votes
1answer
851 views
Device versus file based encryption in TrueCrypt for a flash drive?
Are there security tradeoffs to be considered in deciding between encrypting an entire flashdrive with TrueCrypt versus storing a file encrypted container? The security goal is to be immune to the ...
4
votes
1answer
302 views
How to encrypt an entire portable HDD, so that it cannot be read/written without the password for it?
I use a portable USB drive (Seagate FreeAgent Go Flex) to keep all my personal stuff, and though the HDD company does offer a password scheme to control access to it, that would work only on windows, ...
4
votes
2answers
126 views
Microsoft Office 2013 File Encryption
To what extent can the native file encryption provided by Microsoft Office 2013 (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc.) be relied upon to maintain the confidentiality of documents, especially within the ...
4
votes
2answers
369 views
After How Much Data Encryption (AES-256) we should change key?
Considering AES-256 encryption, what is the maximum amount of data should be encrypted with one key? Does Block cipher modes/IV/counters also governs the limit?
If say the maximum amount is 50GB, ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Recover EFS encrypted folder after wiping system partition
We've recently ran into trouble while reinstalling one of client's desktop computer.
Disk was split into two master partitions named C: and D:. We wiped out C: and reinstalled system (Win XP SP2 ...
4
votes
4answers
194 views
How to securely delete a table in MS-Access?
I have a Windows 7 computer which currently has a large working Microsoft Access 2007 database on it containing some tables with confidential data. I would like to securely delete/remove the tables ...
3
votes
3answers
255 views
Encrypting an email server's local drives or filesystems
Planning to deploy a remote hosted mailer (Zimbra based) I need to make sure the local data on the machine is encrypted. Currently, the plan is to use the built in LUKS to encrypt /opt/zimbra and ...
3
votes
2answers
695 views
How to protect from copying files?
Is possible to protect files from being copied if you are the administrator of a machine? I heard that this behaviour is possible: one software developer sells his software in such a way. He installs ...
3
votes
1answer
159 views
Is there a way to store user files without being able to decrypt them?
I'd want to build a secure file storage web application.
Currently ordinary password authentication is used for login. After login this password is used for encryption and decryption of user files at ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
TrueCrypt -vs- MacOS encrypted sparse image - equally secure? Other alternatives?
I'm currently trying to find my personal best solution for storing passwords and other sensible data. Recently I've used 1Password on iPhone and Mac but I'm not really satisfied with its predefined ...
3
votes
3answers
254 views
Can email be encrypted before it reaches the mail server? If not, is there something that would allow something like this that's being worked on?
I was thinking about hosting my own email (own email server) instead of using Gmail. But then I realized I could never host my email on a server where I'm also hosting Wordpress. That is because I ...
3
votes
1answer
726 views
Brute Forcing Password to a Truecrypt-encrypted file with Partial Knowledge
A while back, I encrypted a few files with Truecrypt, and stored the password in my head. Now I need to access it again, the password isn't working. I'm sure most of it is right, but I'm off by one or ...
2
votes
4answers
647 views
Are there any “real world” implementations of secret-sharing encryption schemes?
Imagine something like TrueCrypt where user A can decrypt his files, or any 3 of the 10 directors in his organization can decrypt user A's files. As I understand it this is similar to the way the ...
2
votes
2answers
180 views
7zip AES encrypted archive, padding oracle attack
I created an encrypted but forgot the password. When I attempted a pattern based brute force it said it had over a 100 trillion passwords to check. And to my knowledge that could take a few years. ...
2
votes
3answers
375 views
Apple FileVault — would Apple build a backdoor?
Could Apple build a backdoor into it's FileVault encryption technology? Is that a risk you take of using a closed-source encryption product in general? Would using something like TrueCrypt be more ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Excel 2007 Encryption Strength
With a strong password of 10+ characters, mixed case, etc... Is the encryption of a Excel 2007 document secure enough to create reasonably strong defense against a brute force attack?
What encryption ...
2
votes
1answer
137 views
smart AND secure cloud document archive
I am thinking of creating a cloud-based document archive. The intention is to make it impossible for the system to read the users' files, and be more than just a storage provider.
Looking at this ...
2
votes
2answers
445 views
How to use 'key material' so that multiple people can access protected files?
I'm not sure if this is the right SE to ask this question, but it seems more I have a database of files that needs to be encrypted such that multiple people with different passwords/logins to this ...
2
votes
1answer
219 views
How to make a secure key distribution scheme/protocol?
We are building a data processing platform on Amazon AWS. We are going to store sensitive data in the S3 (encrypted) and then the Amazon EC2 node is going to be utilized to process this data. We are ...
2
votes
2answers
729 views
How get data from password protected rar file?
I want retrieve documents from a password protected rar file? I know brute force and dictionary method. Is there any other method to get data?
2
votes
2answers
264 views
WinZip encrypted file vs password protected file
How are password protected files and WinZip encrypted files different ?
For example - if i have a excel file to be sent.
Option 1 - I can send it as a password protected file.
Option 2 - Encrypt it ...
2
votes
1answer
126 views
TrueCrypt External Multimedia Hard Drive
Hi Guys i am in a bit of a Bind and cant find the Answer on the WWW so her is my question
I have a external Multi Media Hard Drive (1.36tb) so i made 4 partition a 350 gb
Then i shredded the free ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
What algorithm/encryption type does Gmail use for security?
In the wake of the recent database hacks, i.e. Sony, Gawker, etc.. where the hackers have access to the hashed usernames and passwords, i've been more keen in paying attention to the sites and ...
1
vote
2answers
194 views
Password Protected Zip: if attacker had one file, can use it to decrypt all files?
Consider a folder containing the following files:
(file1.txt, file2.doc, file3.pdf) all zipped and password protected, if attacker had one of these file, can use it for decrypting all without knowing ...
1
vote
2answers
263 views
How secure is using this (p3 Python) module to encrypt a file?
I've recently been looking for a good (enough) method to encrypt files, and I came across this thing. It says that it's a
Simple p3 encryption "algorithm": it's just SHA used as a stream
cipher ...
1
vote
2answers
173 views
Single File Encryption in a Windows Environment
Would it be correct to assume that encrypting a single file in a Windows environment, for example a simple text file containing login credentials for a variety of accounts, is inherently insecure?
It ...
1
vote
2answers
133 views
Seeking lightweight encryption - shareable between Delphi & C
I want to encrypt a text file in Delphi & decrypt it, line by line, in C on an embedded system which does not have much RAM (so, only one line in RAM at a time).
FOSS must be available for both ...
