Recommendations for free encryption software

Hoseman

Hi, does anyone know of any free encryption software that I can use for some documents? It's for a bunch of documents in different formats so Im going to store it in the cloud and the idea is to encrypt it to add an additional layer of security.

Knarf44

Google AxCrypt and AesCrypt both are quite well rated. If you choose to install don't forget to opt out of the additional items that come packaged with them.

Deneb

7z is another suggestion. It can create encrypted, password protected and compressed zip archives in various formats.

closed

truecrypt..

paddyrg

Who are you trying to protect the documents from? If just the casual observer, 7-zip with a password is plenty good enough. Truecrypt is a bit fiddlier, but a pretty solid option in theory.

If you're trying to hide from GCHQ/NSA, you need to work harder. Truecrypt is wonderful BUT the binaries whilst free are not independently validated. It may even be NSA-sponsored to build in a backdoor.

Security is relative - most of the time you just need to make sure you're not the lowest hanging fruit on the tree, so 'good enough' encryption is good enough.

martinthebandit

If your documents are that secret what on earth are you doing storing them on anything connected to the internet yet alone planning to put them in the cloud?

Sooler

martinthebandit wrote: »

If your documents are that secret what on earth are you doing storing them on anything connected to the internet yet alone planning to put them in the cloud?

OP hasn't said they are secret.

esuhl

Sooler wrote: »

OP hasn't said they are secret.

Not in so many words, but why on earth would you want to encrypt something that wasn't a secret?!

Hoseman wrote: »

...the idea is to encrypt it to add an additional layer of security.

Anyway, I'd go for TrueCrypt. But this cloud could cache multiple versions of the encrypted file... If you're using the same password and encryption method each time, the multiple copies could be analysed and compared to crack your encryption far faster than if the malicious entity had only a single encrypted file to work with...

I'd avoid using cloud services for anything sensitive.

Hoseman

Hi guys and thanks for ideas and questions.

Basically it was for a client that has some work related information. She basically has a duty to ensure her client info is kept secure. All I needed to do was to make some suggestions and I just needed to know what was out there that isnt easy for someone to access as paddyrg has indicated i.e. not low hanging fruit.

forgotmyname

make sure the password is long and odd characters as well as letters.

Dont use words in a dictionary. I have a huge dictionary file for zip and rar files etc.

esuhl

forgotmyname wrote: »

Dont use words in a dictionary.

That included words "obfuscated" with numbers. Cracking software has become wise to the fact that people might replace letter Os with zeroes, and Is and Ls with ones, etc.