10 software apps for encryption for the Mac
In this day and age, nobody can afford NOT to use encryption, and the sooner we all get used to using it on a daily basis, the better.
We live in a world where secrets are hard to keep and information is easy to steal, so here are 10 handy Mac encryption tools that can help you make your data safe.
Mac GPG
Mac GNU Privacy Guard (Mac GPG for short) is, after a fashion, the Mac OS X port of GnuPG. The aims of the project are to make GnuPG easy to install, develop a framework to make it easy for other developers to incorporate GnuPG functionality into their applications, write services to allow for the use of GnuPG functions in most Cocoa applications, and write a Mac GPG Keys type application so that you no longer have to go to the commandline to manage your keys. It does not install any user applications as such – it installs the applications, including a native MacOSX pinentry program, which make encryption possible within other programs.
Shimo
Shimo was developed to replace the lousy software implementation of the Cisco VPNClient for Mac OS. Shimo does it the MacOS way: reduces the interface to the important features and integrates it right into the user interface of the OS. It offers: full Cisco compatibility, growl support + notifications, saving of passwords in your keychain, automatic (re-)connect on wakeup, network-changes, etc., and global shortcuts for fast connect/disconnect.
Pastor
Pastor is a tool to store all your passwords, website logins, program serial numbers, etc. It is RC4-encrypted and password-protected, and has a password generator built in. Easy to use and extremely intuitive, it’s ideal for novices and users with basic encryption needs.
iProtector
This software protects sensitive documents, database, excel, pdf, pictures and sound files stored on your hard drive. iProtector can lock and unlock files and folders in over 20 different powerful encryption formats.
Crypt
Crypt is a native Mac OS X application for encrypting and decrypting files or folders with a password of your choice. Crypt3 uses 256bit AES encryption in cipher-block chaining mode. The encryption format is open and can be decrypted on any platform that has openssl, tar and zip. It also supports securely erasing the original unencrypted files and folders.
Fugu
Fugu is a graphical frontend to the commandline Secure File Transfer application. SFTP is similar to FTP, but unlike FTP, the entire session is encrypted, and thus much less vulnerable to third-party interception. Fugu also includes support for SCP file transfers, and the ability to create secure tunnels via SSH.
Tresor
Tresor is a file and folder encryption application. It combines high cryptographic security and ease of use. Integrated compression functions allow compression and encryption in a single pass, without any interim files. Filter functions allow you to automate complex encryption tasks without the use of risky scripts. Being developed outside the US, Tresor is available in all countries that allow cryptography.
SecretService
SecretService enables you to encode text in all OS X aware applications with just one click. Highlight the text to encode or decode and select SecretService from the Services menu, plain text will change right there in the application and coded text will appear readable in a new window.
Pod Secret
Pod Secret allows one to store encrypted notes, medical vaccinations, credit cards, bank numbers, traveler’s check, serial numbers, passport, driver’s licenses, or any other data that you wish on removable media such as an iPod or a thumb drive for convenient portable access.
Pict Encrypt
Steganography software for Macintosh. Hides a message inside a picture.
