TrueCrypt 6.0 Released

PaulSpoerry | July 8, 2008

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TrueCrypt is a software application used for on-the-fly encryption (OTFE). It can create a file-hosted container or write a partition which consists of an encrypted volume with its own file system, contained within a regular file, which can then be mounted as if it were a real disk. TrueCrypt also supports device-hosted volumes, which can be created on either an individual partition or an entire disk. With version 5.0 it can encrypt the windows boot partition.TrueCrypt is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It is distributed under a collection of licences, including the TrueCrypt License, which is judged by Debian to be a free software license.

Only July 5, 2008, TrueCrypt released version 6.0. In the new version, TrueCrypt now performs parallel encryption and decryption operations on multi-core systems, giving the user significant speedup if you have more than one processor available. In addition, it now has the ability to hide an entire operating system, so even if the user is forced to reveal the pre-boot password to an adversary, the user can give them one that boots into a plausible decoy operating system, with the actual hidden operating system remaining completely undetectable.

The basic idea behind TrueCrypt is “plausible deniability” – that someone who examines your hard drive, even someone who demands and gets your password, shouldn’t be able to find all of the encrypted data. They employ a variety of strategies to achieve this, starting with the fact that you can hide a TrueCrypt-encrypted file system inside of any file. You can also put a “hidden volume” on the drive – a TrueCrypt volume inside another TrueCrypt volume, which is statistically indistinguishable from random noise.

TrueCrypt can use a variety of algorithms for its encryption, including AES, TwoFish, Serpent, and combinations of these. The developers have been good about dropping support for algorithms that have been significantly weakened over the software’s lifetime. TrueCrypt isn’t necessarily for people who have illegal secrets to hide. If you travel with your laptop, and it contains any sensitive information – from your address book to company records – serious encryption is your best protection in case of theft. Remembering a few passwords, and installing a well-tested open source package that uses them, is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Visit the TrueCrypt homepage or jump directly to the download page.

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