File encryption discussion

Overheal

Back when I was running windows 7 ultimate I decided to dick around with encrypting a folder on my PC. All was well and I didn't think much of it. In fact I forgot about it.

Backing up my PC today to do a full system wipe - the first wipe it's really had in 2 years, and the first in several more years in moving everything off all the partitions and wiping all the platters clean. So I came across this line green folder with files I can't decrypt. Apparently you need to do some control panel acrobatics before you uninstalled windows or upgraded windows to get a backup encryption certificate key you could hang onto across machines. I can see the old certificate in the file properties tied to my PC but do nothing to decrypt them. I thought it was as simple as being asked for a pass phrase but there's no prompt for such.

So let's start the enlightenment: what's the best way to really encrypt and decrypt files in a logical way? Realizing that yes if our computers are robbed we don't want our data to sit naked but if it falls back into our own hands we want ways to decrypt it, sometimes years after the fact and after we've forgotten what those files were!

This is a really important discussion: computers are out of their infancy and personal encryption will be the next step in personal user security. Something that isn't just for enterprise users anymore.

PrzemoF

Check this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy

I want also to point out that computers are out of their infancy and having to do a full system wipe sounds strange to an average linux user. (I'm sorry I just could not resist)

Overheal

8.1 is running alright but after 3 years I've accumulated old garbage programs and file locations that I just want to nuke from orbit

Overheal

This article,

http://www.wired.com/2014/03/quantum-crypto-google/

Basically to beat the snooping, encrypt everything.

While I don't believe agencies don't have backdoors into many levels and variations of encryption, I do have the notion that decryption is not a "free" operation. A CPU that has to add 2 numbers together consumes electrical energy in the process. If you assume an agency like the NSA process and handles an unspecified but large amount of data now, most of which is unencrypted, the additional amount of compute power needed to accurately decrypt that data is considerably more work; it forces the agency to expend a lot more, hopefully unreasonable amount of energy intercepting massive volumes of innocuous data. It also might present a handy legal defense, if the information is encrypted as opposed to not, like secure and unsecure property.

matc66

These are recommended on prism-break.org

https://diskcryptor.net/wiki/Main_Page
http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/
http://www.arg0.net/encfs

truedoom

whole disk encryption is the way to go imo.

never seen the appeal of encrypting individual files.

was a fan of truecrypt...but that's gone now =/

Recondite49

truedoom wrote: »

whole disk encryption is the way to go imo.

never seen the appeal of encrypting individual files.

was a fan of truecrypt...but that's gone now =/

Truedoom is right I'm afraid buddy. Your best bet in my ever humble opinion would be to make the switch to Linux as when you install you have the option to encrypt not only your whole system but the contents of your home folder which will contain your personal data.

I'm a big fan of Linux Mint as it's great for beginners and will play most media out of the box. It has built in tools like gpg and dm-crypt that will let you encrypt individual files or create encrypted containers into which you can put your files if you want.

GarIT

I've been using a password protected 7-zip folder for sensitive pictures for years now, it always worked fine for me.

Recondite49

GarIT wrote: »

I've been using a password protected 7-zip folder for sensitive pictures for years now, it always worked fine for me.

Hi GarIT,

So do you decrypt and re-encrypt the folder each time you need to access it or add something new? How do you make sure that the decrypted folder has been deleted securely?

GarIT

Recondite49 wrote: »

Hi GarIT,

So do you decrypt and re-encrypt the folder each time you need to access it or add something new? How do you make sure that the decrypted folder has been deleted securely?

You don't need to decrypt if you're using 7-zip, you just double click it, it asks for the password and then the folder opens in 7-zip similar to how it would in windows explorer. As you drop and drag files in or out of the window they are encrypted or decrypted as necessary. If you open a file in an encrypted folder 7-zip handles the decryption, opening and deletion of the temp file.

When I take a file from the decrypted folder or decrypt the whole folder I've never even bothered about how the files are deleted just do it normally. I run CCleaner every couple of months and tick the option to write over all free space.