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Posted by nemo_outis on April 28, 2006, 10:37 am
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>
>
> I am considering whole OS encryption as this seems to me the safest
> choice. I use Windows XP Home and the idea is that everytime I switch
> on the computer a password will be asked and the operating system
> with its contents decrypted on switching it off the whole OS will be
> encrypted again, and if the OS crashes it will encrypt too.
>
> I have found two companies that offer this service Safeboot
> http://www.safeboot.com and Securestar http://www.securestar.com but I
> have absolutly no experience with this although I have been using
> virtual encrypted disks for a long time (i.e.
> Truecrypt,Bestcrypt,Steganos).
>
> The idea of encrypting the whole OS seems very smart to me as it saves
> times and in my view it makes it harder to get into as virtually
> everything is encrypted, I wanted to know the oppinion of the
> experts...
>
> Two things I am concerned with:
>
> 1) Algorythm used to make the encryption, I do not want to use a close
> source or untested algothym I will only feel comfortable with
> AES,Blowfish,Twofish or something like that. I think it is what
> professional cryptographers always reccomend.
>
> 2) Perfomance of the encrypted OS under normal circumstances,
> email,internet,openoffice,pdf.
>
> If anybody has used Securestar or Safeboot please let me know who it
> went. Thanks.
>
First of all, let me expand your list of possible candidates:
PGP Wholedisk (alone, as part of a suite, single-machine or enterprise)
http://www.pgp.com/products/wholediskencryption/pgp_whole_disk_profession
als.html
FREE Compusec (yes, it's really free and it works fine - there's also a
fancier $ version that supports hardware tokens)
http://www.ce-infosys.com.sg/CeiNews_FREECompuSec.asp
Drivecrypt plus pack (there's also an enterprise version)
http://www.securstar.com/products_drivecryptpp.php
Utimaco Safeguard Easy (and enterprise versions, etc.)
http://www.utimaco.com/C12570CF0030C00A/CurrentBaseLink/W26K9K5M068OBELUS
Winmagic's SecureDoc (and enterprise, etc.)
http://www.winmagic.com/product_info/securedoc/prod_info.asp
Safeboot Solo - no longer marketed! (and various Enterprise versions,
etc.)
http://www.safeboot.com/products/device-encryption/pc/
Browsing these sites will inform you that these all support mainstream
encryption algorithms (AES, etc.)
I have a mix of legit and bootleg copies of Utimaco, Safeboot,
Drivecrypt, Compusec, and PGP Wholedisk and all have worked
satisfactorily (actually I haven't yet experimented with Wholedisk) with
no noticeable slowdown of the machine (I haven't measured it but I'd
guess less than 10%). I currently use a legit copy of Safeboot Solo
(more from familiarity and habit rather than any strong advantages it may
possess).
Regards,
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