The Mystery of the disappearing TrueCrypt

The website of venerable free disk encryption software TrueCrypt is telling us:

WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues

Not only that, but the page goes on to state that the project has been closed down, following the end of support for Windows XP:

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More info here: True mystery of the disappearing TrueCrypt disk encryption software | Naked Security


I know TrueCrypt was never officially supported on Windows 8 but I'm sure some folks on here use it... if so it may be time to stop.

Seems like a shame though.


Edit: I also note that The Register is suggesting the TrueCrypt site may have been hacked, so it may be wise to stay away from TrueCrypt's site itself for a while:
TrueCrypt considered HARMFUL ? downloads, website meddled to warn: 'It's not secure' ? The Register

Due to budget cuts the NSA can no longer support both Truecrypt and Bitlocker, so they want us all to migrate to a single product.

mikeytg said:

Due to budget cuts the NSA can no longer support both Truecrypt and Bitlocker, so they want us all to migrate to a single product.

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LOL, made me laugh.

From what I understand, part II of the Truecrypt audit is currently still going ahead due to them sitting on the money raised for that purpose, so it will be interesting to see whether Truecrypt is indeed "not secure" or whether the developer(s) just decided to throw in the towel. I mean, we don't even know what country the developers are from, so I for one am curious to know the reasons behind them halting development (if indeed we actually ever find out the true reason). Very odd and a shame really.

That said, maybe it's not necessarily a bad thing this has happened because it means fewer people will be affected if in fact the Truecrypt audit does uncover a weakness/vulnerability in Truecrypt?

I've been using TC for years. I've never tried anything else. How secure is Bitlocker?

The problem I have with Bitlocker is it's only in the Enterprise and Ultimate version of Windows 7, and is only in the Professional and Enterprise versions of Windows 8.

I've always used TrueCrypt to make a single TrueCrypt container file. I don't want to encrypt the entire hard drive.

Bitlocker is closed source so we are completely at the mercy of Microsoft for security. And we have to pay $100 for the privilege.

In this era of security awareness it would do MS well to make bitlocker a free/included product for windows 8.1, like windows defender. Both products address obvious deficiencies in the Windows infrastructure and as such should be included. After all, my crummy little cell phone includes data encryption, but not my PC? Huh?

This may also encourage more users to upgrade to Win 8.x.

mikeytg said:

it would do MS well to make bitlocker a free/included product for windows 8.1, like windows defender. Both products address obvious deficiencies in the Windows infrastructure and as such should be included. After all, my crummy little cell phone includes data encryption, but not my PC?

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They already have (well, in a way at least).

Windows 8.1 will encrypt your pc by default, but the catch (and it's a big one) is that your computer must meet certain hardware requirements. (Called 'connected standby', I believe). These hardware requirements are not just about having a recent PC - I seem to remember the OS must live on an SSD drive for instance.