Introduction: Encrypt Your Personal Data.. Introducing Truecrypt!

By www. animesocietyaplaceforthread
About: I live, breath, and eat computers. i have been involved ever since, and go to the macworld expo whenever it is held in san francisco. I will visit the wired store in new york when I take my class there. Yay!

Well, you might be wondering, what the hell is Truecrypt?
Well, Truecrypt is a program that allows you to encrypt loads of data, and it's super easy to do. So follow along. The methods of encryption include AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish(a combo of the AES and Serpent algorythyms). If you're wondering, Twofish is my personal favorite.


T r u e C r y p t
Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux
Main Features:
"Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.


"Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.


"Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).


"Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.


"Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:

1) Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system.

2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).


"Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: XTS.
Further information regarding features of the software may be found in the documentation.


Step 1: Truecrypt...Just Google It!

Well, either that or go here. Click on downloads and download your version, whether it be for Mac os x or Windows. I myself, would not reccomend you downloading the source code and changing it, as one little mistake will cause the whole file to go corrupt. But, Im not you, am I?

Step 2: Well, Yeah. No Duh.

You also need to install it into your computer, so install it wherever is best for you. After that, run it!

Step 3: When You Run It...

When you run it, it will give you a list of virtual drives that you can put your encrypted data in. Click Create Volume, and the Truecrypt volume creation wizard will pop up. Choose whichever you are comfortable with, but i will recommend you not choosing one of the others, as you might not k now what you are doing.

Step 4: Now..Choose.

The next step is to choose where to save your file or folder. I put mine on the desktop, for easy access. Still you can choose. If you click on a file, it will delete the file's contents. So be careful.

Step 5: Give Volume Size and Encrytion Options.

Fill out these forms. Just to tell you, the volume size for a FAT file cannot be less than 275 kb, and the smallest size for a NTFS volume is 2829 kb. The default bytes it is put on is mb, so be sure to change it if you need kb or gb!

Step 6: Have a Good Password!

Make the longest possible password you can think of that you can remember, because others can use brute force hacking to hack into these files. My example of a good password is MIT08songki1979park1116. These kind of alphanumeric passwords are pretty hard to crack.

Step 7: Now, Wave Your Mouse Randonly Across the Mousepad!

This is where you choose whether you want a FAT file or a NTFS file. You can also set the cluster option, and if you want it to be dynamic. Now, you can move your mouse as randomly as possible to "increase the cryptographic strength of your file." Just fool around.

Step 8: Time to See the Results!

Now, on my desktop, i have a encrypted file. Now, right click, open with True crypt, press select file, and mount the file. Then, it will ask you for your password, and it will show you your file. double click on that, and then you can read stuff inside! Yay!