TrueCrypt
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[TrueCrypt is not exactly "Open Source", but the source is available. See the reviews to get more information.]
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application type
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Discontinued
The development of TrueCrypt was ended in 5/2014 after Microsoft terminated support of Windows XP. Windows 8/7/Vista and later offer integrated support for encrypted disks and virtual disk images. Such integrated support is also available on other platforms. You should migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images supported on your platform.
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TrueCrypt information
Developed by
TrueCrypt Foundation Licensing
Proprietary and Free product.Rating
Average rating of 3.7Alternatives
107 alternatives listedSupported Languages
Comments and Reviews
See below for more info.
Truecrypt is Secure - It Has Passed the Final Audit
The disk encryption software Truecrypt, a popular tool that was endorsed by Edward Snowden, has passed a full source code security audit. This comes on the heels of the developers of the app mysteriously quitting the project and recommending that people use a questionable Microsoft solution.
The initial audit of the bootloader was performed by iSec who found only minor issues with the software that would not compromise security. The full report of the phase I audit is here: https://opencryptoaudit.org/reports/iSec_Final_Open_Crypto_Audit_Project_TrueCrypt_Security_Assessment.pdf
The phase II audit was completed by NCC. The full report can be read here: https://opencryptoaudit.org/reports/TrueCrypt_Phase_II_NCC_OCAP_final.pdf
Truecrypt is depracated. Veracrypt has inherited the code, added new functionality and improved security. Don't use Truecrypt, use Veracrypt; it's still open source, free and every bit as useful.
Truecrypt did pass a security audit, but since then vulnerabilities have been found. VeraCrypt, which also open source, has taken on the TrueCrypt code and improved it, including in terms of security. VeraCrypt is backwards compatible with TrueCrypt containers. You should use VeraCrypt from now on, and convert your containers to the VeraCrypt format.
You can actually mount Truecrypt volumes in Linux without installing it, but with help of cryptsetup. Mounting an NTFS partition would go something like this:
sudo cryptsetup open --type tcrypt /dev/sdc5 cryptmountpoint sudo mount -t "ntfs" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=1001,gid=1001,dmask=0077,fmask=0177" "/dev/mapper/cryptmountpoint" "/media/actualmountpoint"
Then when you're done with it:
sudo umount /media/actualmountpoint sudo cryptsetup close cryptmountpoint
Pretty easy, if you know how. ;) Of course, you need to replace the devices and mount points with your own values.
As of May 2014 TrueCrypt is no longer supported or maintained. You can read all about it on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt
The official website recommends switching to use existing encryption methods built-in with most modern operating systems. In view of this the final release will only allow you to decrypt your old TrueCrypt volumes in order to migrate to other encryption tools.
However there is a large number in the open source community with an interest in continuing the tools development under a new name and license in the near future. In the mean time the most recent full-featured version (7.1a) has been made available on various 3rd party sites and GitHub: https://www.grc.com/misc/truecrypt/truecrypt.htm https://github.com/AuditProject/truecrypt-verified-mirror
Yes, TrueCrypt 7.1a works perfectly without backdoors. But do not trust TrueCrypt 7.2 as suspicion arose that 7.2 version's setup looks after the earier 7.1a version's setup.exe file and modifies (infects) it with a backdoor. Available checksums' trustability is also questionable as the related websites' archives are all deleted (and present content could be modified too). So one can only trust TrueCrypt 7.1a burned to CD/DVD before 2014, or program version that can be verified by a checksum from a file that had written to DVD before 2014. (Although REAL write time of a DVD is also known by only the person who has done it.)
Free, but...
When one mean's "free" as in:
"Free at point of downloading": Yes
["Libre software definition"][1]: No
Be advised that according to the Fedora Project's "[Forbidden Items][2]" page:
The TrueCrypt software is under a poor license, which is not only non-free, but has the potential to be actively dangerous to end users or distributors who agree to it, opening them to possible legal action even if they abide by all of the licensing terms, depending on the intent of the upstream copyright holder.
This is indeed true as it states in the [licence][lic] (Section VI.2):
YOU MAY NOT USE, MODIFY, COPY, CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS OF, (RE)DISTRIBUTE, OR SUBLICENSE THIS PRODUCT, OR PORTION(S) THEREOF, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THIS LICENSE (EVEN IF APPLICABLE LAW GIVES YOU MORE RIGHTS). ANY ATTEMPT (EVEN IF PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW) OTHERWISE TO USE, MODIFY, COPY, CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS OF, (RE)DISTRIBUTE, OR SUBLICENSE THIS PRODUCT, OR PORTION(S) THEREOF, AUTOMATICALLY AND IMMEDIATELY TERMINATES YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THIS LICENSE AND CAN CONSTITUTE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT (WHICH MAY BE PROSECUTED).
A more detailed breakdown summation of the licence can be found here: [FreeDesktop.org - TrueCrypt licensing concern.][3]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software "Wikipedia: "Free software"" [2]: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ForbiddenItems#TrueCrypt [3]: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/distributions/2008-October/000276.html [lic]: http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license "TrueCrypt License Version 3.0"
This is the best encryption software I've ever seen, out of a dozen of encryption software I've tried. Finding this application was a real stroke of luck (Thanks to alternativeTo). With a novice-friendly interface and explanatory wizard it provides a great way to encrypt existing partitions/drives and to create new encrypted file containers. A TrueCrypt file container can function as an ordinary volume by mounting it as a virtual disk and the concept of hidden volumes takes data security to a whole new level. On-the-fly encryption provides access to the data while keeping it encrypted at the physical level. If there were a rating system here, I would give it 5 out of 5.