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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.
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