Simple Encryption of Files

Sometimes I generate a pdf or PostScript receipt of an online purchase which I then save somewhere on my computer. It’s nice to have around a record of my purchase, just like a real paper receipt, especially if I need to return something, etc. Other times I have actual important things like electronic tax returns, etc. that I need to keep around.

The problem then becomes: What if someone steals my computer, or breaks into it? Then they get to see all these files and potentially use the sensitive information for mischief.

Thankfully there’s ccrypt. It’s a simple program that runs on Windows, Linux, and MacOSX. All it does is ask you for a password to encrypt your files. It then encrypts them and adds a suffix “.cpt” to their filenames. Done. To decrypt your files you just supply the same password. (Make sure you remember it!) It isn’t nearly as complicated as PGP or GPG. But it still uses real encryption, so the security of your files is limited only by your choice of password, not the encryption method. The normal program is command-line, but there are some additional packages that allow you to integrate it into the GUI desktop of some notable operating systems.

Note that encrypted files look like random information, and thus are not very compressible. If you want to compress your files, you should do this before you encrypt them.