Sophos releases free encryption tool for Windows

Sophos Free Encryption for Windows. Security specialist Sophos has released a free encryption tool for Windows systems. Sophos Free Encryption, one of several free tools from Sophos, allows users to easily encrypt and compress their files to send or store their private data using an AES encryption algorithm.

According to a blog post by Vice President of Sophos Product Management Chris Kraft, most users aren't using anything to protect their information. Kraft advises users to never send sensitive information in the body of an email, comparing it to "a postcard sent via snail-mail - freely readable by anyone whose hands touches it in the delivery process". In addition to the main application interface, users can access Sophos Free Encryption features by simply right-clicking on a file or folder to activate encryption in the Windows Explorer Context menu. The tool also integrates in to several standard email clients, such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. While the tool is primarily aimed at "the average consumer", it can be used for free commercially as well.

More details about the release can be found in the Sophos Free Encryption datasheet. Sophos Free Encryption is available to download (direct download) for Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. Sophos also offers a commercial variant called SafeGuard PrivateCrypto which starts at $39.00 per user license and includes support. Windows, Linux or Mac OS X users interested in an open source alternative encryption tool should consider TrueCrypt.

(crve)