Senior Newbe Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 Being retired for 10 years and new to computing, was wondering if this Forum is only for Tech persons or the general population also?Q. Other than PGP (which others don't want to be bothered with) is there any other easy-to-operate freeware encryption programs for Folders and E-mail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistedcranium Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 Welcome Senior Newbie! These forums are for anyone with a pulse and the desire to learn/help out. I have been treated well here in the short time I've been here and I'm sure that you'll find the same!As for the PGP question, there are at least a few others out there, but I personally have never used anything other than PGP on both windows and linux. Others will be by soon to give their recommendations, but first, which OS (operating system) are you using? Windows? What version? Me/XP/98? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pro-surfer Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 Being retired for 10 years and new to computing, was wondering if this Forum is only for Tech persons or the general population also?Q. Other than PGP (which others don't want to be bothered with) is there any other easy-to-operate freeware encryption programs for Folders and E-mail? PGP is the standard but if you don’t want to learn or be bothered you can use a free account at hushmail.com (or the paid version which has more features) Hushmail will allow you to add pgp but it will encrypt with 128/256 blowfish without your having to understand a thing. It is limited like pgp keys unless both sender/recipient have hushmail account but might be worth looking at.If you are on XP - Pro you can use the built in encryption which is ok, easy to use, but most people don’t seem to care for it from what I have seen.There are many s/w programs for file encryption on your PC ranging from the extreme & clunky to smooth & svelte. Guess depends on what you're encrypting & why? Steganography is the newer kid on the block for general population & fun if you have the time & inclination.Hope this gives you some ideas.Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 hushmail.com also has an encrypted Instant Messenger too ... wonder if anyone has used that?Apparently according to the site, you can send email to anyone regardless of whether they have a hushmail.com account, but if they do not have a hushmail.com account too, the email will go out to them in plain text. You also have the option to have the email digitally signed.Nice service for free ... they also have a premium service for a few bucks a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pro-surfer Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 hushmail.com also has an encrypted Instant Messenger too ... wonder if anyone has used that?Apparently according to the site, you can send email to anyone regardless of whether they have a hushmail.com account, but if they do not have a hushmail.com account too, the email will go out to them in plain textHi - you are absolutely correct- 'senior newbie' PM me & I returned additional information regarding hushmail. You did a good summary & I think the $30/yr is worth each penny.I now only use 2 IM systems - the only proven ones that are secure - hushmail is nice but both parties must be using it to be encrypted. The other is Trillian Pro only using 256 encryption between both parties on icq system only. Hushmail IM is slower at this point but I understand from newsletter they are upgrading their servers as it is becoming more popular & people are beginning to realize that all IM systems can be 'listened in on' with EASE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Newbe Posted May 30, 2003 Author Share Posted May 30, 2003 My O.S. is Windows2000Pro Checked out PGP & Hush but my correspondents don't want to be that invovlved in those setups nor would I want to put a cost on their end. Was looking for something more user friendly in the way of a good File/Folders/email freeware encryption utility. Had my computer hacked into before getting a Firewall & Trojan Remover and want some security for my Folders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryhumor Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 I use File2File, free. Simple to use. Select single or multiple files and folders, right-click to Encrypt, Decrypt, or Email. I haven't tried the email function, yet."You may also use File2File to secure your files before sending them via e-mail. If the recipient does not have File2File installed, you can encrypt the file into an executable file (EXE-file), which also contains the code necessary for decrypting the encrypted text. Then the receiver only needs to enter the password."File2File by Cryptomathic - http://www.cryptomathic.com/file2file/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Newbe Posted June 4, 2003 Author Share Posted June 4, 2003 Tried out File2File and lost a couple of files while doing folders and saving to disk. Also found the following review of it:"File2File - Free for personal use. Tested. File encryption with AES-128 as a Windows context menu shell extension. Very reputable researchers referenced by the company, including Vincent Rijmen, co-designer of the AES algorithm. Basic functionality - encrypt/decrypt of files and multiple files, as well as self-decrypting executables. Almost elegant, but I get the feeling that this is a program done by cryptographers rather than developers. Cryptographically it's seems ok, it appears to use some kind of chaining mode, which is good. One weakness is that it will encrypt the same contents to same result when a directory is encrypted, technically this probably means that it uses the same IV during one operation. I see no mention of random numbers, so my guess is that the user-entered key is used directly as a data encrypting key, which is also a weakness. Does not use compression. 'Wipes' the clear-text by overwriting it with the cipher-text directly. This is a very risky approach as a system or program crash in the middle of such an operation will leave the file corrupted, i.e. destroyed. It also does not necessarily work at all (as a security measure) if compression or encryption is enabled in the file system. All in all a basic program with probably decent security, although there are some caveats, best suited for transportation and storage. [2003-04-13]."Here is a another users opinion: "As for File2File, last I knew it had what I consider to be a fatal flaw. It had no way to turn off the deletion of the original file. There are many times when one might want to keep the original file (on an encrypted drive for instance) and unless you remember to make a copy, you have to decrypt, make a copy, a re-encrypt. Too much hassle and, in my opinion, a mistake to not allow the user the option there. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryhumor Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 Thanks, Senior Newbe. I was using Cryptext, switched to File2File because of recommendation in Langa Letter, and if Fred used it, I automatically figured it was ok. Thank you for reminding me to do my research, first. I may go back to Cryptext, but it hasn't been updated since Nov 2001, and I'm not sure how it will hold up with XP Home. I prefer this type of utility over PGP disk-mounting type systems.Cryptext - http://www.pcug.org.au/~njpayne/Thanks for sharing your research on F2F,dryhumor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryhumor Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Speaking of Fred Langa and encryption, this just came in todays (6/5/03) LangaLetter:Langa Letter: Easy Encryption - June 2, 2003 issue Information Week - http://www.informationweek.com/story/showA...icleID=10100525For what it's worth, I'm trying:AxCrypthttp://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/PowerCrypt 2000http://www.ovsoft.com/powercry_eng.htmI would appreciate hearing about any utility that someone finds worthwhile.Regards, dryhumor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Newbe Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 AxCrypt looks interesting.Just came across this one, need to check it out."Free Encryption tool: ClipSecure is a simple, secure, freeware text encryption utility that operates with the Windows clipboard, and therefore can be used within any text-based program and most email clients. It uses many industry-accepted algorithms, including the AES (Rijndael) standard, to provide maximum security. Encrypt and decrypt text with one keystroke, or manually control every step of the process. File encryption is also supported."ClipSecure: http://www26.brinkster.com/belzecue/clipsecure.htmRE: PowerCrypt2000, the Web site says: "You can easily encode and decode any file or group of files with any password. With long passwords, you are allowed to protect you files very strongly. There is no way to decode a file encrypted with a password longer than 10 characters!"Most encryption programs are secure in their algorithms but their weakness is in the user's password. Thought you needed a 20 character p.w. to make it 128 bits? "To avoid auto dials, you should disable the automatic dial up feature in Windows Remote Access configuration (Internet Explorer, menu Tools, Options, Connections)." Wouldn't that interfere with other Programs that may need the auto dial-up?"The code is 'unbreakable' because the length of the key used in symmetric encryption is not fixed and grows as data arrives to encrypt." "We have developed an encrypt system we consider _secure_ and here can be found some information about our 'recipe': tt://aloft/security However, at present state, we don't think to release core algorithm as open source."A reply: " OK, I got your point, all I wanted to point out is that nobody except you has ever tested that your algorithm is safe. PGP, and other BlowFish algorithms have been studied and tested all around the world by independent bodies, not yours. That's why I remain suspicious."There are many other encryption programs that use the latest AES, Twofish, etc. legitimate algorithms to be looked at instead without the concern for those other "unbreakables". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryhumor Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Thanks, Senior Newbe.I haven't had time to install either one. Thanks to you, I scratched PowerCrypt 2000. Still may try AxCrypt. Don't know why I get into this stuff so much, since I only encrypt a couple of little folders. I suppose it's because I try to stick with the axiom, "If you're gonna do it, then try to do it the best you can."Thanks for keeping me up to date; and educated.dryhumor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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