Cryptographic protection and permanent deletion of data to beef up information security
Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of Internet threat management solutions that protect against all forms of malicious software including viruses, spyware, hackers and spam, announces the release of Kaspersky KryptoStorage (KKS). The product, with its user-friendly, intuitive interface, is designed to provide cryptographic protection and permanently delete data from computers running Windows operating systems.
“Unfortunately, data theft and the illegal use of other people’s data is becoming increasingly widespread,” says Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and Co-founder of Kaspersky Lab. “Now, with the help of Kaspersky KryptoStorage, the user can protect themselves against these threats. The product is easy to use and provides such a robust level of security that the ‘bad guys’ would have to spend hundreds of years trying to break into this impregnable digital safe.”
Malware, linked to the theft of users’ confidential data is becoming more and more widespread. Encryption of the most critical user data provides an additional layer of defence against hacker attacks, including those that make use of various types of malicious programs. In conjunction with Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 and Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, Kaspersky KryptoStorage is designed to transform a user’s computer into an impenetrable data storage that can withstand any form of attack.
Kaspersky KryptoStorage preserves the confidentiality and integrity of information by fully encrypting it. Data can only be read, modified or deleted by users who know the predefined password entered at the time of encryption. The product secures three types of object: catalogs, virtual disks (file containers) and logical partitions of the hard drive. Encryption and, if necessary, decryption of hard disk partitions is performed in the background, allowing the user to continue working with data.
The ability to encrypt different object types makes the cryptosystem flexible and easy to use. For instance, if all the data is important to a user, they can encrypt an entire partition. If there isn’t a large amount of confidential information, encryption can be limited to areas on a storage device, placing data in a container, or simply in separate folders.
Once data has been encrypted, it is subsequently decrypted and re-encrypted live, all of which is transparent to the user. When a user opens a document to read information, it is automatically decrypted and when it is written to a disk, it is encrypted. This means that data located on the hard disk is always encrypted. Transparent encryption enhances the level of security and makes things easy for the user, ensuring that they don’t need to invoke the application, meaning that the opened data is guaranteed to be encrypted when saved.
Users of Kaspersky KryptoStorage will appreciate the convenience of working with file containers: they can be sent via email, written to a CD or deleted. This does not require a password, which is only needed to gain access to the information stored in a container. A file container can be mounted on any computer that has Kaspersky KryptoStorage installed on it.
Encrypted folders and file containers can be saved on internal, external, local and network storage media (on any digital devices, including magnetic and optical disks as well as flash cards). In addition, containers can be stored on encrypted disks, in encrypted folders and inside other containers. A single password can be used for all protected objects or different passwords used for each object.
The cryptosecurity in Kaspersky KryptoStorage is based on the robust AES-128 algorithm of symmetric encryption. A secret key is generated using cryptographic conversion of the password entered by the user, and the solution is resistant to brute-force attacks due to a special algorithm that makes such attacks ineffective even with the highest-performance computer hardware.
As well as cryptosecurity, Kaspersky KryptoStorage is also capable of permanently deleting data from any media, which prevents information being compromised if a memory device is lost or after it is thrown away. This is done using a random sequence of symbols to overwrite the deleted file several times, which makes it impossible to restore data using dedicated software, making restoration using advanced data recovery equipment extremely difficult.
For more information about Kaspersky KryptoStorage please visit http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/kaspersky-kryptostorage.
To find out more about computer threats visit: http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/threats
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