Protect Your Data

It's a human tendency to lock your home whenever you go out; it makes you feel protected. But what about data what you have saved on your computer? Do you lock it when you transfer it from your computer? Given the threats lurking online - hackers, phishers, identity thieves and the like - you would do well to encrypt your data of you are using the internet to share crucial information with others. This ensures privacy and prevents it from getting hacked. Even if someone succeeds in stealing an encrypted file, he or she will be unable to misuse it unless the key to decode the content of that file is also stolen alongside. Then there are the monetary transactions online and the personal information shared on the Internet. To protect users, the file encryption process is a crucial part of an efficient computer security system. File encryption or data encryption is a process of transforming your confidential information into an unreadable format which cannot be accessed without the correct password or key. Though there are third-party encryption software available like TrueCrypt in the market, you can also use the lesser known, built-in feature of Windows to secure your files. Here to go about this.

How to Encrypt a File? 

1. Right click on a file you want to encrypt. Click the 'Properties' option at the bottom of the context menu.

2. Click the 'Advanced' button located under 'General' tab in the 'Properties' dialog box.

3. Click the 'Encrypt Contents to Secure Data' option and click 'OK'.

4. If the file is in a folder you will be prompted with an 'Encryption Warning' message. If this is the case, click the 'Encrypt the File Only' option and click 'OK'.

Tips

• You can use EFS (Encrypting File System) to encrypt files on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise. The filesystem should be NTFS; it won't work on FAT32.

•  Select the certificate of the user whom you want to add (to the access list of the encrypted file), and then click OK. You can do this by clicking Properties -> Advanced -> EFS settings.

• To decrypt a folder, use the same process, only disable the document property encryption by clearing Encrypt Document Properties check box.

• Rename your file with a completely different filename and a different file extension. For example, change filename.doc into general.jpg or filename.xls into birthday.mp3; If file extensions (.doc, .png, .mp3, etc.) are not visible go to: Tools -> Folder Options -> View, and uncheck hide extensions for known file types. Some computer savvy individuals may be able to crack the file.

• You can encrypt your files using strong AES-256 encryption feature of 7-zip, which is a free file compression utility which you might be using already to compress/zip multiple files into one smaller file to be send across internet.

After encrypting the files, you should back up your certificates because there is no other way to recover encrypted files with a corrupted or missing certificate. It is critical that you back up the certificates and store them in a secure location. Here's how to back up your certificate : 

1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer. On the Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'.

2. On the 'Content' tab, in the Certificates section, click 'Certificates'. Click the 'Personal' tab.

3. Select one certificate at a time until the 'Certificate Intended Purposes' field shows 'Encrypting File System'.

4. Click 'Export' to start the Certificate Export Wizard, and then click 'Next'. Click 'Enable Strong Protection', then click 'Next'. Type in your password.

5. Specify the path where you want to save the key, and then click 'Next'. You can save the key to another location on the hard disk, or on a removable media.