usb security software that works for mac and windows

Usb Security Software That Works And Windows Mac OS X

If you were to use a password like apple, it wouldnt matter if you used all encryption algorithms together in a random complicated combinations, your disk image would be cracked open by a dictionary attack in about 0.34 seconds. For those of you who havent read it, my article on Securing Leopard has a section on choosing secure passwords.

Ever since the release of the IronKey Ive been drooling over the device (good thing its waterproof I guess).

Due to not wanting to pay so much for a USB key, I decided to make my own.

Usb Security Software That Works And Windows Mac OS X

By default these things come pre-formatted using the MS-DOS (FAT32) filesystem as it is compatible under Mac OS X, Linux and Windows.

If you want your USB key to work on most systems, I recommend using FAT32.

The only FAT32 limitation that users should be aware of is that it only supports files as large as 4GB.

So if you plan on using it to copy DVD disk images, or other large files, you will want to either split the file into multiple chunks, or use another filesystem (see below).

Unfortunately, writing to NTFS partitions is not natively supported in Mac OS X, although a couple of projects exist that enable this (I recommend MacFuse ).

Similarly, using an HFS partition will only be readable by Macs.

There also exist one commercial and one freeware app that enables Windows to readwrite HFS drives.

Select 1 Partition from the Volume Scheme dropdown, and select MS-DOS (FAT) in the Format dropdown.

If you want to securely wipe the USB stick, see the section on Secure File Deletion.

For Linux I recommend about 2-3GB (FAT32), for Mac OS X youll need at least a 3GB partition (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)).

Those of you interested in installing OSX on your USB stick, its usually as easy as creating a partition, and then using the OSX install DVD to install onto that partition.

Should your USB drive get lost, stolen or confiscated by the US Department of Homeland Security, youre going to want to make sure your data remains safe (although DHS will strongly encourage you to reveal your decryption key).

TrueCrypt allows the creation of encrypted disk images that will work on OSX, Linux and Windows.

If you do not need a cross-platform disk image, OSX users can use built-in disk images outlined here.

Start by opening TrueCrypt, click on Create Volume, and then select the standard volume button, and click Next.

Click on Select File and enter the name of your disk image at the prompt (make sure youre saving the file on your mounted USB stick).

Unless you have a particular reason for doing so, I recommend sticking with AES.

Note that if you do choose any combination of encryption algorithms, it will slow down the speed of your disk image, as files will have to be encrypteddecrypted twice or even three times.

At the next screen enter the preferred size of your disk image, in this example we chose 2GB, click Next again.

The strength of your password will determine how secure your encrypted disk image will be.

For those of you who havent read it, my article on Securing Leopard has a section on choosing secure passwords.

Usb Security Software That Works For Mac And Windows