TrueCrypt- Is Encryption Security Essential for Your Hard Drive?

In this article, you will read about TrueCrypt, the popular hard drive encryption tool. The article attempts to make an analysis on whether encryption security is essential for your hard drive or external drive data.

Data security and safety is a major concern in the modern IT era, primarily because Internet crimes such as data breaching or stealing are rising at an alarming rate. When you talk about data safety, you inevitably link it with Internet security. Thus, you must be doing a lot to keep your online data safe. Getting the data encrypted is one stern security measure.

But even the data on your PC's hard drives and external hard drives need encryption security. Hard drive encryption straight away reminds of TrueCrypt.

Why Data Encryption is Essential for Security?

Data encryption is pivotal for the security of the information stored on your computer's hard disk drives. The rise of data breaching cases makes it even more essential. You might be using the password security. Nowadays, for everything you have the password system: passwords for the online account, a password for the computer or password for user accounts, etc.

But password security is efficient in keeping the data protected, till the data is on your personal hard drive or server or till you can protect your password from getting hacked. But if somehow the hard drive gets stolen, or the password gets hacked, then the password security will no more be of any help. 

Only encryption security can save your data during such scenarios.  Encrypted data is always safe, inside or outside your computer. That is because the encrypted data exists in an illegible format. It's just a series of cryptic numerical. Thus, no one will be able to read it or find sense in it. Thus, you must go for the whole hard drive encryption and should use password security as well.

Any individual, corporate or government computer that has sensitive data should use a disk encrypting tool.

TrueCrypt-Most Likely it’s Still Safe to Use

Till last year, TrueCrypt was undoubtedly one of the most preferred tools to get your data encrypted. But Last year, i.e., on May 2014, the owners of this tool officially pulled off the maintenance of the software. They clearly declared that tool is no more being maintained by them. Thus they are no more responsible for its security. They also recommended users to switch to other alternative options available for disk encryption security.

TrueCrypt was a too good tool to pull its shutter down. Millions of users used to prefer this tool for its security effectiveness, user-friendliness, cross-platform usability, and interface. It stood tall in the parameters such as cost and charges, key management, performance implications, etc.

However, after the official discontinuance, people have become doubtful about the tool's efficiency in keeping the encrypted data safe. But despite its official call off by its owners, people nevertheless want the software back. As a result of that there arose the urgency to conduct an audit of this data encryption tool.

NCC Group, an information security consultancy group, is conducting an audit to find out the security vulnerabilities of this tool so that they can determine whether or not it's safe to use.

The first volume of audit results revealed that the tool doesn’t have as such any severe security flaws. But still more audits are going on.

Conclusion

As it is officially no safer for use so, it’s better not to use it for a while. However, the NCC group audit report is confirming that the tool has no as such security flaws, and it is safe to use. So soon the tool might become officially available for use once again. But till that happens better to use other alternative options like VeraCrypt and CipherShed.