The Digital Safe!!!
by Gary Woods

Security is the biggest word in computers today. To that end I found a piece of software that addresses a lot of those security concerns.

Steganos Security Suite is easy to learn and live with. The Suite's integrated tools help keep your data private. Steganos Safe is especially relevant for notebook users whose machine can get lost or stole when they travel. Safe creates up to four secure virtual drives holding a maximum of 128GB of data. Move or copy your files into one of these drives and Safe will automatically encrypt them. One password opens the drive and gives you access to its files and programs. However, if you do not enter the password, the virtual drive disappears from Windows Explorer until you use your password to retrieve it.

Another of the suite's tools conceals and encrypts confidential data inside a carrier file, such as an image or audio file. This process, called stenography, is the stuff of spy movies. After the data is embedded into say, a JPEG file a casual viewer will notice no difference from the original version. However, the embedded data will increase the file's size and perhaps trigger an extraordinarily astute observer's curiosity. Still, he won't be able to decrypt the files with the password.

Steganos Security Suite 6 is $60 from http://www.steganos-download.com

Other utilities in the suite include an e-mail encryption tool that transforms a message and any number of attached files into a password-encrypted executable.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910