Scramdisk doesn't seem bad, and is open source. But it doesn't do
what Enzo wanted.
Symmantec's "For Your Eyes Only" fits the functionality bill, but export
versions are 40 bit RC4. I believe the US-only version is stronger, but
when evaluating the product for a former employer, I noted the following
concerns:
1. The fundamental model has problems. Decryption is triggered by
wedging the encryption engine into the OS. Reencryption occurs
either after a timeout, or on *controlled* shutdown. The later
is particularly problematic, especially with an OS as notably
reliable as Windows 9x. :)
In theory, the files should be reencrypted at the next reboot,
but I did see times when this didn't happen, and secure files
were left unencrypted.
2. There seems to be no facility for logging out and logging in without
shutting down the session (maybe they fixed this in a later rev,
but in the version I evaluated it was a major functionality issue.)
3. If you have directories with hundreds of files which are scanned
(say for indexing or a virus check), the system just groans.
4. I approached Symmantec to obtain the file format. It was point-
blank refused, even though I was evaluating this product for
an initial installation of about a hundred copies, potentially
growing to several thousand. Why? Well, they explained that
releasing the format would reduce the security of the product.
They also explained that there were proprietary features
implemented in the file format. Finally, they said that their
own engineers have confirmed that the format was "totally secure",
and that my analysis would not add anything to it.
In this forum I needn't comment on the sanity of that, although
one must bear in mind that I was speaking to the local support
manager/senior engineer/sales engineer, who claimed to be relaying
the response he'd gotten from the developers in Symmantec HQ.
I wasn't 100% sure I believed him.
5. It's ludicrously overpriced.
I told them "no thanks".
Ian.
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> X-Authentication-Warning: accessdata.com: Host utahfx-1.29.dial.inquo.net
[207.179.5.93] claimed to be abraham
> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 08:53:19 -0700
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> To: Enzo Michelangeli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Encrypting folders in Win95/98
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> PGPDisk? Also BestCrypt lets you write your own encryption module.
>
> >Does anybody know any good Win95/98 utility providing connectoids seen >by
the user as folders, so that any file moved to and from them get
> >automatically encrypted and decrypted? Something like Encrypted Magic
> >Folders by PC-Magic, but with a serious crypto engine instead of their
> >proprietary snake oil.
> >
> >Enzo
>
> --
> Mike Stay
> Programmer / Crypto guy
> AccessData Corp.
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
--
Ian Farquhar
Senior Systems Engineer
Sun Microsystems Australia Pty Ltd
Level 5, 33 Berry St
North Sydney, NSW, 2060
Australia
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: +61 2 9466 9465
Mobile: +61 409 601 028
