Help page for XCRYPT 1.0

This is Vaspra group's Xcrypt 1.0 help section. For more info regarding Xcrypt , visit our website

First things first , thanks for choosing our software out of the whole lot of encryption - decryption software . This software is freeware. With this software you can make your files safe and secure and you can protect them from prying eyes !! . Ever had a problem with sending confidential material over the net ? if you did , you've found the solution . no more worrying about the safety of your information . Just Xcrypt it and send it over. Take our word for it , your information will be as safe as possible .

How this software works?

Xcrypt was designed keeping in mind the lengths some people go to get somebody else's confidential information . We thought about this person and assumed he was a professional hacker . After a short discussion about various popular encryption techniques available ,we settled  for "symmetric key encryption" . In symmetric key encryption a key or a password is used to encrypt a piece of data . The same key has to be provided for decryption . This algorithm is fast and secure. As long as the key remains in safe hands (i.e. the sender and the receiver ) , the data is safe . The key that you enter in Xcrypt can be of any length . This key is used as a mask for the data to be encrypted . The values in the key are then XORed (a binary operation) with the data in steps of the length of the key . To get back the original information the data has to be XORed with the same key . A simple example would be your door lock. To close and open the door you need the same key.

 

Selecting a good key

The key is central to this algorithm . Thus to ensure maximum protection, a proper key should be chosen . The key that you select should not be too big , neither should it be too small . Big keys are hard to remember and small keys are easy to hack!! . So you should go in for a key of length 15-50 characters . Try to avoid using common words , phrases , names of people you know , birth dates etc because these keys are easily "guessable" . The key should be a mixture of alphabets and numerals . NEVER have two repeating consecutive characters in a key .

Examples of good passwords :
    TYKS340D20M9AMSYA , YOUARE92IDIOTIC!!1009

Examples of Bad passwords :
   Sonali ( no names please ), 11111111111(you know this is no good), apple ( two p's are consecutive repeating characters ) , Hello (too small)

 

Xcrypt's non cryptic interface !

Xcrypt was designed with the novice user in mind . The interface is highly intuitive. You should have understood how the software works by just looking at it . but if you haven't , you can proceed .

Let's say you want to encrypt the following files :

c:\windows\desktop\top_secret.txt , c:\windows\desktop\hello.cpp

Follow the procedure given below :

  1. open Xcrypt 1.0
  2. Click on ADD button . This will show you a file select dialog . choose both the files by selecting with the mouse or keyboard .
  3. After you've clicked on OPEN in the file select dialog box the files you have selected appear in the list beside the ADD button.
  4. Verify to see if all the files you need to be encrypted are there in the list . if they aren't , follow the steps 2 and 3
  5. If for some reason you are not satisfied with the selected files and wish to start all over , Click clear and follow steps 2 through 4.
  6. Type in a key of your choice or click AUTO to get Xcrypt's random key.
  7. Click on the button with the lock symbol with 'Encrypt now !' written beside it.
  8. Encrytion process starts and the status is shown in the black list . Errors are indicated with a red cross mark.
  9. The encrypted files are stored in the same directory with a '.enc' extension added to them.

Encrypted files will be :

c:\windows\desktop\top_secret.txt.enc , c:\windows\desktop\hello.cpp.enc

Now comes the decryption part , this is usually done on somebody else's computer , say your friend's one.

The files c:\windows\desktop\top_secret.txt.enc , c:\windows\desktop\hello.cpp.enc were sent to him through email and he saved them to his desktop. Make sure that you DON'T send him the key along with the files . Anybody who sees the mail will easily figure out how to decrypt the data given the key !

To decrypt, follow the below give procedure:

  1. open Xcrypt 1.0
  2. follow steps 2,3,4,5 as given in the encryption procedure
  3. type in the key with which the files were encrypted.
  4. click 'Decrypt' , the button with the key on it.
  5. you are done . the decrypted files are placed in the same directory and the .enc extension is stripped.

CAUTION ! Xcrypt overwrites existing files whose name matches the name of the decrypted files . it is safer to copy all encrypted files to a separate directory and decrypt there.

REMEMBER! The safety of the information depends on the strength of the key . So the key has to be transferred in a secure way . Never send the key through email . You can check vaspra's website (http://vaspra.8m.com) for tools to transmit small chunks of information through email . These tools are currently under development ( as of 1st March 2002) . These use radical approaches like embedding information in picture files . This information can be read only be these tools . This way you can send your keys embedded in picture files which are rarely intercepted by hackers!

 

Copyright 2000 . Vaspra group