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TrueCrypt and Related Stuff
Around Thursday, May 29th, 2014 or thereabouts, news of the mysterious TrueCrypt
Foundation's abrupt announcement that their software was "insecure"
and
that one should use Microsoft Bitlocker technology instead spread
across the Internet like wildfire. TrueCrypt developers claim that
their work stopped because they were no longer interested in
maintaining their efforts, especially after Windows XP fell out of
supported status.
Please don't e-mail me
asking for assistance with this software or for more information about the
organization, as I don't have any. I used TrueCrypt mainly to stop my
brothers from snooping the contents of an old (256MB!) USB flash memory
drive. (And if you care, I have no intention of stopping my use of
TrueCrypt for that purpose.)
If you are seeking a currently developed form of disk or file
encryption software, TrueCrypt's source code has forked off into a
number of differnet projects operating under different names due to
restrictions imposed by the original TrueCrypt license. Such projects
include VeraCrypt, CipherShed, and the (as yet unreleased) TCnext.
I am strongly of the opinion that free and open strong cryptography
software that is easy to use is of vital importance in this day and
age. Thus I am very encouraged to see several options having popped up
in the wake of TrueCrypt's discontinuation. I encourage everyone to
practice the use of strong encryption technology wherever possible, and
to keep themselves informed on issues that relate to one's right to
privacy. If you can do so, making a donation to any of the people who
have continued the development of free and open source encryption
software is a good thing to do. Let these developers know that their
work is truly appreciated!
You may also be interested in the state of the TrueCrypt audit project. Someone also took it upon themselves to compile Truecrypt from the publicly available source, to determine if the official binaries could be matched.
I strongly suggest that you not
download the "TrueCrypt 7.2" software from the TrueCrypt Foundation's
web site, and that if you download any previous version of the
software from ANY source, that you A) consider that it could possibly be broken and B) use an algorithm
to determine that the software you download has not been modified in
any way prior to your using it. Most all of the files below come from
the Gibson Research Corporation's "mirror" of the former TrueCrypt 7.1a
release. I am providing these files as nothing more than a public
service (with perhaps a slight hint of civil disobedience thrown in for
good measure) and cannot accept any liability from their use. You use
these files at your own risk. If you can't agree to that and understand
clearly what I mean by saying "at your own risk", then DO NOT USE THEM.
There is also this comprehensive archive of TrueCrypt related materials.
First, the stuff from Gibson Research Corporation:
You may also be interested in the ZIP file containing everything from the list above.
Next, the stuff I found in my
personal archives (at least those kept on a Mac OS X system, there
might be others that I find later):
TrueCrypt 5 for Intel Mac OS X Tiger
TrueCrypt 5.1 for Intel Mac OS X Leopard
TrueCrypt 6.2 for Mac OS X
As you can see, I'm not all that good at keeping software installers around in most cases. All of these releases are thoroughly obsolete and
may have bugs that compromise their security. It was stated by the
TrueCrypt Foundation that they considered the distribution of old
versions unwise, as they considered it of utmost importance that
everyone have the latest available release.
IMPORTANT!
Distribution of this page (with modifications only required to point
back to this page or match the visual style of your web site) and the UNMODIFIED files linked above is permitted and ENCOURAGED so long as the 7.1a release of TrueCrypt is not found to be seriously flawed in the future. (In
the event that a major flaw does surface, this page will be removed, as
there is no sense in using any encryption system with a serious or
fatal flaw. Please check back regularly if you mirror this page and its
contents!)
You may also wish to contact me via e-mail
(again: NO requests for support for TrueCrypt will be answered, and I
am NOT interested in any conspiracy theories, including yours) or visit
my home page.
Kindly DO NOT link to or mention this page on a high volume site of any sort (e.g., Slashdot).
Created May 29th, 2014. Canary Statement