Encryption software needed.

[Tifa]

Computer Yoda types please...
Looking for some software that can password protect MS folders.( all docs & pdf's etc INSIDE the folder)
I'm aware that they can be zipped with a password, but looking for something a little simpler.
Any suugestions would be cool.
Ta.

[markrlondon]

I'd say that zipping a folder with a password is about as simple as it gets. You could also use EFS or Bitlocker, which are the encryption systems built into Windows (although these use the logged on user's credentials to control access and do not request an explicit password). There are numerous third party tools (e.g. GPG or VeraCrypt) which can do similar to a very high standard and are not reliant on closed source, corporate software.

So the questions are:

(1) What are your threats? Who are you wishing to protect yourself from?

(2) What is your use case? Do you wish to protect data at rest or in transit?

(3) Ideally, how would you like it to work?

(4) Who will be accessing this data? You, your staff, correspondents, or?

[Tifa]

Thanks for your reply Mark

(1) What are your threats? Who are you wishing to protect yourself from?

General public. Files falling into the wrong hands. No cyber attacks as such, just making sure that confidential info remains confidential.

(2) What is your use case? Do you wish to protect data at rest or in transit?

About a dozen folders to encypt per week. Data mainly at rest. There's no online access to it AFAIK. Contents of folders restricted to MS word doc/excel/pdf files.

(3) Ideally, how would you like it to work?

Drag folder into encryption software page..and it gets automatically encrypted with preset passwords. (We have software that does this for pdf files)

(4) Who will be accessing this data? You, your staff, correspondents, or?

Me, my business partner and our secretary. (Just the three of us)

Cheers.

[blackal]

Is Steganos still available?

I still use it on Win PC and have to say - it is pretty good.

Encrypt folders, drives, and "briefcases"

Al

[wombleh]

You can add passwords to files within Microsoft office, but it would ask you for the password every time you open it.

Microsoft RMS is pretty good if you have office 365 but it's not available with all the licenses. You can do things like let people view but not print or only view until a certain date. It can do that for emails too. No passwords, access is sorted based on your o365 login. (Have simplified this a bit)

[Glamdring]

I suggest Veracrypt. You define a container which is an empty encrypted file of any size you want. Say, 50GB. On boot up you open - mount - the container with a password, and dismount it at the end of each session. While it's open you can add whatever you want to it. Text, image, audio. It will work from the mounted file. It has yet to be broken. You can also create a container on an external drive or a pen drive or SD card. Handy for keeping prying eyes away.

Truecrypt 7.1. not 7.2, is still around and although it is supposed to have issues, it would certainly do for what you need.

[Tifa]

I suggest Veracrypt. You define a container which is an empty encrypted file of any size you want. Say, 50GB. On boot up you open - mount - the container with a password, and dismount it at the end of each session. While it's open you can add whatever you want to it. Text, image, audio. It will work from the mounted file. It has yet to be broken. You can also create a container on an external drive or a pen drive or SD card. Handy for keeping prying eyes away.

Truecrypt 7.1. not 7.2, is still around and although it is supposed to have issues, it would certainly do for what you need.

Thank you all....v much appreciated!

[markrlondon]

General public. Files falling into the wrong hands. No cyber attacks as such, just making sure that confidential info remains confidential.

About a dozen folders to encypt per week. Data mainly at rest. There's no online access to it AFAIK. Contents of folders restricted to MS word doc/excel/pdf files.

Drag folder into encryption software page..and it gets automatically encrypted with preset passwords. (We have software that does this for pdf files)

Me, my business partner and our secretary. (Just the three of us)

I have to say that Bitlocker or EFS (both built into Windows) would do much this for you with the caveat that, as I mentioned before, they don't ask for specific passwords. Encryption is instead based on the logged in Windows user.

Bitlocker encrypts entire systems whereas EFS encrypts specific folders or files.

If these tools don't sound about right, VeraCrypt is definitely the thing: https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html. As Glamdring said, you create an encrypted container which can be mounted as a drive using a passphrase you choose when you create the container. It's very secure indeed.

Do NOT use TrueCrypt (the latest functional version being 7.1a) as it now has vulnerabilities in the code (but not in the encryption) that make it unwise to use it. VeraCrypt is in active development, is reliable, ans safe to use.

[thattallchap]

Seconded, just use Bitlocker.l, it has standard 256bit encryption right out of the box. If you have an SSD in your machine you won't even notice the minor performance hit.

[markrlondon]

I should add that if you wish to send the files in encrypted form to someone else then Bitlocker or EFS are not suitable; they only encrypt data at rest.

If you ever wish to send the data in encrypted form to someone else then VeraCrypt or an encrypted Zip file would be more useful, as the encrypted container/file can be sent easily. Just make sure that you share the passphrase via a different route or use encrypted email (e.g. GnuPG) to send it.

And, quick, do it now before all this becomes illegal under May's new world order!

[mnielse]

recommend bitlocker.

You can use it in two stages: 1' On your PC of course :-) 2' Since I would advise you to use backup, use bitlocker to go on a USB drive/key and encrypt your files backup too!

Martin