Hacker 10 – Security Hacker

Tag: portable encryption software

  • US Army Encryption Wizard public edition

    US Army Encryption Wizard public edition

    Developed by the US Air Force Software Protection Initiative, a unit building cost effective cyberdefences against nation-state class threats, Encryption Wizard is a portable program to encrypt files using AES128-bit. Java allows this tool to work across operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris), there is no need for administrator rights to execute it, Encryption Wizard can be carried in a USB thumbdrive.

    Easy to use, dragging and dropping a file inside the window will start the wizard to secure your files, your password will be checked for dictionary words and you will be told how secure it is, a password generator showing the entropy bits is available in a different tab if you need it. After encryption the original files can be kept or securely wiped, additional options include encrypting your files with PKI/X509 digital certificates, or a smart card (CAC/ PIV) and you can choose to add metadata to an encrypted file which will help indexing software to locate it, right clicking on an encrypted file will also show its MD5 and SHA256 checksum hash, the developers claim that if anyone forgets the passphrase it is not possible to decrypt the file.

    US Army Encryption Wizard
    US Army Encryption Wizard

    If you are going to encrypt multiple files you can compress an encrypt them in a single archive that will result in the extension .wza, individual encrypted files use .wzd, encrypted archives work the same way a password protected .rar file would, storing multiple files inside one. The software comes with a brilliant pdf help manual full of screenshots and clear instructions, there is no mention in the manual of being able to use Encryption Wizard to secure top secret documents, the manual recommends its use to encrypt financial information, send emails to soldiers and sharing files in between organizations using incompatible encryption solutions, it gave me the impression that it has been created to encrypt the day to day business of the private soldier (rosters, wages, assignments).

    This tool is included in the US Army Lightweight Portable Security (LPS) secure Linux distribution and there is a Firefox addon to easily encrypt and decrypt files during upload/download. An Encryption Wizard Government Edition FIPS140-2 certified is available for US Federal Government employees and contractors.

    Visit Encryption Wizard homepage

  • Portable text encryption software CTI Encryption

    Portable text encryption software CTI Encryption

    Open source CTI Text Encryption is a small (290Kb) portable application to secure your text messages, there is no need for administrator rights and it should work in any public computer, I found a few of the default settings confusing, like for example naming the password fields “Key” and having everything hidden with asterisks by default, you will have to tick the  “Show Characters” checkbox to see what you are doing, on a public computer is best to keep everything hidden obviously. It took me a couple of minutes looking around to familiarize with the software.

    The program has two encryption tabs, “Two way Encryption” and “One Way Encryption“, the later is not reversible and can not be decrypted, the only possible use seems to be hashing a text message (creating a number generated from a string of text), it can be useful as anti-tampering measure to ensure message integrity, the output result can be copied and pasted with the a message.

    CTI Text Encryption software
    CTI Text Encryption software

    The software allows you to use your computer processor ID or hard drive serial number as a password with a single click but anyone with access to your computer could find those out, I did not find the feature too secure for that reason and there is no particular advantage that I know of by using them instead of a traditional password.

    CTI Text Encryption could be useful for travellers, assuming you convince the receiving end to download and use the same software to be able to read your messages. If you travel often it’s best to sign up with an email service that offers encryption by default, but unless you have your own computer security is easy to compromise, and if you use your laptop with a Wifi connection, PGP or GPG encryption would be the best option.

    I couldn’t find much information about CTI Text Encryption inner workings other than some change logs mentioning SHA256, Twofish and the Rijndael Algorithm (AES) .

    Visit CTI Encryption homepage