Encryption is a technology used to prevent unauthorized access to data by making it unreadable to unauthorized users. The demand for encryption is growing, especially with rogue governments’ increasing interest in accessing our private data, including data at rest and data in motion
There have been numerous reports of data at rest (data stored on PCs, backup drives, and databases) and data in transit (transmitted data) being stolen, exposed, or intercepted as the case may be.
If you carry your company’s sensitive data around on your official laptop, losing it could allow someone to access sensitive data that might hurt your organization. Encrypting such files helps protect them if physical security measures fail. Full disk encryption is an effective line of defense, but it doesn’t help when you need to share encrypted data. File encryption protects individual files or file systems by encrypting them with a specific key, making them accessible only to the keyholder. File encryption is helpful if a user needs to send individual files securely over the internet or store them on a removable device such as a USB stick or cloud storage.
Encryption does not itself prevent interference but denies the intelligible content to a would-be interceptor. When encrypting a file, you’ll need to provide an encryption key in the form of a password or passphrase, which is then used to make it unreadable to unauthorized users. Once a document has been encrypted, you can not open it without the password. This article will review ENC DataVault encryption software, including the ten best DataVault software alternatives to consider.
ENC DataVault Encryption Software
ENC Security is a Netherlands-based software solution company that was established in 2009. One of their flagship encryption software is the ENC DataVault (formally EncryptStick). ENC DataVault is an easy-to-use file encryption software available on Windows and Mac. DataVault is fully customizable encryption software supporting USB data encryption, file sharing, backup, and synchronization. With ENC DataVault, you’ll be able to securely synchronize or backup your files to a supported device or cloud. Supported devices include laptops and desktop PC, USB drives, hard drives, NAS, CDs and DVDs, and cloud storage services. ENC DataVault uses up to 1024-bit AES encryption to protect your files.
DataVault, just as the name implies, employs the concept of Vault in its approach to file encryption and data security. A Vault is an encrypted folder created by DataVault and can only be viewed and accessed while running DataVault. A Vault is used to hold and organize folders and files that are fully encrypted.
With DataVault, according to ENC, you can create Vaults in virtually any location, on any connected device, without installing the software in all those locations. For instance, if you have the application installed on your Windows 10 desktop computer, you can connect a removable storage drive and create a vault on that drive. If you connect that drive to your licensed laptop, you can run the application on the computer and access that storage vault, and add/edit files in the vault. If you have two drives on your desktop computer, you can install the software on the C: drive and create a vault on any internal drive.
You can also create vaults in the cloud and access those vaults with the software from any licensed computer with access to your cloud account folders such as Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. Your cloud vault will be accessible when you launch DataVault on your computer and log in. The vault will also be accessible from your licensed flash drive, either from your computer or from any other computer when you launch DataVault, provided that you can reach your cloud folder from that computer. Concerning security, even if someone should somehow gain access to your cloud account folders, they would not be able to access the files in the cloud vault folder because they are encrypted.
ENC provides a Free version and Premium version of the DataVault software. The Free version of DataVault allows you to create one Vault on your flash drive. With the Full version of DataVault, there is no limit to the number of additional Vaults you can create on your PC, Mac, or flash drive. However, ENC recommends that you first try the DataVault software before buying it. A 14-day free trial version is available for download. Once you are satisfied with the trial version, you may purchase a license for the full version. Suppose you are not happy with the software or experiencing problems with it after buying the license. In that case, according to ENC, you have 14 days to file for a refund as long as you have not yet activated the software, and they will refund your purchase if they cannot resolve the problem.
The primary issue with this software is the not-so-good reputation among users due to poor customer service. In addition, many dissatisfied customers have reported one unresolved issue or the other with the application. Therefore the company needs to do more to address concerns raised by users and reassure their customers to regain public confidence in their product.
The best ENC DataVault Encryption Software Alternatives
ENC DataVault encryption software is not a one-size-fits-all solution for everyone. If you figure out that it is not best suited for your needs or environment and you’re considering a suitable alternative, you’ll find lots of them out there. To help you decide between the countless options out there, we’ve put together a list of the ten best DataVault encryption software alternatives. Hopefully, this will guide you in the process of selecting the right one that meets your needs.
1. BitLocker Drive Encryption Α free, easy-to-use, complete disk encryption application embedded in Microsoft Windows versions starting with Windows Vista. BitLocker uses the AES encryption algorithm with a 128-bit or 256-bit key. Unfortunately, it only works on the C: drive, so that it won’t help with external disks or USB tokens. And it can’t be used to make encrypted zip files.
2. Endpoint Protector USB Flash Enforced Encryption is a cross-platform tool within the Endpoint Protector DLP application that ensures data is copied or transferred to USB storage devices and is automatically encrypted. It will automatically push an AES-256 bits encryption algorithm called EasyLock to connected USB devices if the Endpoint Protector agent is installed on the computer. EasyLock can secure your files on a local HDD folder, on a USB device, Dropbox, iCloud, or it can be burned to CDs and DVDs. If you are looking to try it out, a free demo is available on request.
3. FileVault Α complete disk encryption program included in Mac OS versions starting with Mac OS X Panther (10.3). It performs on-the-fly encryption with volumes on Mac computers. An upgraded version—FileVault2, embedded in Mac OS X Lion (10.7) and other later versions provides encryption for the entire OS X startup volume and the home directory using XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key.
4. Symantec Endpoint Encryption Symantec offers two encryption products: Symantec Endpoint Encryption and PGP Encryption Solutions. Depending on the scenarios, both can help you secure your sensitive data, including computers, tablets, hard drives, removable media (USB drives, external hard drives, and DVDs), email systems, and cloud-based applications. In addition, Symantec Endpoint Encryption can help you manage BitLocker and Filevault-protected devices. At the same time, PGP Encryption supports file and folder encryption (zipped archives or individual files) and file share encryption (NTFS/CIFS shares). The products are available via Broadcom authorized distributors and partners in your region or country.
5. Trend Micro Endpoint Encryption is a full disk and file/folder encryption software for data at rest on PCs and Macs, laptops and desktops, USB drives, and other removable media. It uses the AES encryption algorithm with a 128-bit or 256-bit key, and it’s fully supported on Windows (7, 8, 8.1, 10) and Mac OS (10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14). Some of the key features include:
- Ability to manage BitLocker and Filevault protected devices
- Active Directory integration
- Pre-boot authentication
- Reporting and auditing
6. VeraCrypt is a free open source file encryption software for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. VeraCrypt is a fork of the discontinued TrueCrypt project but with many improvements that address concerns with the original TrueCrypt code. In addition, the software supports plausible deniability and pre-boot authentication. Other key features include:
- Ability to encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive
- Ability to create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it as an actual disk
- Ability to encrypt a partition or drive where Windows is installed
7. KakaSoft is a computer protection software company focused on developing Windows-based file encryption software for individuals and file copyright protection software for business users. Their software includes USB Security, Folder Protector, Private Disk, USB Copy Protection, and other encryption and copy protection applications.
8. Boxcryptor is an encryption software used for encrypting your sensitive files and folders in Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and other cloud storage providers. You can use Boxcryptor to encrypt your data right on your device before transferring or syncing it to your cloud storage provider. Boxcryptor encrypts files with AES-256 and RSA-4096 encryption algorithms, and it’s supported on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux (though with the Boxcryptor Portable and limited functionality). The product is targeted at individuals (free version) and businesses (commercial version).
9. NordLocker is a zero-knowledge file encryption software from NordeVPN. It is integrated with end-to-end encrypted cloud storage. In addition, it comes with a cloud storage add-on feature that allows users to back up their data and synchronize it across multiple devices and an impressive drag-and-drop interface. The software is supported on Windows and Mac devices.
NordLocker is available through a freemium pricing model where everyone can download the app and encrypt files locally for free on the free plan. This means that files are encrypted and stored on the specific device in use. Users wanting cloud storage will need to upgrade to a premium plan which provides 500 GB of cloud storage.
10. Kruptos 2 is an easy-to-use 256-bit AES file encryption software for Windows, Mac, Android, and USB storage device. You can also use it to encrypt your Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud, or Google Drive files, and it comes with a fully integrated data shredding feature. Kruptos 2 also allows you to share your encrypted files via the cloud, email, or other file-sharing apps. A free trial version is available for download.
Conclusion
File and full disk encryption only protect your data while your computer is turned off. This means that anyone who gains access to your computer while you are still logged in (when your files are already decrypted) may still be able to access your data. It also doesn’t protect systems from being attacked by hackers or protect data while it’s transmitted across the internet. For that, you’ll need a VPN application.
To deal with these and other similar threats, you should minimize the amount of sensitive data you carry on your laptop. But, of course, the best protection against data loss is not to have the data first.
ENC DataVault FAQs
What is ENC security Sandisk?
ENC Security produces encryption software and it can be used to protect files on a Sandisk USB stick. The ENC Security encryption system, called DataVault, can be used on many other platforms, including Windows or macOS computers. ENC DataVault can also secure cloud drives, such as Dropbox.
What is ENC DataVault Lite?
ENC DataVault Lite was available for use only with Lexar storage solutions. However, the company no longer offers this version. There is now only one core product in ENC’s DataVault division.
What is ENC encryption?
ENC Security offers two encryption options on its DataVault storage security product. These are both implementations of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). You can encrypt your data with AES with a 128-bit key or with a 256-bit key. The AES service with a 256-bit key is uncrackable. However, a longer key makes the encryption and decryption process slower. Reducing the strength of security by opting for a 128-bit key isn’t a big risk. The exact estimate on the length of time an encryption system would take to crack varies according to the speed and power of the computer used to perform the brute force attack. However, even with the world’s fastest computer, it would take billions of years to crack the 128-bit AES key, so that should be secure enough for anyone.
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