VeraCrypt in Depth – Encryption for your files, disks, or even your entire operating system.
What is VeraCrypt?
VeraCrypt is an app for Windows, Apple OSX, and Linux for encrypting your files. It has all kinds of powerful features that allow you to encrypt containers to place files in securely, and encrypt your entire operating system to protect your systems from intrusion. Because it is operating system agnostic, you can move around VeraCrypt files between devices and still access them using the app without issues.
How do I know that I can trust VeraCrypt?
VeraCrypt is Open Source Software. This means that the actual code that makes up VeraCrypt can be reviewed by anyone in the world. This means that security problems can be found and fixed far more easily than in commercial software where the source code is not available. Furthermore, VeraCrypt is based on the famous TrueCrypt software which was also open-source and popular, leading many researchers to look into the code and look for issues. TrueCrypt was also professionally audited by iSec, who found no major issues with the cryptography or the boot loader. When TrueCrypt fell out of development, the VeraCrypt project was passed the torch and carries on the project to this day. The project has been responsive to fixing flaws and maintaining the software and the work done by Idrix has been instrumental in the success of VeraCrypt.
Alright, how do I use VeraCrypt?
How can VeraCrypt improve?
Open source software benefits from having more eyes on the source code. There’s only a handful of people around the world with the advanced qualifications necessary to evaluate a piece of software and find advanced complex flaws in security software. Creating incentives through bug bounties for people to look into the software gives not only professionals more incentives, but amateurs and aspiring security researchers can look into the software with new and novel perspectives.
Furthermore, VeraCrypt can improve by having a professional security audit.
Also, in order for VeraCrypt to continue to support full-disk encryption, it needs a new bootloader. This is because the common BIOS of yesterday is rapid being replaced with UEFI. A new bootloader that supports UEFI would allow VeraCrypt to continue supporting full disk encryption for the foreseeable future.
This software is great! AND FREE! How can I help?
The OSTIF is spearheading a fundraising campaign to establish a bug bounty, get a security audit in place, and to hire a team to develop a new secure bootloader (and get that new boot loader audited). The goal is to make the software as strong as possible, and to encourage developers to look at the code as deeply and as often as possible.
We will provide a transparent path for fundraising as well as a path for responsible spending on qualified and trustworthy professionals. Not only do we provide oversight to donation spending, but we ourselves have independent 3rd parties who audit us as well. This gives us first, second, and third party watchers over income and expenses and gives us total verifiability and responsibility.