Protect Your Data! TrueCrypt 7.0a's Performance, Analyzed
Conclusion: AES-NI Preserves Performance Reserves
When it comes to a basic assessment of TrueCrypt, the benchmark results do not really matter that much. The open source program is a mature and highly recommended security solution that allows you to effortlessly encrypt partitions and hard drives, keeping files and folders on your computer safe. Regardless of whether you are running TrueCrypt on Windows, Mac OS, or Linux, the files selected by the user are encrypted using strong algorithms, at all times protected from access by unauthorized third parties.
Its versatility enabled even the previous TrueCrypt version 6.1 to stand out from competitors, such as BitLocker. It only lacked AES-NI support. This has now been taken care of in TrueCrypt 7.0a, finally making it our encryption tool of choice. We're even extending that recommendation to computers without hardware acceleration of AES. Compared to an unencrypted system, TrueCrypt encryption does affect system performance (as expected). But it in no way interferes with the user, and it doesn't demonstrate a performance impact that would be noticeable on a mainstream PC.
However, you should not install TrueCrypt by default if you are running a system that relies heavily on I/O (a database server, for example). Even if it can handle real-time encryption, the program cannot match the I/O performance and data throughput of an unencrypted system yet.
Exploiting the AES-NI instruction set is highly recommended if your computer is equipped with an Intel CPU that offers the feature. This includes the 32 nm Clarkdale-based processors, six-core Gulftown-based CPUs, and second-gen Core i5/i7 chips that center on Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture (Sandy Bridge-based Core i3s do not support AES-NI, unfortunately).
For simple encryption, the performance gain attributable to AES-NI is not that large compared to standard non-accelerated AES encryption. However, the CPU load drops significantly when the feature is active, giving the computer more power reserves and enabling even higher levels of security if necessary. AES-NI-compatible systems allow for more flexibility when setting up the encryption, and can handle a double encryption without any noticeable performance hit.
Anyhow. I've used TrueCrypt 7.0a for about a year now to secure my sensitive information. I've only encrypted a non-system partition as of now, but for the purpose of storing sensitive files the performance hit is unnoticeable. Took a bit of time to set up, but in the end, all worth it.
yea thats so not happening.
i could make my password look like that,
€‡“ŸeVmAE•kvÕbœ
but it would be REALY HARD to remember, and changeing it on a, lets say, monthly basis.... who are you kidding.
i have a 5 letter password
i have an 8 letter password
and i have a 6 letter password for when places force me to use a number, but at the same time, wont let me have 2 letters that are the same in a password.
i find it agonizingly annoying that i cant use a 5 letter password for everything, because i despise having more than 1. its my account, i will make it as secure as i want. i pay 10$ a month for id theft protection, is an account is lost because of "hacker" i tell someone about it and the account is dead to me.
i have only had 1 hacker in my life go for any one of my 100's of accounts (i mean 100's literally) and that is my gaia account that i made when gaia was new, and someone tried to brute force the account, 5 times back in 2008 (i have the emails in a special folder labeled F@$#ING BRUTEFORCER, without the censoring) and not a f@#$ was given by gaia (i didn't care, i stopped using it years before, i just informed them that some a$$hole was hacking my account to hopefully ban them, but they told me to p!SS off in almost those exact words). honestly security is overrated, yea id theft is bad, if you are parinoid, get protection and stop worrying, get a password that is 10 letters and number long, as no one is bruteforceing that, refuardless of where the account it, as long as they don't have your info or actually hacked the service.
hackers use bruteforce as last resort as it takes so long.
Now they do the sneaky worm into your keyboard with a keylogger most times. Or if they are really targeting you, or want you bad, they will dig in your garbage....
Net Security 101...
not realy, what they do first and formost, is check any online foot mark you have. usualy your password is something you know, such as mothers maden name or a birthday. i use to use my birthday completely spelt out, but that is to long for MANY passwords, and, as you can see, my spelling is atrocious, so i spell it wrong 9 times out of 10.
but its my point exactly, they will get the info weather you want them to or not, and odds are, they will dumpser dive a hospital, dentist office, or doctors to get the info before they will ever go online.
It's your account, but it's their service. You're just a user, while they are an owner. They will decide the baseline for password length/complexity and you will comply because they take a serious PR hit if your password is hacked.
TrueCrypt is my encryption program of choice. I run Windows 7 and encrypt the entire system drive. My password is long, uses no real words, mixed case, #s and symbols. It is vital this password not be guessed by anyone. Only 3 people know this password, myself, a fellow developer and my department manager. I have an i7 cpu that supports the AES accelaration and my system is always quite responsive. TrueCrypt was installed the same day as the OS so I took away the worry from myself that I'd notice a before and after performance difference.
I feel VERY confident that using TrueCrypt will keep anyone away from this data. While a "lost" laptop might result in some lost source code or database changes that have not been committed to our repository plus the cost of replacing the laptop (insurance FTW), I'd much rather re-do 8 hours of work than fret over exposing all this data to anyone savvy enough to explore a SQL database. I am aware of TDE for SQL2008 but our requirements are for more than the data (source code too!) and I feel double encryption (the file system and the DB on top) is not necessary.
Please don't spread this drivel... Your OMFG 1000million bit key is ultimately protected by your volume password. So guess what? It's the password they will brute force and that is only slowed down by key hardening (which true crypt does) and not the key size.
By the way, brute force on 128bit is still way way out of reach of current hardware (even the power consumption of a perfectly efficient computer to run though 2^128 states is truly staggering). People only consider 256bit as important in case fast quantum computation becomes viable in the next few decades since a quantum computer can break a 256bit with "only" 2^128 steps.
lol...... im guessing you got nothing of strategic value to a hacker, seriously how many of your 100s of accounts hold strategic value? i would more then happily give a weak password for my spam collector e-mail but the one that's attached to my online Bank account is hella strong same way i presume you would not want to use a 5 digit password for your online bank account, and if you really do have that many accounts i suggest you use a password vault, that way you dont have to go around remembering all those strong password, one strong one would be enough (sometimes i wonder if i really am i commenting on a tech website)
ID theft protection is close to useless if your personal information has become compromise, it is merely a damage control tool, if the criminal ever get a hold of enough personal info to ID theft you, you more or less become a victim for life
With these programs, that recovery is impossible. Just before I left my last permanent job, we had just implemented a program like this, and I had 3 users lose everything because of that full drive encryption program in less than a year. In all three cases, the drive was physically fine, and I could have rescued the data if the drive wasn't encrypted.
It just makes support so much more difficult.
Been using TC for years now, I think since version 4.something and find it absolutely essential for storing my secure info like tax returns and passwords. You can actually use triple-encryption and etc.
I've never done a whole encrypted drive.
Very long passwords are easy to remember, you can create giant passwords like Michael.Jackson.is.dead?yes! and it will make you smile every time you type it in.
That's not true, I work for Unisys in SLC, I'm here right now at work reading this. All the companies I support required password changes frequently all the Time and to use complex requirements for their password.