USB Security

Hi all,

Is there a way to secure files on a USB flash drive?


Thanks.

 

Thanks Steve.

I wasn't sure what to look for, but your answer helped me to Google to a program called True Crypt. The program looks like a winner to me, except that the help file has 105 pages to it.

 

if you are talking about windows native security. That is not secure, you can take admin possesion of the folder

 

Anyone know of a program that is simple to use? Trucrypt is too complicated for me, and I just don't have the time or patience to read their complicated help file.

 

Hi, James.

I just tried WinZip 10.0 to create a ZIP file that contains files encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption (strong encryption) on my USB thumb drive. It was fairly easy for me. (I didn't use a manual. ) After one selects the checkbox to encrypt files, WinZip even pops up a window with a "Help" button (which I used to get information I excerpted from for the quote below). There are more details below about how I used WinZip to encrypt files.

I am a registered WinZip user so I don't know for certain if the encryption feature is available with the trial version. I think it's worth a shot anyway.

Here's a bit of info about the encryption offered by WinZip.

It appears someone can open the ZIP file to view the enclosed filenames without a password, so sensitive information should not be included in filenames. However, the enclosed encrypted files' contents cannot be opened/viewed without the proper password.

It appears all encrypted files within the same ZIP file must have the same password. I tried using a different password for a different file I added to the encrypted ZIP archive and got a popup window stating I couldn't use that different password.

EDIT: After creating a ZIP file with encrypted files inside, if you later add files to the ZIP file, then those added files will NOT be encrypted. Your ZIP file will contain a mix of encrypted and unencrypted files. Encrypted password-protected files displayed within WinZip have an asterisk (*) next to the filename. You must open the ZIP file with WinZip and then encrypt the added files from within WinZip by clicking on the "Encrypt" button. After you click the "Encrypt" button, you'll be prompted to enter the proper password. It appears all unencrypted files in the ZIP will be rewritten as encrypted files when you use the "Encrypt" button in WinZip.

One way to add files to a ZIP file is via the right-click context menu when you right-click on a filename within Windows Explorer (if you install/configure WinZip with that feature). There are a few different ways you can add files to a ZIP via the right-click context menu. I'll leave that to you to experiment with if you want to try WinZip. Feel free to ask questions if anything is confusing while you experiment with WinZip and I'll do my best to help.

KEEP IN MIND: When you add files to a ZIP file, that does NOT delete or wipe the original files. If you want to simply MOVE files directly to a ZIP file, I don't know how to do that with WinZip (if it's even possible). However, you can add files to a ZIP file and then securely wipe original files from their original locations with one of several wiping/shredding programs available on the Internet.

Simply deleting a file is NOT secure. "Deleting" a file simply marks that file's data location as available "free space ". Until that "free space" is overwritten with other data, that information can be easily retrieved. If you want some pointers to some of those wiping/shredding utilities, feel free to ask.

ALSO KEEP IN MIND: Anyone can erase/wipe these ZIP files that contain encrypted contents unless you take measures to prevent that. I am not immediately aware of such erasure prevention methods but I expect they're available. (I'm thinking of the malicious type of person that might just want to try to ruin your day.)

I hope this helps!

 

Thanks mailman!

I'll give a look-see in the near future...I'm a bit tied up at the moment.

 

You're very welcome, James.

NOTE: I edited the contents of my original reply above to clarify after you replied.

By the way, an advantage to using WinZip over other encryption utilities may be that WinZip also compresses files so they generally take up less space. A few file formats may increase in size when zipped (such as .JPG images, .MP3 files, etc. which are already compressed to begin with) but the majority of data files (especially document files) will decrease in size when zipped. Overall, you can expect the size of an encrypted ZIP archive of files will be significantly smaller than the collection of files you started with.

Please let us know how you fare.