Using TrueCrypt to protect data

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Britton Pope
9 years ago
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1 Using TrueCrypt to protect data Password protecting and encrypting files one by one is a certainly an effective way to securely store and share data. However, what if you have a lot of files? Creating an encrypted file store can be more efficient if you have files types that are don t have native password or encryption protections. TrueCrypt is a program that will allow you to create virtual disk drives as large as you would like, TrueCrypt also supports full disk encryption so if you wanted to encrypt your entire computer hard disk this is an easy, free solution to do so. 1) Download and install TrueCrypt from Once you have installed TrueCrypt you start it by choosing Start -> Programs -> TrueCrypt -> TrueCrypt. The main application window will open, as shown in Figure #1. Figure #1: TrueCrypt Application Window 2) Before you can securely store files you must first create an encrypted volume. Think of this as a large zip file that you can drag and drop files into for safe keeping. Click the Create Volume button located at left center of the screen, the TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard will start, as shown in Figure #2.

TrueCrypt is a program that will allow you to create virtual disk drives as large as you would like, TrueCrypt also supports full disk encryption so if you wanted to encrypt your entire computer hard

2 Figure #2: Volume Creation Wizard 3) Almost all data protection needs can be accommodated with a Standard TrueCrypt Volume, select this radio button and click Next. The next step of the wizard prompts for a location for the volume, as shown in Figure #3. Figure #3: Volume Creation Wizard 4) The TrueCrypt volume is a single file and the only requirement for the location you decide to store it is that there is enough space available for the size of volume you desire. If you want your encrypted volume to be portable save it a USB flash drive, press the

Figure #3: Volume Creation Wizard 4) The TrueCrypt volume is a single file and the only requirement for the location you decide to store

3 select file to pick the location and name of the file, as shown in Figure #4. Press Save, and Next when returned to the creation wizard. Figure #4: TrueCrypt Volume Location 5) The next step is to pick the encryption and hash algorithms that will be used to protect the data in the volume. The details of the various encryption algorithms supported by TrueCrypt are out of the scope of this document. There are no bad choices; however, the US standard is AES and SHA-1. The default selection of AES and RIPEND-160 is fine for protecting personal information, Figure #5 show an example of this screen. Press Next to advance the wizard. Figure #5: Encryption and Hash options 6) The next step is to pick the size of the encrypted volume. The size should not be larger than the location you selected to save the file. Allocate the desired amount of space and press Next, as shown in Figure #6.

The details of the various encryption algorithms supported by TrueCrypt are out of the scope of this document. There are no bad choices; however, the US standard is AES and SHA-1.

4 Figure #6: Encrypted volume size selection 7) The TrueCrypt encrypted volume is protected by a password. The next step in the volume creation wizard is to set the password. This password is the key to unlocking all the data stored in the volume; it should be long and difficult to guess. Set the password and click Next as shown in Figure #7. Figure #7: Setting a volume password 8) The last step of the wizard actually formats the volume based on the settings you picked in the previous steps. You can opt to change the filesystem type from FAT to NTFS, but for smaller volumes there is not much different. For volumes over a 1 GB, an NTFS

This password is the key to unlocking all the data stored in the volume; it should be long and difficult to guess.

5 9) volume will be more efficient. Picking the default cluster size is recommended, particularly if the volume is going to be used on random computers. Press Format as shown in Figure #8. If there are no errors then the volume will be created and the wizard will start over. Once back at the Volume Creation Wizard, you may press Cancel. Figure #8: Formatting the volume Figure #9: Volume created 10) Now that you have a TrueCrypt volume, you can mount it and start securely storing data. At the main TrueCrypt window, as shown in Figure #1. Mounting a volume is as simple as opening a file. Highlight a drive letter (upper portion of the TrueCrypt application window), the drive you select will be where you store all your encrypted data. Press the Select file button and browse to where you stored your TrueCrypt Volume and Press Mount. You will be prompted to provide the volume password, as shown in Figure #10.

Figure #8: Formatting the volume Figure #9: Volume created 10) Now that you have a TrueCrypt volume, you can mount it and start securely storing data.

6 Figure #10: Volume password 11) Once mounted, the drive letter you selected during the mounting step will now be available to you. It will appear as new hard drive such as C:, but will be labeled as the drive letter you selected. This drive is now ready to securely store your data. Figure #11: Z: Drive is TrueCrypt protected. 12) Once you are done using your TrueCrypt volume you may dismount this drive by selecting Dismount from the TrueCrypt application window or by right clicking on the TrueCrypt system tray icon and selecting Dismount.

This drive is now ready to securely store your data. Figure #11: Z: Drive is TrueCrypt protected.

Encrypting a USB Drive Using TrueCrypt

Encrypting a USB Drive Using TrueCrypt This document details the steps to encrypt a USB Pen drive using TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt is free and open-source security software allowing encryption of documents and