Tammy Bruce: Protect Your Sensitive Data From Prying Eyes

Protect Your Sensitive Data From Prying Eyes

Maynard suggests a tool that will help keep your private files private

A friend of mine recently cooked his laptop computer in the oven. This had not been his intent. He had, upon exiting his apartment, placed the laptop in the oven out of concern for confidential data. When he returned, he turned on the oven to cook dinner. Shortly thereafter he returned to his empty desk and realized his folly.

If you don't want this to happen to you, there are better ways to secure your data. There's a free (non-commercial) program called TrueCrypt that you can install on your Windows XP system to create a password-protected section of your existing disk. It works by creating a big file on (for example) your C: drive, and the contents of that file then become (for example) your new E: drive. You need your secret password to make the protected drive available. Without that password, the big file is just so much gibberish. You only mount the drive when you want to access it, and otherwise it simply isn't there. It requires a little bit of general PC sophistication to set this up, as is required for a typical program installation and configuration. To use it properly, you've got to understand where your data files are stored, and know the difference between files on C: and files on E:.

This seems a good idea in general, if you have any files that would cause you trouble if they fell into the wrong hands. Your PC may be stolen, or maybe just perused by someone walking by. It's reassuring to know that your private data has an extra layer of protection.

The Windows XP system does include some native security measures to protect your "My Files" stuff against other users, but that feature is not highly secure. TrueCrypt provides encrypted security, which is the real deal. So you'd better not lose your password, or you'll NEVER get your data back. You have been warned!

Check out Wikipedia's essay on TrueCrypt.

(Note that this is a privacy tool, as opposed to a spy (or counterspy) tool. PC security is a huge topic, and this is only a small piece of a big picture. If ruthless people are out to get you, or if you're feeling paranoid, you'll be concerned about software and hardware key-loggers and other spyware, and you'll want more than TrueCrypt. But to protect against casual access, TrueCrypt should be effective.)

Posted by Maynard · October 24, 2006 02:22 AM · Permalink
Gadgets/Toys | Maynard Post | Science & Technology

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