TrueCrypt Mac OS X port is finally on the way!

This is great news. I miss TrueCrypt from my windows days, although a pword-protected disk image in OS X seems to do the trick now, I guess.

Sad that it takes another project to get developers to port stuff to the Mac still. You would have thought with Apples continued success they would have at least thought about an OS X port.

so... did they lie? Or is it "by the end of january" or something? I assumed "by january" meant like... the same as when you say "ill be there by 2pm", meaning 2:05pm = you're late.

jackmack said:

so... did they lie? Or is it "by the end of january" or something? I assumed "by january" meant like... the same as when you say "ill be there by 2pm", meaning 2:05pm = you're late.

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It's not really kind to just lie your way through affirmations

The project IS online, downlodable and perfectly functioning:
http://www.osxcrypt.org/2008/01/23/this-is-not-a-scam-real-truecrypt-for-macos-is-here/

A couple of things remain to be known:

1) Where is TrueCrypt version? (we'd REALLY like to have TWO different versions for mac to choose from)
2) Why are the TrueCrypt forums suddenly closed?

Cheers!

Ive been using Truecrypt on my Windows machine for years, and I am very happy to hear that OSX will have a port now!

I heard about it on Security Now! podcast. Sure you can create an encrypted disk image in OSX, but you cant do anything with it on Windows machines. Even though I love my MBP, I have to use Windows machines for work and storage.

The TC website states the next relesae will be on Feb 4th

5 more day !

Well..we're halfway through 4 Feb on the east coast of the US and still no change at truecrypt's site.

OSXCrypt seems to be working well for me; I'm just curious about the new version of Truecrypt. Will it have a GUI off the bat or will it be command-line like the Linux/UNIX version? If OSXCrypt had a GUI, I'd be in encryption heaven.

jc1350 said:

Well..we're halfway through 4 Feb on the east coast of the US and still no change at truecrypt's site.

OSXCrypt seems to be working well for me; I'm just curious about the new version of Truecrypt. Will it have a GUI off the bat or will it be command-line like the Linux/UNIX version? If OSXCrypt had a GUI, I'd be in encryption heaven.

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Yep, I keep refresing the page, no change

The forums are closed. I never heard of OSXCrypt before, was it developed by other people? Can the images be opened on Windows or Linux?

techmonkey said:

Yep, I keep refresing the page, no change

The forums are closed. I never heard of OSXCrypt before, was it developed by other people? Can the images be opened on Windows or Linux?

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Yes, if I understand the history it was stared by some folks who got tired of seeing Mac OS on the list of future improvements and decided to port it themselves.

Files made in Truecrypt can be used by OSXCrypt and vice versa. I have a 256 MB flash drive that is encrypted and opens fine on both the Mac and PC (haven't played with the Linux version in a year). The only thing I don't like about OSXCrypt is, like Truecrypt's Linux version, a command-line only program. But, it's still easy to work with once you get used to the switches and being able to use encrypted images/drives on both Mac and Windows is nice. Mac's built-in encrypted disk image works only on Mac OS.

jc1350 said:

Well..we're halfway through 4 Feb on the east coast of the US and still no change at truecrypt's site.

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The release date on the TrueCrypt site has been changed to Feb 5th, hopefully it will happen tomorrow

blodwyn said:

The release date on the TrueCrypt site has been changed to Feb 5th, hopefully it will happen tomorrow

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Yep, just saw that. Weird. I wonder if they just dont have the documentation done or maybe there are still some issues with the app?

whatever the reason, I'm finding it comical at this point (past noon Eastern time and no updated).

Still nothing like Duke Nukem Forever, though.

I'm using full disk encryption for the first time in my life on Ubuntu (not TC, but the built-in dm-crypt / LUKS system, which technically is not 100% full disk encryption, but is very close). It works quite well, and it seems to be able to survive system crashes and so on (unfortunately, I've had a few trying various tweaks related to the newness of the Eee, although Ubuntu is very stable outside of when I'm tweaking).

I still think FDE is a bad idea... it's so wasteful. Better you have a rigorous OS and just encrypt the home directory, the VM, and perhaps the global cache (although really the system should be designed so that sensitive information, at most, appears only in the home directory and the VM.... I don't see why a global cache should really be allowed to have sensitive data in it).

But then the reality is that it's highly demanded. Although many IT departments will sign off on FileVault because they're sensible people, it will be good to have an option on OS X.

The beauty of TrueCrypt to me is the cross-platform aspect.

So I guess if there's a faq that I should go read (a quick search didn't turn up much), please send me there, but can you please educate mah?

I don't see why it's particularly beneficial for encryption to be cross platform...

- Is the benefit that IT managers only have to learn one system?

- Or are you using removable encrypted drives or flash drives? I guess that could be beneficial, although most places I work generally forbid putting sensitive data on flash drives cuz they get lost so easily... With truecrypt being cross-platform, I'm guessing the drive would only work on computers where TC is installed, but that you could port the encrypted drive between them? And inside the encryption, do you get reasonably modern filesystem features (particularly POSIX and the ability to deal with >4GB files) across systems also?

- Or are you actually directly mounting encrypted volumes across a network? It seems like there you would always be serving them from their host anyway, so it wouldn't matter.

I don't mean to be argumentative at all... I'm just trying to understand. It had honestly never occurred to me that I might want my iBook's filevault to be readable from Windows or my Eee's encrypted drive to be readable from OS X or Windows.

my previous comment was geared to the average user, not IT managers. I have 1 Mac and 2 Windows machines in my house, as well as Windows machines for work. Being cross-platform is a huge plus for me. As for people who use Macs exclusively, say your Mac need to go in for repair and you only have access to a Windows machine (the most common). If I were an IT manager at a place of business that had all Macs, then I would use the built-in encryption that OSX provides.

It's perfect for USB/Firewire drives. I use it for my flash drives specifically. I prefer the cross-platform compatibility because I use Linux, Mac OS, and Windows and I have work-related files that need to be encrypted so I just keep them on the flash drive with backups made at work.

Something may be happening as I speak. I haven't been able to load the TrueCrypt page for the past 30 minutes. Anyone else have any trouble?

techmonkey said:

Something may be happening as I speak. I haven't been able to load the TrueCrypt page for the past 30 minutes. Anyone else have any trouble?

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Same here. This looks to be either good news or bad news

Its official. Just released.

I created a new thread stating it was released.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4905110#post4905110

What makes truecrypt better than OS X's built in file vault?

motulist said:

What makes truecrypt better than OS X's built in file vault?

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See my previous comments.

Summary:

- Open Source (if something is wrong, anyone can find it)
- Cross-Platform - Windows, Linux, Mac (can be used on any system)
- Its Free
- More choices for encryption

motulist said:

What makes truecrypt better than OS X's built in file vault?

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FileVault is great for your local system, especially laptops, as it automatically encrypts your home directory on-the-fly. But it works ONLY with your home directory.

I don't see how Truecrypt/OSXcrypt could be used exactly like FileVault since you need to log in to execute Truecrypt/OSXcrypt commands, but it works on image files (just like the Mac's built-in encrypted image file; different format so they aren't exchangeable) except it works also on Linux and Windows (Mac's built-in encrypted image file works only on Windows) and you can use it on external drives. Again, FileVault only works on your home directory.

I can't get to Truecrypt's site. "Firefox can't establish a connection."

TrueCrypt Downside

The downside to using TrueCrypt on the Mac is that it requires the use of an account with Administrator privileges to create and mount encrypted volumes. As a general security mitigation rule I do not use accounts with Administrator privileges for day to day work. I use Administrator as it was meant to be used; to make changes to the system.

The following is an excerpt from the An Introduction to Mac OS X Security:
( http://developer.apple.com/internet/security/securityintro.html ).


Mac OS X Security Out of the Box
Following the initial install, Mac OS X is fairly secure. A few simple tweaks make it even more secure. But before we get to those changes, there are a few things you should notice during the install process.

Administrative Accounts
The first account created on a Mac OS X system is an administrative account. If possible, this account should not be the account you commonly use; it should be reserved for making changes to the system and installing system-wide applications. After installing Mac OS X, go into the Users item in System Preferences create a new account without administrative access. For your common tasks, log in as that user.