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How secure is PGP?

P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
I need to encrypt data for storage/sending and was wondering which encryption is better, Windows XP built in encryption or PGP? Which is more secure, reliable, and generally considered better? Also, how easy is it to crack PGP because I do not want this data to be easily decrypted by someone I don't want to have it? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Also, will PGP integrate into Windows XP, like it does in previous versions?
 
As soon as data leaves the NTFS partition (read into memory, emailed, copied to CD, etc) it's decrypted. There's no way to store it encrypted anywhere but on the NTFS disk.

I, and most people, consider PGP better because the source is available and it's a scrutinized standard. But since NAI dropped the PGP division there's been no official XP version, although the last released one works fine (minus PGPDisk which doesn't work at all on XP).
 
Nothinman, what does PGPDisk do? And does PGP encrypted data lose encryption when it leaves an NTFS partition, like the built in encryption does?
 
PGPDisk is a fake disk which is a big encrypted file, PGP mounts it to a drive letter. It's a convenience thing, no need to manually encrypt/decrypt files, sort of like the NTFS encryption only it's stored in a seperate file not the filesystem.

PGP encrypted files stay encrypted until you decrypt them, they're not dependent on the filesystem.
 
PGPdisk works just fine under WXP in PGP Corporate Desktop 7.10 (last official release). PGPnet does not.

When you install PGP 7.10 it whines a bit that WXP is not officially supported, but everything but PGPnet works (it even installs in a location distinct to WXP).

PGP 7.50 would have been the first officially supported WXP release, but as Nothinman said, NAI shut down the PGP division because people just aren't getting/buying encryption. They still sell the command-line tools (under a different brand) for thousands of dollars. Kinda ironic because that's where GnuPG shines as an alternative.
 
PGPdisk works just fine under WXP in PGP Corporate Desktop 7.10 (last official release). PGPnet does not.
Click to expand...

I've had 2 installations of PGPDisk not work on XP, it working is spotty and I wouldn't recommend it. A NAI rep even told me that everything worked fine in XP except PGPDisk, I didn't inquire about PGPNet.
 
Okay, thanks for all of your help. One more quick question, do you think that the freeware version 6.5.8, or any other for that matter, is okay?
 
Originally posted by: KraziKid
Okay, thanks for all of your help. One more quick question, do you think that the freeware version 6.5.8, or any other for that matter, is okay?
Click to expand...
If you're not using PGPdisk, then that should be fine. Off the top of my head, I can't remember how far back you go before compatibility becomes a problem.

The sad thing is that PGP Desktop 7.50 development was completed; it just won't be sold because NAI shut down the PGP division and nobody else can pony up the $$millions to acquire it.

One nice point of PGPdisk and NTFS is that you can mount the volume to a directory (just like Unix mount points). A distinct drive letter is not required.
 
Yep, PGPdisk is good schtuff. I use it for my email as a folder. Too bad about it being abandoned.
 
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