For OPSEC reasons, I want to set up a password protected file folder in Windows if it is possible. According to the internet, there is no native way to do that in Windows other than by encryption, which also looks to be crackable by a chimpanzee. That said, there are ways to do it with third party software, free for the download. I mistrust 3rd party freebies, for what I have to say might be backdoors that might be hidden in the downloads. For (less?) obvious reasons, I'd prefer to not need to learn a new OS (like LINUX) or buy an Apple machine, if such a protected folder could be implemented in either of those systems. Possibly relevant, whatever it is should be compatible/functional with both Vista and W7 (and hopefully, with the next Windows OS.) Good ideas are needed; it's time to help a dummy if possible.
Yep, the OS you mentioned can encrypt your whole drive and you can create encrypted files or containers on your encrypted drive which would provide more than one layer of encryption Layers are good. Dr M wrote a guide a while ago
A very popular free program that used to provide some encryption for wind$$$ was abruptly discontinued under very mysterious circumstances.
There are some USB jump drives with encryption and password access. No software or special OS and some of those drives are allegedly rather secure.
The encryption on USB flash drives is sometimes very weak and the passwords or keys are sometimes easy to break. An external 3.5" eSATA or SATA hard drive would be the fastest option and cheapest per meg. While an external 2.5" eSATA or SATA SSD drive would be faster than a 3.5" HDD it would be more expensive and would wear out much faster. 2.5" HDDs are slower than their 3.5" counterparts.
I concur the so called secure drive from Wal-mart probably isn't much, but I was personally thinking of I believe Kingston and similar versions. We used one of those for some proprietary documents at work that we sent to a client that as I recall claimed to have allegedly military grade encryption and we had to use a complex password. It was called the Traveler or Travels or something like that with a number like 5000 or something, not $10 cheap either. Are you saying even those lack good security? Were we just gullible regarding the claims of 256 bit AES encryption etc and it was just hype?
More like this one: Amazon.com: Kingston Digital 32GB Data Traveler Locker and USB 3.0 G3 with Automatic Data Security DTLPG3/32GB: Computers & Accessories Much much cheaper and 4x the capacity -- 2014 model versus 2011 model. Moore's Law at work: Moore's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TrueCrypt, the working version, can still be obtained. Works great, no? Just discontinued abruptly as you said.
It was one of those or similar (just had our office assistant buy it). I recall it was Kingston and seems like it was 50-60 bucks for it and was maybe 4 gig. (not sure the docs were that sensitive, but the money wasnt that much and seemed like good PR that we took the client's IP concerns seriously.) Anyhow, I think there are reasonably secure jump drives that are easy to use.
DataTraveler 5000 FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Certified Secure: drive locks down after 10 intrusion attempts and encryption key is destroyed Enforced complex pass protection: password is user set with minimum characteristics to prevent unauthorized access Passwords never stored on device Hardware designed and assembled in the U.S. SPYRUS Suite B on Boardâ„¢ Elliptic curve cryptography Secure channel communication Digitally signed firmware updates using Suite B SHA-384 and ECDSA P-384 DT5000 can operate with AutoRun disabled Enforces tamper-free AutoRun files Fully customizable Malware scanning option(3) Cryptography: Made in the U.S. Full Privacy: 100 percent of stored data is protected by 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware-based encryption - master key recreated at logon Customizable(3): preload content, full security policy customization, casing options Tamper evident: tamper-evident coating/seal for physical security Waterproof(4): protected against water damage Guaranteed: five-year warranty with 24/7 customer support Ruggedized: waterproof and titanium-coated stainless steel casing If this is accurate it looks great on paper. Still, you should not depend solely on "hardware" encryption.
Yep it was abruptly discontinued. There is still debate as to what happened. The problem is finding something that is secure and still supports XP, vista, 7, 8, 10 and future versions which is what GH was looking for. 8 and 10 are not supported by the discontinued version and it is unclear if any forks will support 8, 10 and any future versions. There are many other issues with the program and others like it.