Folder Encryption Software
Icaro Hogue
Once encrypted, Windows will provide an encryption key which should be stored for safe keeping. DO NOT LOSE THIS KEY. The encryption key provides access to your folder when you would like to view/edit the contents. If you lose the key, it will be nearly impossible to retrieve your data.
TitanFile, a secure file-sharing software, automatically encrypts files and folders for seamless data protection; No manual effort is required on your end. Simply, upload folders to the platform, and they are encrypted in transit and at rest.
Encrypting folders is key for professionals and businesses that want their confidential information to remain secure. Save valuable time working on important tasks with automatic encryption. Encrypt your folders for free, today.
Folder Lock comes with a powerful file shredder and a cloud-based backup solution as well. The demo is free, while the full-version is $39.95. Knowing how to lock a folder in Windows costs a bit of money, but the functionality and customization makes it worth it. Now you know how to password protect a folder.
You can also use disk-encryption software for more robust security than just a password. These tools block even the most advanced brute-force attacks, which try to crack passwords and encryption keys using different combinations.
This kind of full-encryption software adds an extra layer of security by incorporating both password and encryption protection to your files, meaning that the actual contents of files and folders are encrypted and protected by much stronger and more complex decryption keys.
With support for AES, Serpent, and TwoFish keys, VeraCrypt is a free, cross-platform data security tool that can encrypt files very effectively. VeraCrypt comes with full disk encryption but can encrypt at the volume (folder) level as well. Users can decide whether they want specific folders encrypted or entire systems.
You should password protect files because if you share your computer with others, someone might accidentally delete or modify an important file, or even share a private folder. You might even make the critical error yourself, accidentally sending sensitive information to the wrong person.
And you can always use Windows to encrypt an entire folder, as described above. Knowing how to password protect a folder and how to encrypt your files is key to making sure your content is locked up tight.
Consider what might happen if you lost your master password, if your encryption software got corrupted, or if the files themselves got lost. Backing up your data regularly and using a password manager can help ensure that never happens. You can even clone your entire hard drive to an external storage device.
I think I read somewhere that FVE encryption requires decryption to back up whereas SFE can back up while still encrypted, keeping your data safe in the cloud. Can't find where I read that now. Is this true?
If encryption is kept during backup, do you need a Synology device with the program used to backup originally to decrypt if you change devices? Like if you decided to get a different vendor's NAS (TrueNAS, QNAP, Asustor, etc), is it possible to still get that data back and decrypt if the original Synology NAS died?
1.1. Check that your home backup has everything!!!
- reboot into root via grub
- Delete your home directory rm -rf /home/user
- Remove the packages apt-get remove ecryptfs-utils libecryptfs0
- Restore your home directory mv /home/user.backup /home/user
- reboot
- Remove any of those .Private .ecryptfs folders rm -rf /.Private rm -rf /.ecryptfs
- Yay!
1st thing to do: BACKUP YOUR HOME.I can't say it louder... basically undoing encryption is equivalent to resetting (rm -rf) your home, which is in fact hidden by a mount.
Umount the home folder, because the encryption program usually mounts it to mount point e.g /home/$USER,also known as $HOME. You can confirm your mount point by running df -h $HOME. You will have to cd /tmp (or some other non-$HOME directory) to be able to unmount $HOME.
Are you sure, that you placed your files inside the mounted folder and and NOT directly into the folder where the ciphertext files are located?
If you see there a d- and a m-folder and a masterkey.cryptomator file, this is not the right place to put your files to.
Since Ubuntu doesn't use a separate partition for the Home folder (afaik), wouldn't full disk encryption already cover the Home folder? Does adding Home folder encryption add more security of some kind?
I think that option covers the case in which you choose to put the home folder in another drive/partition. Notice how you can set different mount points in different drives/partitions when you choose "Something else" during the "Installation type" step of the installation process:
Note that the apps covered here focus on protecting local copies of your important files. If your needs involve sharing secrets with others, you may want to consider using an email encryption tool instead of, or in addition to, a local encryption utility.
Some encryption tools are easy to use, others are highly secure. A few, including AxCrypt Premium, hit both targets. You initialize it with a single strong master password, and it takes care of complex tasks like encrypting files using the US-government approved AES algorithm, and sharing those files using PKI (Public Key Interface) technology. Those with whom you share encrypted files need their own AxCrypt account, but they can make use of its free tier.
This tool offers an unusual option to encrypt or decrypt the contents of the clipboard. Copy text to the clipboard, press the hotkey, and paste the encrypted result into an email or other messaging system. A password generator is built in, though without any associated password management. Admittedly, the user interface is seriously dated, with references to events and products that have been gone for 10-15 years. But it offers an amazingly broad selection of encryption options.
In this roundup, we're specifically looking at products that encrypt files rather than whole-disk solutions like Microsoft Bitlocker. Whole-disk encryption is an effective line of defense for a single device, but it doesn't help when you need to share encrypted data.
You can use a virtual private network, or VPN, to encrypt your internet traffic. From your PC to the VPN company's server, all your data is encrypted, and that's a great thing. However, unless you're connected to a secure HTTPS website, your traffic is not encrypted between the VPN server and the site. Of course, the VPN's encryption doesn't just magically rub off on files you share. Using a VPN is a great way to protect your internet traffic when you're traveling, but it's not a solution for encrypting your local files.
When the FBI needed information from the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone, they asked Apple for a back door to get past the encryption. But no such back door existed, and Apple refused to create one. The FBI had to hire hackers to get into the phone.
Why wouldn't Apple help? Because the moment a back door or similar hack exists, it becomes a target, a prize for the bad guys. It will leak sooner or later. As my colleague Max Eddy pointed out in a past article about one-time Attorney General Barr's ignorance of encryption, "A back door is still a door and even a door with a lock on it can be opened."
All the products in this roundup explicitly state that they have no back door, and that's as it should be. It does mean that if you encrypt an essential document and then forget the encryption password, you've lost it for good, however.
Back in the day, if you wanted to keep a document secret you could use a cipher to encrypt it and then burn the original. Or you could lock it up in a safe. The two main approaches in encryption utilities parallel these options.
One type of product simply processes files and folders, turning them into impenetrable encrypted versions of themselves. The other creates a virtual disk drive that, when open, acts like any other drive on your system. When you lock the virtual drive, all the files you put into it are completely inaccessible.
Which is better? It depends on how you plan to use encryption. If you're not sure, well, all these products either are free or have a free trial on offer. Take advantage of the freebies to get a feel for the different options.
Some encryption products avoid this problem by encrypting the file in place, literally overwriting it on disk with an encrypted version. It's more common, though, to offer secure deletion as an option. If you choose a product that lacks this feature, you should find a free secure deletion tool to use along with it.
An encryption algorithm is like a black box. Dump a document, image, or other file into it, and you get back what seems like gibberish. Run that gibberish back through the box, with the right password, and you get back the original.
If you want to share a file with someone and your encryption tool doesn't support PKI, there are other options for sharing. Many products allow the creation of a self-decrypting executable file. You may also find that the recipient can use a free, decryption-only tool.
Suppose I want to give a computer to someone that runs an application. I want to avoid that the program can be copied to another computer or be tampered with. For that, I want to encrypt the folder that contains the program and would like to make it so that only the host OS (Linux) on that device can decrypt it (ie. also avoid moving the disk between computers). There is no TPM in the computer. Secure boot is already running, but is seems that this gets reset when resetting the CMOS. The application requires network, so that is already available.
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