sider how long the software has been available. Visit the software's Web site periodically to check for patches and updates, and install them.
In every kind of encryption software, there is some kind of password that must be created so that the intended recipients of the information can read it. Creating a password that "hackers" or other malicious parties cannot easily guess is just as important as choosing a good algorithm or strong encryption software.
TIP: Take care to make a strong key. Use a varied set of characters, including lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols (like spaces, colons, quote marks, dollar signs, etc.). A good password should be longer than eight characters; the longer it is, the harder it is to crack.
If you're concerned about remembering a long password, don't be. Even a long password made up of different types of characters can be easy to remember. Instead of using your daughter's name, "sally," for example, use "S411y is: #1 i/\/ mY b00k!!!". (Many password-guessing programs (see "Brute Force" Cracking) employ a database of English words that guesses passwords from various combinations of words, so it's a good idea not to use passwords made up exclusively of English words. Note that in the example above, numbers and characters are interspersed with letters.) Even better is to use a series of random letters, numbers, and symbols, so that it can't be guessed easily.
TIP: If you forget your password, you will not be able to decrypt data that you have encrypted. Be sure to make a backup copy of your password and store it in a safe place, such as on a floppy or zip disk, a CD, or a separate hard drive. You can also copy and paste your password into a new document, print the document, file the paper somewhere safe, and delete the document from your computer.
Besides checking the software described in our reviews, you might want to try other encryption software. As discussed below, before downloading or using any encryption software, please make sure that it is legal to use in your location. Check our section on legal availability for more information.
As noted earlier, one of the vulnerabilities of encryption software is a security hole known as a "back door," which may be present in a piece of software by accident or because someone created it in the software with malicious intent. For years, federal investigators tried to convince lawmakers that software developers should be required to intentionally create "back doors" to give authorities access to encrypted communications between individuals who are under surveillance for suspected criminal activities. Proponents referred to this as a "key escrow" system because authorities could go to court to get permission to use the key to unlock encrypted communications.
Privacy and civil liberties advocates fought these efforts, citing the importance of encryption to the work of human rights activists and the need for secure communications for online commerce. In the late 1990s, they were successful in convincing federal policy makers to loosen U.S. laws banning the export of strong encryption. However, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have prompted renewed calls for increased restrictions or outright bans on encryption. This, in turn, has generated renewed concern among privacy and civil liberties advocates about the potential loss of constitutionally protected rights. Lauren Weinstein and Peter G. Neumann, co-founders of People For Internet Responsibility, offered this perspective in a September 23, 2001 "PFIR Statement on Terrorism, Civil Liberties, and the Internet:"
"The techniques for strong encryption are now widely known and can be implemented on any PC or handheld computer. Attempts to outlaw, weaken, or mandate surveillance backdoors' for such systems can only result in the vast honest population being saddled with vulnerable encryption systems for commerce and a wide range of other communications both on and off the Internet, all subject to a wide array of monitoring. Such surveill