Truecrypt....complicated?

superscaper

amcluesent wrote: »

Just remember that refusal to hand over the decryption key to the coppers means two years of porridge.

That's part 3 of the RIP act of which only the first two parts have been brought into force (from memory which isn't that reliable ). It is one of the few cases of guilty until proven innocent. But Truecrypt has already thought of that. It has a two layer plausible deniability. You can put a hidden volume within the volume. So put less important stuff in the volume and then the stuff you REALLY want encrypted in the nested second volume. Give the police the first key and then you have complete deniability of a second volume within the first existing as you can't find it unless you already have the key for it. It looks forensically like unwritten space.

John_Gray

If the PC Plod who turns up on your doorstep knows what the word cryptography means, he may well know already what your post has said, and ask for the other key...

superscaper

John_Gray wrote: »

If the PC Plod who turns up on your doorstep knows what the word cryptography means, he may well know already what your post has said, and ask for the other key...

He could ask but that's plausible deniability, I can say I never put in a second volume and there's no way to prove otherwise. In fact it's actually true that my current volume I'm playing with doesn't have one. So unless part 3 of RIPA comes in, I've got nothing to worry about. But if it does it shows one of the flaws, if I genuinely don't have second key then I could be jailed simply because the police don't believe me and I can't prove my innocence by definition that I have to prove the non existence of something.

unrich

Also whatever your trying that hard to hide will probably be recovered from cached files or system files on your hard disk. I remember something somewhere about files being written(and left) on the disk unencrypted in virtual/swapped memory. Perhaps you'd be better off with a waterproof usb key and a live linux CD.

superscaper

unrich wrote: »

Also whatever your trying that hard to hide will probably be recovered from cached files or system files on your hard disk. I remember something somewhere about files being written(and left) on the disk unencrypted in virtual/swapped memory. Perhaps you'd be better off with a waterproof usb key and a live linux CD.

I think that's why truecrypt works by encrypting on the fly so there is no cached version. Remember it's open source and has attracted some of the best cryptographers to works on it and I'm pretty sure they've thought of everything. You can also use it on usb keys as well.

kdanks

I've used Truecrypt for around a year and I love it. A couple of things that I keep inside an encrypted volume on a USB key:

1. Keepass (http://keepass.info/). Neat little open source password storage application, has its own encryption so putting it in a Truecrypt volume isn't absolutely necessary and may prove that I really am paranoid. Keeps everything tidy, and hides passwords with **** but still allows me to copy and paste them

2. Portable apps (http://portableapps.com/). Firefox, Thunderbird email client, all of Open Office, instant messaging client and a load of other useful stuff. Use it on any PC and it leaves no trace of what you have been doing, and it comes with a nice little launcher app which sits in your system tray and keeps it all tidy. Allows me to carry 90% of the applications I use on a USB key. Has its own backup utility. Oh, and it is also free.

unrich

superscaper wrote: »

I think that's why truecrypt works by encrypting on the fly so there is no cached version. Remember it's open source and has attracted some of the best cryptographers to works on it and I'm pretty sure they've thought of everything. You can also use it on usb keys as well.

You're just guessing. Being opensource does not mean that it will do your housekeeping. It will not alter the way windows manages virtual memory (pagefile.sys), nor temporary wp files nor internet cache files?

Stompa

kdanks wrote: »

I've used Truecrypt for around a year and I love it. A couple of things that I keep inside an encrypted volume on a USB key:

1. Keepass (http://keepass.info/). Neat little open source password storage application, has its own encryption so putting it in a Truecrypt volume isn't absolutely necessary and may prove that I really am paranoid. Keeps everything tidy, and hides passwords with **** but still allows me to copy and paste them

2. Portable apps (http://portableapps.com/). Firefox, Thunderbird email client, all of Open Office, instant messaging client and a load of other useful stuff. Use it on any PC and it leaves no trace of what you have been doing, and it comes with a nice little launcher app which sits in your system tray and keeps it all tidy. Allows me to carry 90% of the applications I use on a USB key. Has its own backup utility. Oh, and it is also free.

Yes I use those too, but I'm not sure I see why you'd particularly want to put the apps inside a TrueCrypt volume?

superscaper

unrich wrote: »

You're just guessing. Being opensource does not mean that it will do your housekeeping. It will not alter the way windows manages virtual memory (pagefile.sys), nor temporary wp files nor internet cache files?

Not guessing just trying to remember what was said by a technical rundown of truecrypt in a podcast a while ago.

kdanks

Stompa wrote: »

Yes I use those too, but I'm not sure I see why you'd particularly want to put the apps inside a TrueCrypt volume?

With Portable Apps it's so that I can use the Documents folder and Thunderbird without worrying about losing my USB key.