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4.7 star rating
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Utilities
Encryption
What is the best encryption software?
3
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4
User
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Oct 18, 2023
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2
Options
Considered
Best encryption software
Price
Open Source
Platforms
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VeraCrypt
Free
Yes
Windows, Linux, Mac
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GNU Privacy Guard
-
Yes
-
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VeraCrypt
My Rec
ommendation
for
VeraCrypt
My Recommendation for
VeraCrypt
All
13
Pros
9
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Free
This project is free and users are encouraged to donate something to keep the project going.
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Top
Con
•••
Not plug and play
Requires some tech savvy, so some skill is required, particularly if things go wrong. In the Windows world different UEFI implementations can cause problems in one, not in others, and the solutions are not uniform between issues. For Bitlocker, Microsoft worked out issues with vendors before hand, so if Windows installs and works without bitlocker, it will likely work with it.
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Specs
Open Source:
Yes
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Multiplatform
Veracrypt is supported on MacOS, Linux and Windows.
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Top
Con
•••
The UI is not compliant with the Mac
This program does not use Mac UI standards. Nevertheless, it is acceptable.
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Top
Pro
•••
On-the-fly encryption
Veracrypt is an on-the-fly encryption tool. Meaning that it decrypts files only when they are needed and that the files are otherwise kept encrypted the rest of the time.
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Top
Con
•••
Can't create volumes on the Mac.
The password used to create the volume doesn't open the volume one minute later. VeraCrypt 1.21/FUSE 3.82/macOS 10.12.6. Recreated on 3 Macs now. Unusable.
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Top
Pro
•••
Support for AES code in CPU
Most Intel and AMD (and possibly other) CPUs have AES specific instruction sets, so you needn't task the CPU during the en/de/crypt process when using AES, VC throughput is as if the code were in 'firmware'; you can see the effect if you choose anything but AES as your cipher.
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Top
Pro
•••
Built on top of TrueCrypt
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use
It's easy to understand and use.
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Top
Pro
•••
Several encryption cyphers supported
Supports AES, TwoFish and Serpent encryption cyphers.
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Top
Pro
•••
Regular updates
Veracrypt is in active development with constant and regular updates and several external audits in the planning stages.
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Top
Pro
•••
Open source code
The source code is open to review. It has already had a security audit and it did well, with small problems fixed by authors within days of being reported. Its predecessor source, Truecrypt, had a detailed audit that found its capabilities sound, completed (ironically) shortly before the TC folks decided to call it quits. Anyone skeptical or curious about what it does can see how it works, at the gut level.
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Free
Recommend
2
--
GNU Privacy Guard
My Rec
ommendation
for
GNU Privacy Guard
My Recommendation for
GNU Privacy Guard
All
10
Pros
8
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Supports paired keys
Allows for encrypted communication.
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Top
Con
•••
It may be hard to find a GUI frontend that suits your needs
If you decide not to use the CLI version of GPG, it may be hard to find a GPG GUI version that suits your needs simply because of the sheer number of different versions available.
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Specs
Open Source:
Yes
Top
Pro
•••
Both CLI and GUI versions available
GPG can be installed as a command line tool, or you can choose between several different GUI frontends available for it.
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Top
Pro
•••
Open-source and battle-tested
GPG is the oldest and most reliable encryption software available.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports expiring signatures
GPG keys by default expire after a set amount of time. The amount can be changed and this feature can be turned off.
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Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
GPG works on OS X, Linux, and Windows with extensive selection of wrappers.
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Top
Pro
•••
Volume and individual file encryption
With GPG you can encrypt you whole volume or files individually.
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Top
Pro
•••
Excellent but...
Open source (the free version of openPgp), other similar products are offered for other platforms (Gpg4win for Windows for example). It is the most secure way to send emails today, close to military encryption. Some negative points: not all mail clients support it and when a key is not only on your hard disk but also on a server (pgp.mit.edu for example), it is complicated to remove it. Last positive point: it can also be used other than for emails, to encrypt and sign documents. Bitcoin releases are signed with the GPG keys of the developers ;)
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Top
Pro
•••
Multiple types of encryption algorithms
GPG supports public key cryptography (RSA EIGamal, DSA), symmetrical key algorithms (Blowfish, AES, IDEA, etc), cryptographic hash functions (RIPEMD, SHA), and compression (ZIP, ZLIB, BZIP2).
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