There have recently been a number of high profile data losses by big organisations, all completely preventable. The tools to secure your data, both on your desktop, laptop, or when sending data out of the building, are easy to use and free.
In the first of a two-part blog post we will see how to use the open source TrueCrypt to create secure volumes in which to store data.
1) Download and install TrueCrypt from the TrueCrypt website. You can find the latest download here (http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads). For this post we are using v6.2.
2) Once you have installed TrueCrypt double click the TrueCrypt icon on your desktop or in your start menu.
TrueCrypt Window
3) Choose to Create an Encrypted File Container from the window that appears.
Volume Creation Wizard
4) Choose to create a Standard TrueCrypt Volume
Standard TrueCrypt Volume
5) Specify a name and location for the TrueCrypt volume file. This volume file will store your encrypted data. In our example we have called the file test and saved it in the c:\temp folder.
Specify a location
6) Select an algorithm. For our example we will stick with the default of AES encryption and RIPEMD-160 Hashing. You can select various options depending on your requirements.
Encryption Algorithms
7) Specify the size of the volume to create. Later on in our example, we will be copying our volume to a CD so we have chosen a volume size of 500MB. Make sure you have sufficient disk space for whatever volume you create.
Specify volume size
8) Select a secure password. For the sake of this example we have chosen the password of password. For various reasons, this is not very secure. Make sure you use a mixture of capital letters, numbers, symbols and more than one word. The more secure your password the more secure your volume.
Choose a password
9) Choose a filesystem format and create an encryption key. The filesystem format will largely depend on the system you are going to use the encrypted volume on. In general on a Windows system choose NTFS and leave the Cluster size at Default. Move the mouse around within the window itself to create a random key which will be used to encrypt your data. The more you move the mouse the more secure your encryption will be. Click Format to format your encrypted volume when you are done.
Format your volume
10) Once your volume has been created and formatted it’s time to open the volume and start using it. Go back to the main TrueCrypt window. Select a drive letter from the list shown (I’m using O for Olly). Click Select File and choose your newly created encrypted volume file from the location in which you saved it previously. Then click Mount.
Mount your volume
11) You will be prompted for your password that you specified earlier on in step 8. You can click the Mount Options button to set further options like setting the volume as read-only.
Enter your password
12) Finally you will now be able to see the main TrueCrypt window which will show your encrypted volume successfully mounted next to the drive letter you chose. You will also now be able to go to your Computer window (or My Computer if you are using Windows XP) and see a new drive letter containing your encrypted volume. You can now move files and folder to and from your new encrypted drive. Any files saved to the encrypted drive will be encrypted on the fly, only accessible when you mount the volume in TrueCrypt using your password.
Success !
Drive in Explorer
Our next post will show how to use an encrypted volume to secure data when sending it out of the building – possibly on a USB hard drive – and giving the (authorised) recipient everything they need to access the data.
