In today's article we are going to take a look at an application for the security conscious of any user's documents. EncryptPad is a text editor from which you can manage encrypted text, files including images, videos, etc.
This application will help us to keep specific documents safe, not as with other programs such as veracrypt, which allows us to encrypt entire disks. EncryptPad it has a multitude of utilities today. It can be used to store information such as bank accounts, credit cards, passwords, and anything else that comes to mind. Using this program, even if someone gains access to your files, because you always keep them in the same place (for example, a flash drive), they will not be able to read their content.
About EncryptPad
This encrypted text editor implements RFC 4880 (which is the most widely used quality file format by OpenPGP) and does not follow in the footsteps of other similar applications that implement asymmetric encryption. The type of encryption that EncryptPad uses is symmetric.
Security is the main concern of these types of applications. Therefore, you may want to verify the integrity of the source files available through your PPA. There is a detailed guide on the integrity check procedure in the EncryptPad repository of GitHub. EncryptPad is open source and its code is all available in its repository, in case you want to do the compilation yourself or contribute to its development.
EncryptPad Features
Some of the features that this application offers us are: encryption support for binary files. Is multi platform since it works on Linux, Windows or Mac OS. Allows you to easily create strong random passphrases. Integrity protection with SHA-1. Multiple options and settings for key file management. Passwords are not stored in memory, only encryption results are stored.
The program allows us to carry it on a pen drive. It gives us the possibility to generate random key files. I have a read-only mode with which we can avoid accidental modifications. It supports compression with zlib or ZIP, it also has support for encryption and multiple hashing algorithms (see these algorithms in their website). It also gives us the option of password protection or single key file. Being able to combine both options.
These are just some of the features that the program offers us, on its website you can consult them in more detail.
EncryptPad interface
This application will provide us with a Graphic interface, but if someone prefers to use the command line, he also puts an interface for it at our disposal. The command line tool provided by EncryptPad is called encryptcli.
Available encryptcli options
From the terminal we can also encrypt and decrypt files. To know more about it we can execute the following command in the terminal:
encryptcli --help
Install EncryptPad on Ubuntu from PPA
Installing this program couldn't be easier. EncryptPad is available for Ubuntu via the PPA. To install the application, all you have to do is run the following commands in a new terminal window:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8 && sudo apt update && sudo apt install encryptpad encryptcli
Uninstall EncryptPad
Uninstalling this program from Ubuntu is as simple as installing it. We just have to open the terminal and write:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8 && sudo apt remove encryptpad encryptcli
Important to remember when using EncryptPad
It is imperative not to lose the passphrase or key file used to encrypt your files. The encryption scheme of EncryptPad has no back door. The recovery of this data will be impossible without the necessary credentials for it. You will be the only one who can access your data.
An additional protection method for using this application is to exit it when it is not being used. The program can store decrypted text in the memory of your computer and this feature can be exploited by other people by making a memory dump to retrieve that information.
For gnu linux ..
The rush XD ... but good point.