Encrypt The Planet
Privacy First
Cypherus Encryption Suite
Cypherus is the strong, affordable, easy to use suite of encryption and privacy tools for personal and professional digital security.· Drag and drop functionality allows easy 
encryption and decryption not typically offered in other security applications· Seamless integration with Outlook 2000, Outlook Express 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape Communicator 4.7x and Qualcom Eudora 3.05, 4.0 and 5.0 provides one-click encryption and decryption· Cypherus uses industry standard and time-proven algorithms, including Blowfish and Diffie-Hellman· A minimum key length of 128-bit can be increased to 448-bit for the strongest security available
We loaded Cypherus onto a computer running Windows XP Home with an Intel Pentium III 667MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, and a 10GB hard drive. Cypherus' setup wizard surprised us by displaying the Cypherus How To Guide at the end of the wizard. The How To Guide is a tutorial separate from the Help file that gives you clear explanations of the program's main features. The first tutorial shows you how to find the How To Guide so you can refer to it later. When we are dealing with a complicated topic such as data encryption, we don't want a program that assumes we know too much. Cypherus assumes we were lucky to get the computer powered on and goes from there. We happily followed.
To start Cypherus, you must enter a username and password. (If other people use your computer, you can create additional accounts for them.) The password prevents a malicious user who has accessed your computer physically or through the Internet from opening your encrypted files through the application's UI (user interface). The UI displays several encryption options along the left side and lists encrypted files along the right side.
The Cypherus Encryption Wizard walks you through the process of encrypting and decrypting files. It also lets you send encrypted email messages. The first time you use Cypherus you will need to create an archive to place your encrypted files. The archive is essentially a well-armored folder on your hard drive. You can create multiple
archives, just as you can create multiple folders, and you can place archives within other folders on your hard drive. After you select the file you plan to encrypt, the wizard lets you choose from three different encryption levels: 128-, 256-, or 448-bit. Higher encryption levels give your files better protection but increase the time it takes to encrypt and decrypt files. We like being able to save time by choosing lower encryption levels. The wizard encrypts a copy of your original file into the archive you created. After you create an archive, you can also encrypt files by dragging and dropping them into the archive folder.
After you encrypt the copy, the wizard lets you shred the original file (a method of erasing a file by writing over it several times, which is more effective than simply deleting the file). You can opt not to shred the file, but what's the point of encrypting data if you're going to leave the original vulnerable to attack? Cypherus' shredding application writes over each file with up to 35 passes, exceeding the Department of Defense's seven-pass recommendations. As with encryption, you can choose between higher or lower shredding levels based on your preferred shredding speed.
Sending encrypted email (or encrypted files via email) is just as easy. Cypherus supports Eudora, Microsoft Outlook 2000 and later, Outlook Express, and Netscape Messenger. If you use a Web-based email service, such as MSN Hotmail, the Text Encryptaur lets you encrypt the text in your message, but it won't place any buttons in the email.
Cypherus encrypts the email and places a Decrypt button into the message. To decrypt the message, your contact simply clicks the button. If your contact does not have Cypherus, you will need to give the contact a key (a password) to open the encrypted message (how you sneak the password to your contact is up to you, Bond). Your contact will receive the encrypted message and instructions for decrypting the message with the help of Cypherus' Web site. We were able to send encrypted messages through Hotmail without any trouble.
Cypherus is easy to use, but it doesn't skimp on power. It uses the fast and strong Blowfish encryption method and, as we mentioned before, it uses a quality shredding method to ensure your original files don't come back to haunt you. Once you read the tutorial, you won't have any trouble encrypting and organizing your files.
encryption and decryption not typically offered in other security applications· Seamless integration with Outlook 2000, Outlook Express 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape Communicator 4.7x and Qualcom Eudora 3.05, 4.0 and 5.0 provides one-click encryption and decryption· Cypherus uses industry standard and time-proven algorithms, including Blowfish and Diffie-Hellman· A minimum key length of 128-bit can be increased to 448-bit for the strongest security availableWe loaded Cypherus onto a computer running Windows XP Home with an Intel Pentium III 667MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, and a 10GB hard drive. Cypherus' setup wizard surprised us by displaying the Cypherus How To Guide at the end of the wizard. The How To Guide is a tutorial separate from the Help file that gives you clear explanations of the program's main features. The first tutorial shows you how to find the How To Guide so you can refer to it later. When we are dealing with a complicated topic such as data encryption, we don't want a program that assumes we know too much. Cypherus assumes we were lucky to get the computer powered on and goes from there. We happily followed.
To start Cypherus, you must enter a username and password. (If other people use your computer, you can create additional accounts for them.) The password prevents a malicious user who has accessed your computer physically or through the Internet from opening your encrypted files through the application's UI (user interface). The UI displays several encryption options along the left side and lists encrypted files along the right side.
The Cypherus Encryption Wizard walks you through the process of encrypting and decrypting files. It also lets you send encrypted email messages. The first time you use Cypherus you will need to create an archive to place your encrypted files. The archive is essentially a well-armored folder on your hard drive. You can create multiple
archives, just as you can create multiple folders, and you can place archives within other folders on your hard drive. After you select the file you plan to encrypt, the wizard lets you choose from three different encryption levels: 128-, 256-, or 448-bit. Higher encryption levels give your files better protection but increase the time it takes to encrypt and decrypt files. We like being able to save time by choosing lower encryption levels. The wizard encrypts a copy of your original file into the archive you created. After you create an archive, you can also encrypt files by dragging and dropping them into the archive folder. After you encrypt the copy, the wizard lets you shred the original file (a method of erasing a file by writing over it several times, which is more effective than simply deleting the file). You can opt not to shred the file, but what's the point of encrypting data if you're going to leave the original vulnerable to attack? Cypherus' shredding application writes over each file with up to 35 passes, exceeding the Department of Defense's seven-pass recommendations. As with encryption, you can choose between higher or lower shredding levels based on your preferred shredding speed.
Sending encrypted email (or encrypted files via email) is just as easy. Cypherus supports Eudora, Microsoft Outlook 2000 and later, Outlook Express, and Netscape Messenger. If you use a Web-based email service, such as MSN Hotmail, the Text Encryptaur lets you encrypt the text in your message, but it won't place any buttons in the email.
Cypherus encrypts the email and places a Decrypt button into the message. To decrypt the message, your contact simply clicks the button. If your contact does not have Cypherus, you will need to give the contact a key (a password) to open the encrypted message (how you sneak the password to your contact is up to you, Bond). Your contact will receive the encrypted message and instructions for decrypting the message with the help of Cypherus' Web site. We were able to send encrypted messages through Hotmail without any trouble.
Cypherus is easy to use, but it doesn't skimp on power. It uses the fast and strong Blowfish encryption method and, as we mentioned before, it uses a quality shredding method to ensure your original files don't come back to haunt you. Once you read the tutorial, you won't have any trouble encrypting and organizing your files.
by Joshua Gulick
Media Portal
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