Hot on the heels of the port OSXCrypt, TrueCrypt finally comes out with their 5.0 release – complete with Mac GUI. After a long, long time with nothing, suddenly the mac has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to encryption.
Anyone concerned with security and privacy should never let their data leave their house unencrypted, and suddenly we have two great options native on the mac. Check out TC5’s screenshots, and download here. Note that if you do download it, you’ll need to rename the resulting file from .dmg.bz2 to just .dmg due to a misconfigured web server on their end – a common problem, unfortunately, but forgivable since this is their first mac release.
My hope now is that the OSXCrypt team don’t give up with their project – their goal of creating a free general “platform” for encryption on OSX is very interesting and I’d hate to see it cut off just like that. Furthermore, their approach (native kernel module) promises more flexibility and performance than a MacFUSE implementation like TC’s can deliver. For example, it seems that an EFI plugin – allowing full-disk encryption – would be easier with a proper kernel module.
Anyway, the last month has seen a great leap in privacy and security on the mac. Let’s hope it continues!
UPDATE: In case there’s anyone who doesn’t understand why anyone would want to maintain a plausible-deniability encryption regime for their sensitive date, just read this current Slashdot Thread: U.S. Confiscating Data at the Border.