The information we store on our computer is growing, since today most documents are scanned so that they are sent and received through different applications or email, to be stored on PCs. In addition we usually use these devices in different areas such as personal, professional or educational. No doubt today the information we exchange is although in many cases we are not aware, of great importance and relevance to other people.
Security must be, as we have often mentioned, one of the fundamentals to take into account in any process that we carry out in our information, since much of it is confidential and we must protect it from accesses that have not been duly authorized. In addition, regardless of the operating system used, we may be sensitive to the fact that this information, no matter what type it may be, if you do not have the optimal levels of security may be compromised.
To counteract this type of failure we have softwares that have been specially designed to encrypt our units using multiple techniques, either advanced algorithms or random keys, but all with a direct objective: to safeguard the information recorded there. It is important that we take this into account, since in this way we will be protecting everything that is important to us on our computer, and we will not be exposing all this data to the possible attackers who can access our system.
This time Solvetic will analyze in detail some of the best applications to encrypt our units in Windows 7, 8 or 10 for free and with high levels of security.
Veracrypt
Undoubtedly, Veracrypt is one of the most popular encryption tools that we find today thanks to its various functionalities including being the successor of TrueCrypt which was listed as one of the best existing encryption systems.
Veracrypt is an open source application designed by IDRIX based on TrueCrypt 7.1a and which can be installed on Windows, Linux, Mac OS operating systems and with support for iOS and Android. We can be fully sure that with Veracrypt we will add a much higher level of security to our units by implementing improvements in the algorithms in order to make immune units encrypted to brute force attacks which aim to decipher the respective keys.
An example of how Veracrypt is much safer than its TrueCrypt predecessor is that when a certain unit is encrypted TrueCrypt uses PBKDF2-RIPEMD160 encryption with 1000 iterations while Veracrypt makes use of 327661 iterations.
Among its main features we find:
- Creation of a virtual encrypted disk within a file which is deployed as a real drive
- You can encrypt the drive where the operating system is installed
- Allows total encryption of an internal or external drive
- The encryption process can be accelerated by hardware according to modern technologies
- The encryption process is automatic and transparent
- It includes denial technologies which allow you to hide volumes or the operating system in case we are forced to reveal the password.
- It has five levels of encryption
We can understand the great benefits that Veracrypt offers us.
Veracrypt can be downloaded for free at the following link:
Veracrypt
Gpg4win
Another of the free options we have for the encryption tasks of the units in Windows systems. With Gpg4win all the elements that we want to share, such as files, folders, emails, will be protected thanks to their encryption levels and digital signatures which guarantee the integrity of the content, remember that encryption protects the content from undesired accesses while the Digital signatures ensure that the content has not been modified and comes from a secure sender.
We can rely on the integrity of this application as it was developed in conjunction with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Gpg4win supports cryptographic standards such as OpenPGP and S / MIME (X.509), and is the official distribution for Windows operating systems.
It is important to mention some of the components of this application:
- GnuPG, is the official encryption tool
- Kleopatra, is the manager of the OpenPGP and X.509 (S / MIME) certificates.
- GpgOL is a complement for Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007/2010/2013/2016 which allows us to encrypt emails
- GPA is an alternate certificate manager for OpenPGP and X.509 (S / MIME)
- GpgEX is an add-on for Microsoft Explorer
During the installation process of Gpg4win we must make sure to activate the GPA box which by default is not active. During its use we can create certificates easily and safely
Gpg4win can be downloaded at the following link:
Gpg4win
DiskCryptor
With DiskCryptor we have at hand a simple but useful open source tool with which we can encrypt all system units including the operating system unit.
DiskCryptor is an evolution of DriveCrypt Plus Pack and PGP WDE and although the first versions of DiskCryptor had TrueCrypt technology offering AES-256 encryption but currently in the new versions new encryption technologies have been implemented which guarantee higher levels of security and Privacy.
Some of its main features are:
- Compatible with all editions of Windows in 32-bit and 64-bit architectures
- It is licensed by GNU GPLv3.
- It supports the encryption of AES, Twofish and Serpent algorithms.
- Supports dynamic disk encryption
- The entire encryption task is transparent and automatic.
- Supports hardware acceleration
- Includes new AES instructions for Intel and AMD processors
- Supports SSD TRIM extensions
- Allows system and boot unit encryption
- Supports key files or key files
- Creation of encrypted CD or DVD drives is possible
- We can encrypt external drives
- Automatically mount external drives that have been encrypted
- We can create keyboard shortcuts through the command line
DiskCryptor can be downloaded for free at the following link:
DiskCryptor
AxCrypt
AxCrypt is listed as one of the best encryption software for Windows operating systems because thanks to it we can compress, encrypt, decrypt, store, send and work with individual or group files. In addition to these features, AxCrypt is a complement for platforms such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Live Mesh, SkyDrive which allows the encryption of our files in the cloud.
Its interface is simple but offers many features.
Its most outstanding features are:
- It does not require any configuration by the user before use
- Supports more than 2 languages
- It has a large database of scripts and programming files
- Automatically performs double encryption after verification increasing security possibilities
- It is open source licensed by GNU
- It has 128-bit AES encryption
- Compatible with all editions of Windows in 32-bit and 64-bit architectures
- Generate and support key files
- Lightweight being its executable smaller than 1 MB in size
- Automatically validate the password before the encryption or decryption process
- Compatible with files larger than 4 GB in size
- It has selective compression before encryption which allows file uploads much faster
- It has integrated data breaker
- Verify the integrity of the data and many more.
AxCrypt can be downloaded for multiple versions of Windows in the following link:
AxCrypt
7-Zip
7-Zip is one of the most popular applications for file compression in various operating systems but what many did not know is that with this application we have the opportunity to encrypt files hosted on the system. With 7-Zip, only 7z and zip formats will be compatible with encryption.
Some of its most outstanding features are:
- Allows compression and decompression of 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM formats
- Allows decompression (exclusively) of AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR formats between many more.
- Provides a compression ratio between 2% and 10% better than other applications in ZIP and GZIP file compression
- It has AES-256 encryption
- Available in more than 80 languages
- It can be installed on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.
The encryption process is simple, just right click on the file to be encrypted, select the 7-Zip / Add to archive option and in the window that appears, assign the password for the file and define the values we consider necessary:
We can see that the AES-256 encryption method is set by default.
7-Zip can be downloaded at the following link:
7-Zip
BitLocker
Finally, we have our own Windows tool called BitLocker which we find from Windows 7 and allows us to use 128-bit AES encryption together with TPM (Trusted Platform Module) technology to protect access to both internal and external units in the system. For that, just right click on the unit to be encrypted and select the option Activate Bitlocker and follow the steps of the wizard.
The assigned password can be saved in a local file, printed, etc. In this way the units will be protected from unauthorized access:
To know in detail how to use BitLocker we can go to the following link:
BitLocker
Steganos Safe
Other applications that we can download on our Windows 10 computer to tape our files, is Steganos Safe. It is an encryption program that creates secure units of up to 2TB. We will see that when these folders are open they will work like a normal folder, but when we close this secure drive we will see that it is no longer visible.
In this way we will be able to keep all the information that we store in Windows 10 and that we consider important and relevant, hidden in our computer to prevent unauthorized access to it. This data can only be accessed with the correct password. It has 384-bit AES-XEX encryption with AES-NI hardware acceleration.
Main features
- Protect files and folders on the local disk, on USB sticks, CDs, DVDs, external HDs and also in the cloud.
- Virtual chest that uses 384-bit AES-XES algorithm to encrypt files.
- The program creates secure units of up to 2TB.
- It offers the function of hiding Safes to increase protection.
It can be downloaded at the following link:
Steganos Safe
Note
This program has a free 30-day trial, after this date, we must make your purchase if we want to continue using it.
With these options we will have practical alternatives for the encryption of our units and thus we will add security and protection to them.
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