basically, SWIM (I) recently installed TrueCrypt. Basically, what should SWIM (I) use for TrueCrypt?

Should SWIM (I) use it for all things bootlegged off .torrent files? Should SWIM use it for all of the various pics he has, found on /b/?

basically what is a safe thing to use with truecrypt and not.

Also, should they (I) host these files on the Linux (Ubuntu) partition for extra safety?

Truecrypt isn't the best crypto tool for Gnu or BSD, but it is by far the best for windows. You should use it for everything possible, it'll send a big "Fuck you" to anyone trying to read your data.

Where truecrypt really shines, though, isn't really in encrypting the files, but the whole deniable encryption thing. You can play a billion games with that. To my knowledge there isn't anything else out there that does that.

Well truecrypt offers many options, not just to create a file container volume but also to encrypt non-system partitions like external devices such as USB sticks,..etc. I believe there are two ways of doing so. You can create a file container volume on that USB stick and encrypt that volume or you can just encrypt the device itself.

Also, if you want to create a volume on your computer, you have the options of creating it has a standard file container or a hidden file container. The hidden container is good encase your computer gets confiscated by the police department. You also have the option to rename the file extension of that encrypted volume to something such .img, .dat, .iso. So itself looks like it has nothing to do with truecrypt. Also, once encrypted, there is no way of knowing that volume is associated with truecrypt, because truecrypt does not apply any kinda ID or signature to the volume.

I think there are also options to encrypt your entire file system partition, but I'm not sure if that feature is still supported, as i believe there were some kind of complications and difficulties surrounding that.

Concerning the content that you should encrypt , well anything that is deemed to be copyrighted I guess. Also if you feel like you need to encrypt pictures you have on your computer, then one can only wonder what the hell you're looking at.

thank you

I save a LOT of pics from /b/. Then again yeah I'm paranoid..

I partitioned a pen drive, and used truCrypt for one of the partitions. Not for any particular reason though, just wanted to test it out.

As far as usefulness go though, if your comp was ever confiscated, then allot of the /b/ de-motivationals are pretty incriminating.

Maybe you download a hell of allot? If you were ever to be questioned about it and have your machine taken away, they would have a hell of a problem proving you were downloading illegally. You could just say maybe your neighbors have been using your wireless connection?

You might as well use truCrypt, you never know when the pigs will come a'knockin.

Then, what is the the best crypto tool for GNU/BSD?

dm-crypt and LUKS for Linux-based systems, and whatever tools are there for your BSD (I don't really know that much about the BSD's, so I'm not the one to ask here). Truecrypt is mainly a windows app.

Gnu is too broad to talk about, because crypto is usually implemented in the kernel to choke as much speed out of it as possible. For instance, twofish and AES are implemented in assembly for x86 and x86_64 in Linux.

If you're running Linux, it's nearly trivial to set up FDE. Truecrypt can be used on top of that to provide deniable encryption, and it's always good to have this in case you're forced to reveal the key for your FDE. EncFS is also good for this if you don't want to use Truecrypt, though that isn't very deniable.

Any discussion about Truecrypt inevitably comes back to the deniable crypto. That's the one thing Truecrypt has that nothing else does, and it's incredibly awesome. You should always store what needs to be secure against yourself in a hidden volume, because anywhere else doesn't really cut it.

This.

There are quite a few feature of the windows version which are not yet supported on Gnu/Linux version. Well at least the last time i checked anyway.

Encryption in Linux is not my area, so as far as how to/what to use I can't help you out. However, as far as making life hard for them it would be a way to go.

The people snooping around your HD probably know their way around windows pretty well. Linux though, is another story. Good encryption, plus using an OS they wont be as familiar with. At the very least it would give you a slight edge.


I have a pretty decent obscure system set up of hiding data, fairly positive the police would have no hope of retrieving it. Try being creative, see what you can come up with.

Well I think if the police were to confiscate your computer, I'm pretty sure they're not just going to hand it to any bozo police man who works with data entry in the local office. Pretty sure they'll pass it on to experts who deal with such operating systems, hell they probably have a good sets of Gnu/Linux tools to investigate the system with.