Free Encryption / Cryptographic Software
Free On the Fly Encryption, Steganography, Public Key Encryption
Free Encryption / Cryptographic Software, Free On the Fly Encryption, Free Disk Encryption Tools, Steganography, Free Public Key Encryption Software
This page lists free encryption / cryptographic software of a wide variety. There are free on-the-fly disk encryption / on the fly file encryption (OTFE) software that transparently encrypts files on your disk drive (or partition), on demand encryption tools that allow you to encrypt single files for those one-off occasions when you need encryption public key encryption which is particularly useful for things like email (where the key you use to encrypt your data is different from the key used to decrypt the data), etc. Included here are also software that can perform steganography, a sort of invisible encryption, where the plaintext version of your sensitive data is encrypted and hidden inside another file (typically images or sound or video files).
Caution: Be careful when you use cryptographic / encryption software that do not tell you which algorithm they use. Claims like "strong encryption", "military encryption" and "secure encryption" do not tell you very much — after all, anyone can simply convert the letters on (say) this page to numbers (where a=1, b=2, etc) and still claim it is strong encryption / cryptography. Of course I doubt any program uses such kindergarten tricks. Nonetheless, words like "proprietary encryption" should set you on your guard, and words like "unbreakable encryption" should make you very suspicious. In general, publicly available encryption algorithms like Rjindael AES tend to be better tested with the weaknesses and strengths known than some obscure proprietary algorithm that might well turn out to be a snake oil product. Note that this is not a comment on the quality of any of the products listed here — it's just a generally well-known cautionary note.
Furthermore, if you need to ensure the privacy or security of your data, you might also be interested in the Free Destructive Deletion Tools, Disk and File Wipe Utilities, Secure Deletion Software page. If you only want to encrypt your usernames and passwords for various sites and services (such as your email account), and not other data, specialized software for such purposes can be found on the Free Secure Password Managers and Password Savers page.
Note that commercial encryption products, like
Steganos Privacy Suite
are not listed on this page (other than being mentioned in this sentence).
Sections within this page
- Free On the Fly Disk/File Encryption (OTFE)
- Free Public Key Encryption Software
- Free Encryption Software with Steganography
- Other Free Encryption Software, Free Disk Encryption Tools
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Disclaimer
The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book, document or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.
Free On the Fly Disk / File Encryption (OTFE)
- TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt is the successor to E4M (which is no longer maintained). You can use it to encrypt an entire partition of your hard disk (including your system partition) or to create an encrypted container file which appears like a normal hard disk to Windows. You can then store and access your files on that virtual drive just like any other file. Since the program does not mark the encrypted container (or partition) in any way, there's no way to for any intruder to guess which file is your encrypted container. This, according to the author, also preserves plausible deniability. Encryption algorithms supported include AES, Blowfish, CAST, IDEA (removed in version 2.1a) and Triple-DES. The source code is available free. This program works under Windows Vista, XP, Mac OS X and Linux.
- FreeOTFE
FreeOTFE is an open source OTFE (on the fly disk encryption) software for Windows. It presumably creates encrypted partitions (the documentation does not explicitly state this, nor does it state if it supports the creation of encrypted container files). You mount the encrypted volume under Windows and it appears as a drive which you can use normally. FreeOTFE supports "hidden volumes" which are encrypted volumes that are created inside another encrypted volume. All FreeOTFE volumes also have no identifiable signature. It is compatible with Linux losetup, which is useful if you need to use your encrypted volumes in both Linux and Windows. Supported ciphers include AES and Twofish, and supported hash algorithms include MD2, MD4, MD5, RIPEMD-128, RIPEMD-160, SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512. At the time I write this review, FreeOTFE is still in BETA testing.
- CompuSec
This encryption software will encrypt your entire hard disk (including your operating system) using a "fast AES algorithm". It also supports the encryption of floppy disks, memory sticks and other removable devices. Even your Windows hibernation file is stored encrypted on the disk.
- Scramdisk 4 Linux
Scramdisk 4 Linux is a suite of Linux tools that allow you to create and access Scramdisk and TrueCrypt containers. It has a Linux driver that allows you to mount such containers. Scramdisk for Windows and TrueCrypt are free on-the-fly disk encryption software that you can find elsewhere on this page.
- Cryptainer LE
Cryptainer LE allows you to create 25 MB encrypted containers that appear to Windows as disk drives. It supports Windows 95 (OSR 2), 98, ME, 2000, XP and 2003. It uses the Blowfish algorithm. It apparently also allows you to send encrypted emails as well.
- CryptoExpert Lite
CryptoExpert Lite is a free on the fly encryption program that creates a virtual disk on your disk from a container file. It supports the CAST encryption algorithm.
- E4M Disk Encryption
Working with documents on your computer where you don't want prying eyes to see? You can get free software that sets up a drive on your hard disk where all files saved will be encrypted. The drive need not be an actual hard disk or partition, it can be a file that is set up to look like a drive to Windows for transparent operation. It is easy to use, free, freely redistributable with the full source code available. It works on all Windows systems. Supported encryption include DES, IDEA, Triple-DES, Blowfish, and CAST. If you find yourself continually encrypting individual files on your computer, this might prove to be the easier to use solution. Note: E4M is no longer being maintained. The link above leads to a third party site.
- Scramdisk Encryption
Scramdisk allows you to create an encrypted virtual drive on your Windows systems where you can store files which will be automatically encrypted. The drive acts like a normal drive which you can access just like any other disk drive on your system. Supported encryption algorithms include Triple DES (EDE), Blowfish, DES, IDEA, MISTY1, Square, and TEA (both 16 and 32 rounds). This software is no longer supported.
Free Public Key Encryption Software
- Windows Privacy Tray (WinPT)
Windows Privacy Tray (WinPT) is a set of tools that allow you to encrypt your data using GnuPG (see elsewhere on this page). It is a frontend to GnuPG that resides in your system tray that may be used as a universal plug-in to any email software. The software is free.
- PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) Public Key Encryption
The above link is to the International PGP Home Page, where you can get free binaries and sources for Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) for a variety of operating systems for either US or non-US countries. You can use PGP to encrypt your email in conjunction with your email client, be it Eudora, ELM, PINE, or whatever. PGP is a public key encryption system, which means that you have two keys (passwords), one which is known only to you and the other is known to your recipient. Messages or documents (or whatever) encoded with one key can only be decoded with the other. You can read more about this from the PGP FAQs at the site.
- GPG: GNU Privacy Guard
GPG, a.k.a. GnuPG, is the GNU version of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a public key encryption system. Like all things GNU, it is free and can be freely distributed and modified. It is generally compatible with the newer PGP versions (depending on the encryption algorithms you choose); but you should read their FAQ for more details.
Free Encryption Software with Steganography
- 4t HIT Mail Privacy Lite
This encryption software allows you to hide your private data such as email messages inside an image (JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, etc). The image is still viewable as an image, but it also contains the encrypted version of your secret message (steganography). The website does not specify which encryption algorithm is used.
Other Free Encryption Software, Free Disk Encryption Tools
- Steganos LockNote
(Windows)
This program lets you store your serial numbers, passwords, and other types of text notes in an encrypted form (AES 256). It's extremely portable in that it's just a single file that does not have to be installed, and can be placed on a portable media like a USB flash drive. The data you store is saved into the program file itself meaning that all you need to do to move your data to another location is to copy the program there. You can also save to a different file, which merely recreates a copy of the program, together with your data, in a new file. The password for your encrypted notes can be set by selecting the "File" menu followed by the "Change password..." menu item. To get the software at their site, look for the "For free" section in the side column, and click the "LockNote" link. (This gets you the latest version. The program is open source, released under the GNU General Public License, but the source code release appears to lag behind the current version. Or at least it did when I last checked the site and program.)
- AxCrypt
AxCrypt allows you to encrypt your files with the AES encryption algorithm (128-bit key). It supports the use of key files, huge files (more than 4 GB), shredding of temporary and plaintext files, an extensive command line interface as well as a right click interface from Windows Explorer, etc. The program is open source, distributed under the GNU General Public License.
- FineCrypt
FineCrypt allows you to encrypt a limited number of folders and files (although it will not encrypt archives like ZIP, ARC, CAB, ARJ, TAR and GZ files). Encryption algorithms supported include MARS, RC-6, Rjindael (AES), Serpent, Twofish, and others. You can encrypt select your encryption mode as well, from ECB, CBC, CFB and OFB. The software also allows you to create encrypted self-extracting executables.
- CCrypt
CCrypt is a command line encryption tool that encrypts the files you specify. It is multiplatform with ports for Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, Macintosh OS X, FreeBSD, AIX, etc. It uses the Rjindael AES cipher (Advanced Encryption Standard). The source code is available.
- MCrypt
mcrypt is a command line tool in the fashion of the Unix crypt command. It allows you to encrypt files that you specify on the command line using one of the following encryption algorithms: Blowfish, Twofish, DES, TripleDES, 3-Way, Safer, Loki97, Gost, RC2, Mars, Rjindael AES, Serpent, Cast, Arcfour and Wake. The OpenPGP encrypted file format is supported. This encryption tools works on Unix systems (including Linux) and has also been ported to Windows.
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