Keeping your personal data safe doesnt have to be difficult, as long as you keep sensitive information encrypted and under your control. Thats why this week were looking at the five best file encryption tools you can use to encrypt your data locally.

Title photo by andrey_l (Shutterstock)

For the purposes of this roundup, were focusing on desktop file encryption tools the ones you use on your own computer to encrypt your own private data. Were not examining cloud services that promise to encrypt your data, or business services that say they offer encryption. The goal here is to find the best tools you can use to lock down your sensitive files whether theyre photos, financial documents, personal backups, or anything else and keep them locked down so only you have the key. For those unfamiliar with the topic, we have a great guide on how encryption works, and how you can use it to keep your own data safe.

With that out of the way, here are your top five, in no particular order:

VeraCrypt is a fork of and a successor to TrueCrypt, which ceased development last year (more on it later.) The development team claims they have addressed some of the issues that were raised during TrueCrypts initial security audit, while largely maintaining its familiar interface. Like the original, its free, with versions available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

VeraCrypt supports AES (the most commonly used choice), TwoFish and Serpent encryption ciphers, and allows the creation of hidden, encrypted volumes within other volumes. Its code is available to review, although its not strictly open source (because so much of its codebase came from TrueCrypt.) The tool is also under constant development, with regular security updates and an independent audit in the planning stages (according to the developers.)

AxCrypt is a free, open source, GNU GPL-licensed encryption tool for Windows that prides itself on being simple, efficient and easy to use. It integrates nicely with the Windows shell, so you can right-click a file to encrypt it, or configure timed, executable encryptions, so the file is locked down for a specific period of time and will self-decrypt later, or when its intended recipient gets it. Files with AxCrypt can be decrypted on demand or kept decrypted while theyre in use, and then automatically re-encrypted when theyre modified or closed.

Its fast, too, and allows you to select an entire folder or just a large group of files and encrypt them all with a single click. Its entirely a file encryption tool however, meaning creating encrypted volumes or drives is beyond its capabilities. It supports 128-bit AES encryption only, offers protection against brute force cracking attempts, and is exceptionally lightweight (less than 1MB.) It also has a lot of command line options, so you can fire up the command prompt in Windows and perform more complex action sequences.

BitLocker is a full-disk encryption tool built into Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Ultimate and Enterprise), and into Windows 8 (Pro and Enterprise), as well as Windows Server (2008 and later). It supports AES (128 and 256-bit) encryption, and while its primarily used for whole-disk encryption, it also enables encrypting other volumes or a virtual drive that can be opened and accessed like any other drive on your computer.

It supports multiple authentication mechanisms, including traditional password and PINs, a USB key, and the more controversial Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology, which uses hardware to integrate keys into devices. BitLockers integration with Windows makes it accessible to many people, and a viable disk encryption tool for individuals looking to protect their data. One concern? Since the code is locked into Windows, you cant review it, and its sometimes asserted that government agencies have backdoor access to decrypt data (though Microsoft denies this).

Go here to read the rest:
Five Best File Encryption Tools

As news of Anthems massive hack from last week settled in, health IT and security experts further weighed in on the charged discussions surrounding healthcare cyber security and whether Anthem was adequately prepared for the attack.

It was quickly noted in security circles that the insurer had failed to encrypt its data on some 80 million customers and employees who had their names, Social Security numbers, addresses and other information stolen.

On the surface, that might be cause to criticize Anthem, but several prominent voices came to its defense. Fred Trotter, a noted health IT journalist, had this take today:

Anthem was right, and the Internet is wrong. Or at least, Anthem should be presumed innocent on the issue. More importantly, by creating buzz around this issue, reporters are missing the real story: that multinational hacking forces are targeting large healthcare institutions.

Anthem itself put out several statements from experts who weighed in with similar thoughts.

I have no doubt that Anthem has a fairly sophisticated security organization. This basically proves that it doesnt matter how big you are or how much money you spend, and how diligent you are at protecting your data, you can still have an incident, Mac McMillan, a healthcare security expert and founder of CynergisTek, told Modern Healthcare. Everybody could have a breach.

Trotter goes on to say encryption is not always helpful, and the initial focus by reporters on that element misses a larger point.

They presume that encrypted records are always more secure than encrypted records, which is simplistic and untrue.Encryption is a mechanism that ensures that data is useless without a key, much in the same way that your car is made useless without a car key. Given this analogy, what has apparently happened to Anthem is the security equivalent to a car-jacking.

Other experts pointed out that the use of Social Security numbers is an antiquated and insecure in a digital age. Whether the healthcare and insurance industries act on that notion, and perhaps develop a new type of ID mechanism for health records, remains to be seen, but its certainly an intriguing idea.

But, as Trotter note, theres the matter of accessibility under HIPAA, and Robert Neivert, COO of consumer privacy company Private Me, similarly noted that convenience and security have yet to reach an ideal balance when it comes to healthcare data.

View original post here:
Encryption might have not stopped Anthem hack

Setup Console,Enable, Telnet login and Encryption on Cisco Packet Tracer 6
Setup Console,Enable and Telnet on Cisco Packet Tracer 6.

By: Edgar Santiago

See the original post here:
Setup Console,Enable, Telnet login and Encryption on Cisco Packet Tracer 6 - Video

Encryption Key Distribution Utilizing Steganography
Three methods to distribute encryption key utilizing Techniques of Steganography.

By: Magdy Saeb

Follow this link:
Encryption Key Distribution Utilizing Steganography - Video

The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. This week, a data breach at Anthem compromised the data of 80 million people, prompting calls for cybersecurity standards for health care companies. Photo by Gus Ruelas/Reuters

WASHINGTON Insurers arent required to encrypt consumers data under a 1990s federal law that remains the foundation for health care privacy in the Internet age an omission that seems striking in light of the major cyberattack against Anthem.

Encryption uses mathematical formulas to scramble data, converting sensitive details coveted by intruders into gibberish. Anthem, the second-largest U.S. health insurer, has said the data stolen from a company database that stored information on 80 million people was not encrypted.

The main federal health privacy law the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA encourages encryption, but doesnt require it.

The lack of a clear encryption standard undermines public confidence, some experts say, even as the government plows ahead to spread the use of computerized medical records and promote electronic information sharing among hospitals, doctors and insurers.

We need a whole new look at HIPAA, said David Kibbe, CEO of DirectTrust, a nonprofit working to create a national framework for secure electronic exchange of personal health information.

Any identifying information relevant to a patient should be encrypted, said Kibbe. It should make no difference, he says, whether that information is being transmitted on the Internet or sitting in a company database, as was the case with Anthem.

Late Friday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee said its planning to examine encryption requirements as part of a bipartisan review of health information security. We will consider whether there are ways to strengthen current protections, said Jim Jeffries, spokesman for chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

The agency charged with enforcing the privacy rules is a small unit of the federal Health and Human Services Department, called the Office for Civil Rights.

The office said in a statement Friday that it has yet to receive formal notification of the hack from Anthem, but nonetheless is treating the case as a privacy law matter. Although Anthem alerted mainline law enforcement agencies, the law allows 60 days for notifying HHS.

Go here to read the rest:
Lack of encryption standards raises health data privacy questions

Proofs in Cryptography: Lecture 13 ROM Proof Example - CPA secure RSA Encryption
Proofs in Cryptography Lecture 13 ROM Proof Example - CPA secure RSA Encryption ALPTEKN KP Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Ko Un...

By: Kolt KU

Originally posted here:
Proofs in Cryptography: Lecture 13 ROM Proof Example - CPA secure RSA Encryption - Video

(PRWEB) February 06, 2015

The new market research report Encryption Software Market - Global Forecast and Analysis 2019 defines and segments the global market into various sub segments with in-depth analysis and forecasting of revenues. It also identifies drivers and restraints for this market with insights on trends, opportunities and challenges.

Browse market data tables and 57 figures spread through 72 pages and in-depth TOC on Encryption Software Market Global Forecast and Analysis 2014 - 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/encryption-software-market-227254588.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Speak to Analyst @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=227254588

The propagation of mobile devices across the world complemented with the ease in access to business content has comprehensively enhanced the employee efficiency. This has extensively led to the consumption and generation of vast amount of data that is transferred across these mobile devices such as smart phones, DVDs, USBs and vice versa. However, this has made this data susceptible to cyber-attacks, commercial espionage, threats and loss. Thus, to defend their sensitive and critical content, protect the authenticity of the data and evade breach of privacy, the enterprises, Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) categorically consider encryption software solutions within their organizations. Since, the prevalent anti-virus and firewalls across companies offer the basic level of security to the content, the need for comprehensive security solution ranging from disks, file/folder, databases and communication to cloud are demanded globally.

There has been a continual technological advancement related to data accessibility techniques. With the large scale usage of mobile devices for accessing and transmitting organizational content, companies have been comprehensively leveraged in making timely and informed organizational decisions. In addition, the widespread embracement of cloud, social media and internet has further improved business functioning along with increasing the data being generated and accessed through mobile devices. These pervasive progressions and ease of data accessibility have boosted the profitability and increased the business efficiency. However, this data that resides within the companies and which constantly travels over the business networks through emails and or is stored in cloud becomes vulnerable to tampering, attacked, misuse and loss. To cohesively protect this sensitive content, the enterprises and SMBs have been primarily considering the implementation of encryption solutions ranging from disks, file/folder, databases and communication to cloud. These encryption solutions provision comprehensive security to business data that is within the organizations, in cloud and which travels beyond the companies through various means including emails, messages and mobile devices. These solutions safeguard the valuable data of the businesses from commercial espionage, cyber-attacks, fraudulent activities and privacy breaches. In addition, these encryption solutions also prevent unauthorized access and provide advanced and customized encryption for superior protection of data.

Further, these encryption solutions are expansively embraced for provisioning of continual security to large organizational content accessed and transmitted across diverse devices regardless of location. These encryption solutions can be customized to address the business needs of the SMBs and enterprises and are easily deployed on the cloud and on-premises. Currently, hosted encryption software is largely being adopted by the users to comprehensively secure their content from threats and perils of loss. Further, the commencement and provision of these prevalent encryption solutions has enabled the encryption software vendors, third-party providers and cloud vendors to offer exclusively customized encryption solutions precisely addressing the needs of the businesses. Thus, encryption plays the crucial role in protecting the data, which forms the most valuable and sensitive assets for the companies along with securing the privacy of its employees.

The major vendors of the global encryption software market are Microsoft Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Intel Corporation, and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. The major forces driving this market are the presence of a dynamic business environment, increasing cyber-attacks, growing concern about data loss among the companies and obligatory need for adhering with standards.

MarketsandMarkets broadly segments the Encryption Software Market by regions: North America (NA), Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America (LA); by applications: Disk Encryption, File/Folder Encryption, Database Encryption, Communication Encryption and Cloud Encryption; by deployment types: cloud and on-premises; by user types: enterprise and SMB; by industry verticals: BFSI, healthcare, government and public sector, telecom, retail, aerospace, defense and others.

View original post here:
Encryption Software Market worth $4.82 Billion by 2019 – New Report by MarketsandMarkets

Backed by an award-winning research team, McAfee security technologies use a unique, predictive capability that is powered by McAfee Global Threat Intelligence enabling home users and businesses to stay one step ahead of online threats.

McAfees security products and solutions span the following areas:

For Consumers McAfee enables users to safely connect to the Internet, and securely surf and shop the web. With McAfee All Access, McAfee Total Protection, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee AntiVirus Plus, consumers get complete antimalware and antispyware protection, along with an integrated firewall to ensure their computer systems remain virus-free. Additionally, McAfees virus removal service helps you easily clean viruses and spyware from your PC all from the comfort of your home. Try out McAfee software by downloading our free antivirus trials.

McAfee Mobile Security provides comprehensive mobile device protection with antivirus, anti-theft, and web and app protection for smartphones and Android tablets. Get a free trial of McAfee Mobile Security.

For Businesses McAfee solutions deliver the highest levels of threat visibility and antimalware protection, including comprehensive system and endpoint protection, network security, cloud security, database security, and data protection. McAfees complete security solutions extend beyond virus software to next-generation firewall (NGFW), SIEM, and intrusion prevention systems. Backed by McAfee Global Threat Intelligence, our solutions help companies enhance visibility into their security postures, allowing business to embrace Web 2.0 technology, virtualization, cloud computing, and personal and mobile devices, while protecting critical assets and sensitive data.

Our industry-leading security offerings include:

View original post here:
McAfee—Antivirus, Encryption, Firewall, Email Security ...

ICDES Keyed Information Dispersal (IDA)
See how IBM Cloud Data Encryption Services (ICDES) uses keyed information dispersal in addition to encryption to provide advanced data protection and separat...

By: Cloud Data Encryption Services

Follow this link:
ICDES Keyed Information Dispersal (IDA) - Video

Apples first pass at built-in encryption was, frankly, terrible. The original FileVault, introduced with 10.3 Panther in 2003, only encrypted a users home directory, and had a number of functional and implementation problems. FileVault 2 appeared in 2011 with 10.7 Lion, and had almost nothing to do with the original except the name.

FileVault 2 offers full-disk encryption (FDE). When enabled, the entire contents of the startup drive are encrypted. When your computer is powered off, the drives data is fully unrecoverable without a password. It also lets you use Find My Mac to wipe your drive in a matter of seconds remotely if youre concerned about into whose hands your computer has fallen. You can enable FileVault 2 with an existing Mac, but starting with 10.10 Yosemite, OS X now encourages turning on FileVault 2 during setup of a laptop.

This has made some law-enforcement officials unhappy, who seemingly dont want your data to be protected this strongly, so they can get access in the unlikely event that they need it. Relatively few people engage in criminal activities, and of them, even fewer ever have their computers seized and examined. Its a good sign as to how well FileVault 2 works that officials are so morose about it.

FileVault is easy to enable in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, and then once the intial encryption is over, it won't even slow your Mac down day to day.

FileVault 2 takes advantage of the ever-improving processor speed and features in Macs to perform on-the-fly encryption and decryption. Every chunk of data read from and written to disk, whether of the spinning variety or SSD, has to go through this process. Macs introduced starting in 2010 and 2011, and every model since, can use encryption circuitry in the processor, boosting performance.

FileVault 2 works hand in hand with OS X Recovery, a special disk partition that lets you run Disk Utility from the same drive you may be having trouble with, restore or install OS X via the Internet, restore a Time Machine backup, or browse Safari. With FileVault 2 enabled, your computer boots into the Recovery volume, prompting you to login with any account thats been allowed to start up the computer.

On a system without FileVault 2 already in place, you need to turn it on, which converts your startup drive from its unencrypted state to fully encrypted. This comes with a few big flashing red warnings and pieces of advice before you proceed. (You can encrypt secondary and external drives by Control-clicking a drives icon and select Encrypt Drive Name, but it doesnt tie in with login: you set a password for the drive, and have to enter it to mount it.)

Warning 1! During the setup, OS X creates a Recovery Key for your drive. As with Apples two-step verification for Apple ID accounts, this Recovery Key is critical to retain. Without it, if you lose or forget the account password to all FileVault 2enabled accounts, your drive is permanently inaccessible. Keep a copy of the Recovery Key, probably printed out, for emergencies.

Warning 2! Once you start the conversion, theres no stopping it. It has to complete, and it consumes CPU resources like mad, slowing down your machine and likely firing up the fan to high speed. Your computer also has to remain plugged in. The operation takes many hours. A friends niece accidentally accepted the option to enable FileVault 2 when upgrading to Yosemite a few evenings ago, and had her machineneeded for a computer-science class the next morningslow to a crawl.

Apple provides step-by-step details in a Knowledge Base note, so I wont repeat all of that, but will highlight the critical parts.

Read this article:
How to encrypt your Mac with FileVault 2, and why you absolutely should