Category Archives: Encryption
The DoD Will Finally Encrypt Service Member Emails. Here’s What That Means For You – Task & Purpose
In a letter to a watchdog lawmaker last week, the Department of Defense confirmed that it will finally, in 2018, join the 21st century and use a popular basic encryption tool to help make emails to and from .mil addresses more secure. What does that mean for your badass joe.schmuckatelli@centcom.mil account? Lets break it down.
The Defense Information Systems Agency confirmed to Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Senate intelligence committee member, that by next year, the Pentagons .mil email will implement STARTTLS for enhanced email encryption a longstanding application that Wyden has called a basic, widely used, easily-enabled cybersecurity technology.
The move came after years of poking around by the reporters at Vice and some tough talk from Wyden questioning how the militarys 4.5 million-user cloud-based email service had never implemented STARTTLS before.
I cant think of a single technical reason why they wouldnt use it, one former U.S. Special Operations Command IT whiz told Vice. A hacker and former Marine similarly told the outlet: The military should not be sending any email that isnt encrypted, period. Everything should get encrypted, absolutely everything. Theres no excuse.
Vices Motherboard blog has a nice breakdown of STARTTLS, which is whats called an opportunistic encryption app. Basically, when your email server and a recipients email server hook up to exchange info, STARTTLS sets up the exchange on the fly as an encrypted transaction. When your emails are sent out into the world without encryption, opportunistic or otherwise, they are as readable as postcards, per Vice:
When your email provider doesnt support STARTTLS, your email might be encrypted going from your computer to your provider, but it will then travel across the internet in the clear (unless you used end-to-end encryption.) When your email provider, and the email provider of the person youre sending the email to, both support STARTTLS, then the email is protected as it travels across.
Kinda, yeah, but not super-big. STARTTLS has been around since 2002, and Gmail first implemented it in 2004. Vice points out that Google and your other popular private email and social-media sites including Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and Facebook have already integrated STARTTLS. In the wake of the NSA surveillance disclosures by contractor Edward Snowden, Facebook led a very public charge to get more sites to use STARTTLS to keep the feds from looking at your emails.
So theres nothing new here; DoD is simply catching up to a basic encryption technology thats been around for a decade and a half long enough now that the vast majority of emails you send and receive communicate with another STARTTLS-equipped server. It has some weaknesses, and it aint PGP encryption, but its a good start.
Well, you probably already know from experience that no Pentagon-level IT policy changes overnight. But more than that, keeping mail.mil STARTTLS-free has also given the military a lot more freedom to snoop through your emails a freedom DISA was probably reluctant to give up. In a letter to Wyden in April, DISA deputy director Maj. Gen. Sarah Zabel said the agencys software regularly sweeps incoming soldier email for phishing scams, viruses, and the like.
DISA currently rejects over 85% of all DoD email traffic coming from the Internet on a daily basis due to malicious behavior, Zabel wrote. We also inspect for advanced, persistent threats using detection methods developed using national level intelligence. Many of these detection methods would be rendered ineffective if STARTTLS were enabled.
In fact, top civil liberties groups like the ACLU have long called for government agencies to use encryption not just to protect their sensitive info, but to help establish a broad pro-encryption consensus in America: If the government gets to encrypt its data, then why shouldnt free American citizens get the same right? Such a norm might not sit well with government agencies, like the NSA, CIA, and FBI, who rely on signals surveillance to further intelligence and investigative aims.
Beyond that, if the military has to triage its IT systems for info security, its probably going to tackle unclassified email servers last, after focusing on secure and closed systems like SIPRNET, the National Military Command Center, and Link 16 tactical data transmission networks.
Well, that was DISAs initial suggestion: Using STARTTLS could make it harder for the Pentagon to catch and neutralize viruses in your emails. But its decision to migrate everyones mail.mil accounts to a new STARTTLS gateway by July 2018 suggests whatever kinks the application threw in DISAs surveillance have now been worked out.
In the meantime, the service is still adamant that you shouldnt be passing any sensitive info or clicking any weird links in your nonsecure mail.mil account in the first place, so, you know, keep not doing that.
Yeah: Download less porn. Seriously. Even if its virus-free, that much cant be healthy, man.
Also, remember the cardinal rule of opsec:
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The DoD Will Finally Encrypt Service Member Emails. Here's What That Means For You - Task & Purpose
Turnbull handballs encryption problem to tech companies – iTnews
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has put the onus on the technology companies providing end-to-end encryption to work out ways law enforcement can access the communications of criminals and terrorists.
In a speech in London overnight, Turnbull said companies should not be able to build end-to-end encryption tools that meant nobody - including courts and law enforcement - could access the content of communications.
The Australian government - along with its G20 counterparts - is looking at ways it can legally gain access to encrypted messages.
The government has repeatedly denied it is asking for backdoors to be built into encrypted messaging products, however technology companiesand security experts say encrypted communications - for which individual users hold the decryption keys - cannot be accessed without doing so.
Attorney-General George Brandislast month saidthe government would try to secure co-operation from technology companies and internet service providers through an agreed set of protocols, rather than legal requirements.
He also hinted at a potential tweaking of warrant exchanges between Australian and Five Eyes law enforcement to more easily access data in those jurisdictions.
"What we need is to develop, and what well be asking the device makers and the ISPs to agree to, is a series of protocols as to the circumstances in which they will be able to provide voluntary assistance to law enforcement," Brandis said.
"There is also, of course, the capacity which exists now in the United Kingdom and in New Zealand under their legislation for coercive powers, but we dont want to resort to that. We want to engage with the private sector to achieve a set of voluntary solutions."
Turnbull overnight told technology companies "the ball is in your court" when it comes to finding a solution to the problem.
"... just as a locked bank vault or filing cabinet cannot resist a court order to produce a document, why should the owners of encrypted messaging platforms like Whatsapp or Telegram or Signal be able to establish end to end encryption in such a way that nobody, not the owners and not the courts have the ability to find out what is being communicated," Turnbull said.
"[We are saying to Sillicon Valley] youhave created messaging applications which are encrypted end to end, they are being used by terrorists and criminals to hide their murderous plans.
"You must ensure that these dark places can be illuminated by the law so that the freedoms you hold dear will not be stripped away by criminals your technologies have made undetectable."
Turnbull conceded it would be a "difficult conversation" but argued the best defence against terrorists was "good intelligence".
"We have in the last few years disrupted 12 major terrorists plots, including several that would have resulted in large mass casualty attacks," he said.
"How many more can we disrupt if every communication, by every conspirator, is encrypted end to end and cannot be read despite every lawful right, indeed duty, so to do?"
The prime minister reiterated that the government would not pursue backdoors or access to technology companies' source code.
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Turnbull handballs encryption problem to tech companies - iTnews
Former Head Of GCHQ Says Don’t Backdoor End-To-End Encryption, Attack The End Points – Techdirt
When he was head of GCHQ, Robert Hannigan said some pretty clueless things about the Internet and encryption. For example, in 2014, he accused tech companies of 'facilitating murder', and joined in the general demonization of strong crypto. Last year, he called for technical experts to work more closely with governments to come up with some unspecified way around encryption. Nobody really knew what he meant when he said:
"I am not in favor of banning encryption. Nor am I asking for mandatory back doors. Not everything is a back door, still less a door which can be exploited outside a legal framework."
Now, speaking to the BBC, he has clarified those remarks, and revealed how he thinks governments should be dealing with the issue of end-to-end encryption. As he admits:
"You can't uninvent end-to-end encryption, which is the thing that has particularly annoyed people, and rightly, in recent months. You can't just do away it, you can't legislate it away. The best that you can do with end-to-end encryption is work with the companies in a cooperative way, to find ways around it frankly."
He emphasized that backdoors are not the answer:
"I absolutely don't advocate that. Building in backdoors is a threat to everybody, and it's not a good idea to weaken security for everybody in order to tackle a minority."
So what is the solution? This:
"It's cooperation to target the people who are using it. So obviously the way around encryption is to get to the end point -- a smartphone, or a laptop -- that somebody who is abusing encryption is using. That's the way to do it."
As Techdirt reported earlier this year, this is very much the approach advocated by top security experts Bruce Schneier and Orin Kerr. They published a paper describing ways to circumvent even the strongest encryption. It seems that Hannigan has got the message that methods other than crypto backdoors exist, some of which require cooperation from tech companies, which may or may not be forthcoming. It's a pity that he's no longer head of GCHQ -- he left for "personal reasons" at the beginning of this year. But maybe that has given him a new freedom to speak out against stupid approaches. We just need to hope the UK government still listens to him.
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Former Head Of GCHQ Says Don't Backdoor End-To-End Encryption, Attack The End Points - Techdirt
Former GCHQ boss backs end-to-end encryption – The Register
Former GCHQ director Robert Hannigan has spoken out against building backdoors into end-to-end encryption (e2) schemes as a means to intercept communications by terrorists and other ne'er do wells.
UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd has criticised mobile messaging services such as WhatsApp, that offer end-to-end encryption in the wake of recent terror outages, such as the Westminster Bridge attack, arguing that there should be no place for terrorists to hide.
Hannigan, who led GCHQ between November 2014 and January 2017, struck a different tone in an interview with BBC Radio 4 flagship news programme Today on Monday morning, arguing there's no simple answer on the national security challenges posed by encryption.
"Encryption is overwhelmingly a good thing," Hannigan said. "It keeps us all safe and secure. Throughout the Cold War and up until 15 years ago it was something only governments could do at scale."
The former spy agency boss described the availability of e2e encryption in smartphone apps available to everyone is, broadly, a good thing.
"The challenge for governments is how do you stop the abuse of that encryption by the tiny amount of people who want to do bad things, like terrorists and criminals," Hannigan said.
"You can't un-invent end-to-end encryption you can't legislate it away," he added.
The former head of GCHQ favours co-operation between government agencies and private (tech) companies "to find a way around it" rather than passing laws that oblige tech providers to weaken the encryption of their technology or install backdoors.
"I don't advocate building in backdoors," Hannigan said. "It's not a good idea to weaken security for everybody in order to tackle a minority.
The best solution is to "target the people who are abusing" encryption systems and go after the smartphone or laptops they are using.
"Trying to weaken the system, trying to build in backdoors won't work and is technically difficult," Hannigan reiterated.
e2e schemes are a subset of encryption in general but present a tougher challenge for law enforcement and government because service provides don't hold the private keys needed to decipher data.
Not all encryption works end to end. As well as malware implants on end point devices, encryption schemes can be broken through protocol weakness and implementation flaws.
Hannigan referenced the 1980s Clipper Chip debacle in saying he doesn't think legislation to weaken crypto would work now either. "The Americans tried that in the 1990s under the Clinton Administration and it didn't work. I can't see, particularly since most of these companies are US based, that legislation is the answer."
The co-operation Hanningan advocates with tech firms is more difficult after the revelations from former NSA sysadmin Edward Snowden. This is not just because of pressure from consumers for tech firms to offer technologies more resistant against government snooping but because firms, such as Google, who co-operate with the US government in handing over data under schemes such as PRISM were angered to discover that the NSA was pulling other tricks such as hacking into links between their data centre too.
Telcos, in particular, co-operated with law enforcement agencies across the world in lawful interception schemes for years before smartphones and endpoint devices rather than telecom switches became the necessary focus of surveillance efforts as the result of advances in technology such as the rise of mobile messaging and apps such as WhatsApp, Apple iMessage and Telegram, among others.
The former GCHQ boss - who started off his tenure criticising tech giants for acting as a "command and control" networks of choice for terrorists and criminals back in November 2014 - underwent something of a conversion in attitudes as a spy agency boss.
By March 2016 he was had softened his stance and begun advocating co-operation with tech giants, such as Google and Apple, a line he expanded and updated during his interview on Monday morning, which is well worth a listen.
Hanningan also wants technology firms to get together and apply their "engineering brilliance" to tackle the abuse of the internet as a vehicle for spreading terrorist propaganda and radicalisation. "Legislation is a blunt last resort," he said.
Lastly, in a wide-ranging interview, Hanningan said Russia as a country was responsible for a "disproportionate amount of mayhem in cyberspace" such as attacks on democratic institutions as well as the activities of cyber-criminal groups. He praised the creation of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in improving defences ("the private sector needs to get better") as well as French President Emmanuel Macron's public condemnation as positive moves in combating the problem. Hanningan went on to suggest that sanctions and other measures against Russia over cyber espionage might be necessary to set "red lines" while acknowledging much online malfeasance comes from cybercrime elements.
"There is an overlap of crime and state and a deeply corrupt system that allows crime to flourish. But the Russian state could do a lot to stop that and it can certainly rein in its own activity," Hanningan concluded.
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Former GCHQ boss backs end-to-end encryption - The Register
VeraCrypt – Home
Project Description
VeraCrypt is a free disk encryption software brought to you by IDRIX (https://www.idrix.fr) and that is based on TrueCrypt 7.1a.
Windows / MacOSX / Linux / FreeBSD / Source Downloads
Online Documentation (click here for latest User Guide CHM)
Release Notes / Changelog
Frequently Asked Question
Android & iOS Support
Contributed Resources & Downloads (Tutorials, PPA, ARM, Raspberry Pi...)
Warrant Canary
Contact US
VeraCrypt adds enhanced security to the algorithms used for system and partitions encryption making it immune to new developments in brute-force attacks. VeraCrypt also solves many vulnerabilities and security issues found in TrueCrypt. The following post describes some of the enhancements and corrections done: https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/discussions/569777#PostContent_1313325
As an example, when the system partition is encrypted, TrueCrypt uses PBKDF2-RIPEMD160 with 1000 iterations whereas in VeraCrypt we use 327661. And for standard containers and other partitions, TrueCrypt uses at most 2000 iterations but VeraCrypt uses 655331 for RIPEMD160 and 500000 iterations for SHA-2 and Whirlpool.
This enhanced security adds some delay only to the opening of encrypted partitions without any performance impact to the application use phase. This is acceptable to the legitimate owner but it makes it much harder for an attacker to gain access to the encrypted data.
Starting from version 1.12, it is possible to use custom iterations through the PIM feature, which can be used to increase the encryption security.
Starting from version 1.0f, VeraCrypt can load TrueCrypt volume. It also offers the possibility to convert TrueCrypt containers and non-system partitions to VeraCrypt format.
UPDATE July 9th 2017 : VeraCrypt 1.21 has been released. It fixes many regressions found in version 1.20 and it brings FreeBSD support. All users are urged to update to this new version. Please check therelease notes for the complete list of fixes.
UPDATE June 29th 2017 : VeraCrypt 1.20 has been released. It brings bug fixes, performance enhancements and new features. It is also the first version to include local HTML documentation instead of the usual User Guide PDF. Please check therelease notes for the complete list of changes.
UPDATE October 17th 2016 : VeraCrypt 1.19 has been released. It includes fixes for issues reported by Quarkslab audit that was funded by OSTIF. This release also brings many enhancements and fixes, like Serpent algorithm speedup by a factor of 2.5 and the support of Windows 32-bit for EFI system encryption. Please check therelease notes for the complete list of changes. Download for Windows is here.
UPDATE August 18th 2016 : The Windows installer for VeraCrypt 1.18 has been updated to include drivers signed by Microsoft that allow VeraCrypt to run on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition. Windows Installer version was incremented to 1.18a but there is no changed at VeraCrypt level. Linux and MacOSX installers remain unchanged.
UPDATE August 17th 2016 : VeraCrypt 1.18 has been released. It brings EFI system encryption for Windows (a world first in open source community) and it solves a TrueCrypt vulnerability that allows attacker to detect the presence of hidden volume. This release also brings many enhancements and fixes. Please check therelease notes for the complete list of changes. Download for Windows is here.
As usual, a MacOSX version is available in the Downloads section or by clicking on the following link. It supports MacOSX 10.6 and above and it requires OSXFUSE 2.3 and later(https://osxfuse.github.io/). MacFUSE compatibility layer must checked during OSXFUSE installation. Also a Linux version is available in the Downloads section or by clicking on the following link. The package contains the installation scripts for 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and for GUI and console-only version (choose which script is adapted the best to your machine).
All released files are signed with a PGP key available on the following link : https://www.idrix.fr/VeraCrypt/VeraCrypt_PGP_public_key.asc . It's also available on major key servers with ID=0x54DDD393. Please check that its fingerprint is 993B7D7E8E413809828F0F29EB559C7C54DDD393.
SHA256 and SHA512 sums for all released files are available in the Downloads section.
VeraCrypt on the fly encrypting the system partition :
VeraCrypt creating an encrypted volume :
Changing the GUI language of VeraCrypt
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VeraCrypt - Home
Top Encryption Software for 2016 – PCMag
Symantec Endpoint Encryption provides encryption and centralized management to protect sensitive information while ensuring regulatory compliance.
Bottom Line Symantec Endpoint Encryption protects sensitive information and ensures regulatory compliance with both full-disk and removable-data encryption. It encrypts each drive, sector by sector, ensuring all files are encrypted. It also supports various types of removable media. It also allows removable data users to access their data on any machine, even if its not encrypted.
BitLocker Drive Encryption is an encryption feature that works to provide your operating system and any other drives with increased protection.
Bottom Line BitLocker Drive Encryption is an encryption feature available for recent Windows operating systems and intended to increase the security surrounding your computers drives. Offering increased functionality with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), BitLocker can generate comprehensive protection for your operating system itself or for any drives that are attached to your computer. BitLocker uses encryption techniques, alongside any additional security measures you choose, to protect sensitive data from hackers.
East-tec InvisibleSecrets is a steganography and file-encryption tool that encrypts confidential file and folder structures and allows users to hide files from other users.
Bottom Line InvisibleSecrets encrypts data and files and keeps them safe for secure transfer in emails or across the internet. The file encryption lets users encrypt and hide files directly from Windows Explorer and automatically transfer them by email or via the internet. Users can also hide files in places that appear innocent, such as pictures, sound files, or webpages.
Cypherix Cryptainer is a data-encryption solution that allows users to encrypt files and protect sensitive data on their hard drives, memory sticks, or other storage media.
Bottom Line Cypherix Cryptainer is an encryption solution for Windows PCs. The software encrypts files and folders, and allows for the creation of multiple encrypted virtual hard drives. Cryptainer is offered in several versions, including the free Cryptainer LE version and a premium Cryptainer SE.
Voltage HPE SecureData Enterprise is a data-protection platform that provides end-to-end encryption for sensitive company data.
Bottom Line Voltage HPE SecureData Enterprise is a data-protection solution that allows companies to ensure that all of their sensitive data is encrypted and kept out of the hands of potentially malicious entities. The software works by continually encrypting and protecting data even as the data is being captured, processed, and stored, so that no vulnerabilities can be exploited. Voltage HPE SecureData Enterprise provides stateless key management, an extremely flexible application programming interface (API) that can integrate with nearly any application, and support for various operating systems and devices.
DriveCrypt data encryption provides secure 1344-bit disk encryption for desktop computers and laptops.
Bottom Line DriveCrypt is a disk encryption product that automatically encrypts data on desktop and laptop personal computers (PCs), as well as universal serial bus (USB) storage devices. The secure 1344-bit encryption is done automatically on the fly, so users do not have to change their workflow.
CipherShed is a free, open-source program that can be used to create encrypted files or to encrypt entire drives including universal serial bus (USB) flash drives and external hard disk drives (HDDs).
Bottom Line CipherShed is a free, open-source program intended to be used to create encrypted files or to encrypt entire drives. This includes being able to encrypt thumb/flash drives and external removable (and back-up) hard disk drives (HDDs). The program is designed to be simple to use and includes a wizard that provides simple step-by-step instructions for users to follow.
MiniLock is simple file-encryption and transfer tool that makes it easier and more convenient to securely send files from one person to another.
Bottom Line MiniLock is a miniature file-encryption and transfer solution that works toward simplifying the process of sending encrypted files from one person to another. By generating unique MiniLock identities for each user and requiring strong passphrases, MiniLock establishes multiple layers of protection to guarantee the security of your files. MiniLock makes it easy to send an encrypted file to someone through a process as simple as sharing a tweet.
Kryptel encryption software allows Windows personal computer (PC) users to encrypt and decrypt one to thousands of files and folders with a single click for secure file storage.
Bottom Line Kryptel encryption software for Windows allows users to encrypt and decrypt files and folders with just a click of the mouse. All editions also include right-click-integration with Explorers browser to look inside encrypted containers and include a data shredder with a variety of settings to increase data-wiping security during encryption and decryption. Upgraded versions add encrypted backups, script-driven encryption, and a command-line interface.
Vormetric Transparent Encryption encrypts data, enables privileged user access control, and creates activity logs.
Bottom Line Vormetric Transparent Encryption encrypts databases and files and removes data access rights from administrators. When integrated with a security information and event management system, it can generate extremely detailed reports.
Gpg4win is open-source solution that encrypts and digitally signs files and emails.
Bottom Line Gpg4win encrypts emails and files with military-grade security. You can also use it to digitally sign your messages and files. The software is open source and free to use even commercially.
Boxcryptor provides encryption for files stored within various platforms the cloud.
Bottom Line With Boxcryptor, users can encrypt any files they plan to store in a cloud-based repository (i.e., Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or any other common cloud-storage provider). Boxcryptor provides applications for all major operating systems and mobile platforms, allowing users to access their encrypted files anywhere at any time regardless of where the files are stored.
VeraCrypt is open-source disk-encryption software (from IDRIX) that protects files and systems and prevents data leaks and data theft.
Bottom Line VeraCrypt open-source disk-encryption software adds enhanced security to the encryption algorithms used for systems and partitions. It makes systems and partitions immune to the latest developments in brute-force attacks and solves many of the security issues and vulnerabilities found in TrueCrypt.
Jeticos BestCrypt products offer comprehensive military-standard data protection for sensitive information in files and/or on hard drives.
Bottom Line Jeticos BestCrypt software products deliver military-standard data protection for active computers, shared workstations, or network storage and for lost or stolen computers and laptops.
Digital Guardian is data-centric encryption and protection software, with a wide array of tools and system coverage.
Bottom Line Digital Guardian is data-centric encryption and protection software, with a wide array of tools and system coverage. Its protection extends to your sensitive files no matter where they are on the network, endpoints, and cloud. With detailed reports on data activity and user policy enforcement, Digital Guardian will provide you with the tools and means to protect your valuable data.
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Top Encryption Software for 2016 - PCMag
Encryption software – Wikipedia
Encryption software is software that uses cryptography to prevent unauthorized access to digital information.[1][2] Practically speaking, people use cryptography today to protect the digital information on their computers as well as the digital information that is sent to other computers over the Internet.[3] As software that implements secure cryptography is complex to develop and difficult to get right,[4] most computer users make use of the encryption software that already exists rather than writing their own.
As encryption software is an important component in providing protection from cybercrime, there are many, many software products that provide encryption. Because there are so many software products that provide encryption, a good way to begin understanding this topic is classification by categorization.
Software encryption uses a cipher to obscure the content into ciphertext, so one way to classify this type of software is by the type of cipher used. Ciphers can be categorized into two categories: public key ciphers, also known as asymmetric ciphers, and symmetric key ciphers. Thus, encryption software may be said to based on public key or symmetric key encryption.
Another way to classify software encryption is to categorize its purpose. Using this approach, software encryption may be classified into software that encrypts "data in transit" and software that encrypts "data at rest".
As it turns out, these two types of classifications has something in common: that is, data in transit generally uses public key ciphers, and data at rest generally uses symmetric key ciphers.
However, software encryption is not as simple at that.
To begin with, symmetric key ciphers can be further subdivided into stream ciphers and block ciphers. Stream ciphers typically encrypt plaintext a bit or byte at a time, and are most commonly used to encrypt real-time communications, such as audio and video information. The key is used to establish the initial state of a keystream generator, and the output of that generator is used to encrypt the plaintext. Block cipher algorithms split the plaintext into fixed-size blocks and encrypt one block at a time. For example, AES processes 16-byte blocks, while its predecessor DES encrypted blocks of eight bytes.
Also, there is also a well-known case where PKI is used for data in transit of data at rest.
Data in transit is data that is being sent over a network. When the data is between two endpoints, any confidential information may be vulnerable to snooping. To maintain the confidentiality of the transmission, the payload (confidential information) can be encrypted to protect its confidentiality, as well as its integrity and non-repudiation.[5]
Often, the data in transit is between two entities that do not know each other - such as visiting a website. As establishing a relationship and securely sharing an encryption key to secure the information that will be exchanged, a set of roles, policies, and procedures to accomplish this has been developed; it is known as the public key infrastructure, or PKI. Once PKI has established a secure connection, a symmetric key can be shared between endpoints. A symmetric key is preferred to over the private and public keys as a symmetric cipher is much more efficient (uses less CPU cycles) than an asymmetric cipher.[6][7]
Below are some examples of software that provide this type of encryption.
Data at rest refers data that has been saved to persistent storage. Generally speaking, data at rest is encrypted by a symmetric key.
As mentioned previously, there are many, many software products that provide encryption. This Wikipedia article lists and compares the these software products by providing several tables that demonstrate their features. While these products are all listed under "disk" encryption, this may be a bit misleading.
In looking at this table that compares whether the encryption software works at the disk, partition, file, etc. layer, there just doesn't seem to be enough room to capture all the options. That's because encryption may be applied at different layers in the storage stack. For example, encryption can be configured at the disk layer, on a subset of a disk called a partition, on a volume, which is a combination of disks or partitions, at the layer of a file system, or within userland applications such as database or other applications that run on the host operating system.
With full disk encryption, the entire disk is encrypted (except for the bits necessary to boot or access the disk when not using an unencrypted boot/preboot partition).[8] As disks can be partioned into multiple partitions, partition encryption can be used to encrypt individual disk partitions.[9][9] Volumes, created by combinining two or more partitions, can be encrypted using volume encryption.[10] File systems, also composed of one or more partitions, can be encrypted using file system encryption. Directories are referred to as encrypted when the files within the directory are encrypted.[11][12] File encryption encrypts a single file. Database encryption acts on the data to be stored, accepting unencrypted information and writing that information to persistent storage only after it has encrypted the data. Device-level encryption, a somewhat vague term that includes encryption-capable tape drives, can be used to offload the encryption tasks from the CPU.
As demonstrated by this Wikipedia article there are a large number of encryption software products in this space. For that reason it does not seem prudent to attempt to capture all of that information in this article. Instead, it is recommended to look into one or more of these articles.
When there is a need to securely transmit data at rest, without the ability to create a secure connection, userland tools have been developed that support this need. These tools rely upon the receiver publishing their public key, and the sender being able to obtain that public key. The sender is then able to create a symmetric key to encrypt the information, and then use the receivers public key to securely protect the transmission of the information and the symmetric key. This allows secure transmission of information from one party to another.
Below are some examples of software that provide this type of encryption.
Excerpt from:
Encryption software - Wikipedia
Homomorphic Encryption Market Estimated to Reach USD 268.3 Million by 2027 at a CAGR of 7.55% – PR Newswire (press release)
The growing usage of smartphones and mobility solution is driving the Homomorphic Encryption Market as mobile cloud computing can be described as an infrastructure where both data storage and data computing happens outside the device. Mobile cloud applications move the computing power and data storage away from mobile phones and into the cloud. Nowadays, due to digital transmission people use smartphones in their daily life for bill payments, shopping and mobile banking among others. Due to this people share their personal information with a third-party forum which raises the concern over privacy of an individual's personal information. Internet users are sharing lot of information with each other through a third-party forum. Hence, security of data becomes an important factor which is boosting the growth of homomorphic encryption market.
The Global Homomorphic Encryption Market is expected to reach USD 268.3 million by the end of 2027 with 7.55% CAGR during forecast period 2017-2027.
Homomorphic Encryption Market-Key Players:
The prominent players in the market of Homomorphic Encryption Market are Gemalto (Netherlands), Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Microsoft (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Galois Inc (U.S.), CryptoExperts (France), Netskope (U.S.) among others.
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Regional Analysis:
North American region accounted for the largest market share majorly from the countries U.S. and Canada. Homomorphic Encryption Market is expected to grow at a fast pace in U.S. The reason is attributed to stable growth rate, better medical facilities, increasing consumption, increasing private sector investments, high exports and increasing number of small and medium scale enterprises. In 2016, North America market has been valued at USD 53.56 million in the year 2016 and is projected to grow at CAGR of 8.02% over the forecast period 2017 to 2027.
Europe is growing at a stable rate over the forecast period. The region is attributed to the increasing security concerns, high adoption of homomorphic encryption solutions rapid industrialization among others. Also, the high investment in the cloud based industries is expected to boost the market over the forecast period. Whereas, factors such as lack of up gradation and complexity are stopping the market to grow in the European region. Countries such as U.K and Germany accounted for the largest market share in the European region majorly being a banking hub and high investment in infrastructure.
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Market Research Analysis:
Cloud computing provides better solutions for e-governance and it also offers lot of financial benefits in many aspects. Therefore, the implementation of homomorphic encryption in the government sector is growing due to better storage solutions. Also, electronic governance has become an important tool for the government to provide the services to the citizens in more proficient and transparent manner. The increasing usage of homomorphic encryption in this context help to serve better services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment and more efficient government management. Therefore, increases transparency, increased growth of the nation and cost reductions.
The banking and finance sector across the world is adopting homomorphic encryption. Nowadays, the use of online banking system has been increasing drastically. The various government initiatives such as government schemes and transparency in the payment system majority of the population are motivated to have their own bank accounts. Therefore, these are the reasons which lead to enormous computing and storage requirements in the current banking system. Also, the cloud computing system has offered promising prospects in this scenario. The financial inability of banks to procure and maintain private infrastructure and other factors is leading the existing bankers to switch to cloud computing model for their businesses. Also, the main concern is IT security associated with cloud computing services. The security problem is not only with outsourcing but also from internal resources in the organization.
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Homomorphic Encryption Market Estimated to Reach USD 268.3 Million by 2027 at a CAGR of 7.55% - PR Newswire (press release)
Common misunderstandings about SSL encryption: separating fact from fiction – AMEinfo
The amount of Internet traffic secured via SSL encryption is surging to new heights every day it is estimated that nearly 70 per cent of all web traffic uses SSL encryption and 86 per cent of that uses advanced encryption methods like Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS).
On top of that, when you consider the massive growth in Internet of Things (IoT) devices coming onto the network that are beginning to also require fast processing of encrypted traffic, it is no wonder businesses are concerned about a potential encryption crisis that vendors are struggling to address. To this point, research and analyst firm IHS Technology estimates that the number of IoT devices could spike to 30.7 billion in the next three years, and cautions that those devices should leverage secure communication methods such as encryption.
Despite the potential blind spots introduced by encrypted traffic, which makes it harder to detect malware and other cyber threats, some companies elect to go without the ability to inspect this encrypted SSL traffic at all. Why? Because there are a host of misconceptions regarding SSL-encrypted traffic.
Here, we separate fact from fiction and share a few common SSL misconceptions and the reality.
SSL is complicated, slow, requires many resources to inspect and introduces new risks for networks.
Actually, these days, it is possible for SSL processors to reach speeds as fast as 44,000 SSL connections per second (CPS)for 128B file sizes. And by using application delivery and server load balancing technology, you can offload the compute-intensive SSL/TLS processing from web servers for faster processing of SSL traffic.
We do not expect any increases in overall SSL traffic.
Some customers claim that as they are transitioning to using traffic-heavy applications such as Office 365, their SSL traffic nearly doubled. Introducing new business tools requires a better understanding of new demands on your network and an even greater need to inspect the traffic that is coming into your network. And when you consider the need to address the swell of traffic generated by IoT devices that comes in close proximity of your business, you add an even greater need to swiftly and securely process this traffic.
I already know whats happening with our network traffic
In reality, many IT professionals dont realize how much encrypted traffic is on their network until they actually install SSL/TLS encryption solutions especially those that support protocols other than HTTPS and can detect SSL/TLS on non-standard ports. SSL/TLS encryption in high-throughput, high-connection-rate scenarios can give enterprises assurance with their email platforms that can effectively become a ransomware killer.
I already have an encryption solution, so do not need a dedicated appliance
While it is true that many all-in-one solutions can process encrypted traffic, there is often an SSL performance tax associated. Can you sacrifice security for performance, or vice versa? Having a dedicated appliance for SSL encryption takes the processing demands off your other appliances, meaning you dont suffer the SSL performance hit.
All we have to do is block access to unsavory websites and we are safe
There are numerous examples of legitimate websites being exploited, cross site scripting and malware in the form of adware. All of this is prevalent in websites that employees visit during normal daily activity. On top of that, you also have to factor in all the added risks mobile workers bring into secured perimeters or simply office employees with mobile devices that include apps with weak security that can introduce malware to the corporate network. Bad traffic doesnt come from unsavory websites alone. Its important to have an encryption solution protects your network from all angles.
(By Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Director, MENA at A10 Networks. Al-Moneer has held various sales leadership positions at networking and other high tech companies. Most recently at Infoblox, he served as regional manager for Saudi Arabia, where he leveraged his success in leading the services business to drive operational efficiencies and innovation and achieve exceptional growth. Prior to that he worked as territory sales manager for enterprise servers, storage and networking at Hewlett-Packard)
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Common misunderstandings about SSL encryption: separating fact from fiction - AMEinfo
Global coalition urges "Five Eyes" to respect encryption – IFEX
This statement was originally published on article19.org on 4 July 2017.
ARTICLE 19 joins 82 other organisations in the following letter, calling on governments to protect strong encryption.
To the leaders of the world's governments,
We urge you to protect the security of your citizens, your economy, and your government by supporting the development and use of secure communications tools and technologies, rejecting policies that would prevent or undermine the use of strong encryption, and urging other leaders to do the same.
Encryption tools, technologies, and services are essential to protect against harm and to shield our digital infrastructure and personal communications from unauthorized access. The ability to freely develop and use encryption provides the cornerstone for today's global economy. Economic growth in the digital age is powered by the ability to trust and authenticate our interactions and communicate and conduct business securely, both within and across borders.
Some of the most noted technologists and experts on encryption recently explained (PDF) that laws or policies that undermine encryption would "force a U-turn from the best practices now being deployed to make the Internet more secure," "would substantially increase system complexity" and raise associated costs, and "would create concentrated targets that could attract bad actors." The absence of encryption facilitates easy access to sensitive personal data, including financial and identity information, by criminals and other malicious actors. Once obtained, sensitive data can be sold, publicly posted, or used to blackmail or embarrass an individual. Additionally, insufficiently encrypted devices or hardware are prime targets for criminals.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression has noted, "encryption and anonymity, and the security concepts behind them, provide the privacy and security necessary for the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the digital age." As we move toward connecting the next billion users, restrictions on encryption in any country will likely have global impact. Encryption and other anonymizing tools and technologies enable law yers, journalists, whistleblowers, and organizers to communicate freely across borders and to work to better their communities. It also assures users of the integrity of their data and authenticates individuals to companies, governments, and one another.
We encourage you to support the safety and security of users by strengthening the integrity of communications and systems. All governments should reject laws, policies, or other mandates or practices, including secret agreements with companies, that limit access to or undermine encryption and other secure communications tools and technologies.
Users should have the option to use - and companies the option to provide - the strongest encryption available, including end-to-end encryption, without fear that governments will compel access to the content, metadata, or encryption keys without due process and respect for human rights. Accordingly:
Governments should not ban or otherwise limit user access to encryption in any form or otherwise prohibit the implementation or use of encryption by grade or type;
Governments should not mandate the design or implementation of "backdoors" or vulnerabilities into tools, technologies, or services;
Governments should not require that tools, technologies, or services are designed or developed to allow for third- party access to unencrypted data or encryption keys;
Governments should not seek to weaken or undermine encryption standards or intentionally influence the establishment of encryption standards except to promote a higher level of information security. No government should mandate insecure encryption algorithms, standards, tools, or technologies; and
Governments should not, either by private or public agreement, compel or pressure an entity to engage in activity that is inconsistent with the above tenets.
Strong encryption and the secure tools and systems that rely on it are critical to improving cybersecurity, fostering the digital economy, and protecting users. Our continued ability to leverage the internet for global growth and prosperity and as a tool for organizers and activists requires the ability and the right to communicate privately and securely through trustworthy networks.
We look forward to working together toward a more secure future.
Read the letter in full
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Global coalition urges "Five Eyes" to respect encryption - IFEX