Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Comparison of disk encryption software

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Remove ads

This is a technical feature comparison of different disk encryption software.

Background information

Summarize
Perspective
More information Name, Developer ...
Remove ads

Operating systems

More information Name, Android ...
Remove ads

Features

More information Name, Hidden containers ...
  1. Windows 7 introduces Bitlocker-To-Go which supports NTFS, FAT32 or exFAT, however for hard drive encryption, Windows Vista and later are limited to be installable only on NTFS volumes
  2. BitLocker can be used with a TPM PIN + external USB key for two-factor authentication
  3. An external tool can be used to read the key from the TPM and then have the key passed on to dm-crypt/LUKS via the standard input
  4. The current situation around TrueCrypt project is controversial. On 28.05.2014 after many years of development and broad usage the open-source (although anonymous) project was suddenly stopped, and all previous official materials and complete (encrypt/decrypt) binaries were withdrawn from its website citing some "unfixed security issues" and Windows XP end of support. The technical information herein is valid only for previous versions of TrueCrypt (v7.1a and some earlier). The latest available version (v7.2) is decrypt only, its authenticity and actual reasons behind the move are unclear, and its usage is not recommended. https://www.zdnet.com/article/truecrypt-quits-inexplicable/
Remove ads

Layering

  • Whole disk: Whether the whole physical disk or logical volume can be encrypted, including the partition tables and master boot record. Note that this does not imply that the encrypted disk can be used as the boot disk itself; refer to pre-boot authentication in the features comparison table.
  • Partition: Whether individual disk partitions can be encrypted.
  • File: Whether the encrypted container can be stored in a file (usually implemented as encrypted loop devices).
  • Swap space: Whether the swap space (called a "pagefile" on Windows) can be encrypted individually/explicitly.
  • Hibernation file: Whether the hibernation file is encrypted (if hibernation is supported).
More information Name, Whole disk ...
Remove ads

Modes of operation

Summarize
Perspective

Different modes of operation supported by the software. Note that an encrypted volume can only use one mode of operation.

  • CBC with predictable IVs: The CBC (cipher block chaining) mode where initialization vectors are statically derived from the sector number and are not secret; this means that IVs are re-used when overwriting a sector and the vectors can easily be guessed by an attacker, leading to watermarking attacks.
  • CBC with secret IVs: The CBC mode where initialization vectors are statically derived from the encryption key and sector number. The IVs are secret, but they are re-used with overwrites. Methods for this include ESSIV and encrypted sector numbers (CGD).
  • CBC with random per-sector keys: The CBC mode where random keys are generated for each sector when it is written to, thus does not exhibit the typical weaknesses of CBC with re-used initialization vectors. The individual sector keys are stored on disk and encrypted with a master key. (See GBDE for details)
  • LRW: The Liskov-Rivest-Wagner tweakable narrow-block mode, a mode of operation specifically designed for disk encryption. Superseded by the more secure XTS mode due to security concerns.[122]
  • XTS: XEX-based Tweaked CodeBook mode (TCB) with CipherText Stealing (CTS), the SISWG (IEEE P1619) standard for disk encryption.
  • Authenticated encryption: Protection against ciphertext modification by an attacker
More information Name, CBC w/ predictable IVs ...
Remove ads

See also

Notes and references

Loading content...
Loading content...
Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads