Tech Blog

[#1]

Earlier this month, the University of Alberta Hospital reported two laptops stolen. Along with the hardware, the thieves also made off with names and personal health numbers of about 250,000 Alberta patients.

Yes, this is a disturbing news report, but what can be learned from it? I consider myself a fairly tech-savvy dude, but when my wife read this article, then asked me "So, if either of our computers are stolen, can anyone get at our personal info?" I'm chagrined to have to say I answered "Yes." And you can bet I promptly started researching and implementing an effective solution.

It's Free, but...
I discovered that data security is not cheap -- time-wise. You'll likely have to invest a bit of time reading up to better protect your data. Though the software has gotten better, it's not something I'd give to my Mom to set up. You do need to have a bit of an understanding as to what's going on.

How it works
My research led me to look for an application that would encrypt the data as it's written to the hard drive. This makes the drive unreadable to anyone without the proper password (or password / keyfile combination -- supersecure!). Back in the day of slower computers (Pentium anyone?) on-the-fly encryption was not practical. It is now. And, I found some software that's free. But, as I said, free doesn't mean it's cheap.

So, what did I choose?

If you weren't able to figure it out by the links or image above, I selected TrueCrypt, for the following reasons:
Secure: AES-256, Serpent, Twofish, and other encryption protocols...and it'll cascade them (apply one after the other).
Simple: Somewhat. You need a good understanding of your Windows / Mac / Linux file system and how the operating system treats hard drives, folders and files.
Power-up Protection: Before you can actually boot into your operating system (or systems on a multi-boot computer), you'll need to enter a password to enable decryption.

Those two sold me, but here's a more complete list of TwoCrypt features:

• Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
  
• Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.
  
• Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).
  
• Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
  
• Parallelization and pipelining allow data to be read and written as fast as if the drive was not encrypted.
  
• Provides plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:
  Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system.
  
• Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: XTS.

It all sounds a bit James Bond-like, and it actually is. You are protecting your personal data with Government grade encryption. This technology is classified as a munition or weapon and export to certain countries is prohibited.

As with anything you use to protect your information, be it a password utility, backup application or system encryption process such as TrueCrypt, the more you learn, the better you'll understand how to use the tools to make your data safer.

Ok, I'm feeling much better now that my drives are encrypted...how 'bout you? What are you doing to keep your data safe?

Message Edited by bgrier on 06-29-2009 10:15 PM

Message Edited by Laura on 07-13-2009 03:05 PM

Message Edited by Laura on 08-21-2009 04:58 PM

Message Edited by ElizabethS on 09-10-2009 07:16 PM

[#2]

Plausible deniability? You mean like this cartoon? http://xkcd.com/538/

I keep thinking about encryption, and OS X has FileVault built in, but I just never feel that the overhead is worth it.

I'm also reading the geek-lit classic Cryptonomicon (again) and wondering about email encryption. That's the tougher nut to crack, IMHO, because for it to work both people have to have it running and often that just isn't practical. 

[#3]

@tris, exactly. Brute force wins every time

Re: Overhead...I've not noticed it on my systems. I've played games, streamed video, listened to high bitrate music, and just not had any problems. Of course, now that I've said that...

Ah, email encryption. Great idea, but as you point out, both parties have to use it or it breaks down. I tried using digital signatures a while back, but the same problem...gotta be a better way.

[#4]

Yeah Brad now you're toast. . It's tempting (I was tempted to do it last night) to turn on FileVault, but I think I'll wait. If nothing else until I do another backup.

[#5]

Good point Tris. Backups are essential. I missed mentioning it, but you should never do any signifigant system work without a recent backup.

[#6]

Your point about the time it takes to properly configure TrueCrypt are spot on. I spent some time working with it and decided it was overkill for what I need -  I can't be bothered with the "James Bond" stuff.  I really just have a few files in a couple of folders that I care about, plus my school work I carry on a flash drive. So, I looked at encryption software that locks files rather than the entire drive. The one I found that works best for me and is really easy to use is called SensiGuard. It's totally worth the 29 bucks - I use it ever day.

[#7]

@HillGirl86: You mention a very good point; Data security should be appropriate for your application. If you've considered the risks and consequences (should your data fall into the 'wrong hands'), then it's fairly simple to determine the right level of security.

Ease of use is also important...if securing your data becomes a huge, lengthly process, then odds are you won't do it.