BestCrypt for Linux

BestCrypt creates and supports encrypted virtual volumes for Linux. BestCrypt volume is accessible as a regular filesystem on a corresponding mount point.

The data stored on a BestCrypt volume are stored in the container file. A container is a regular file, so it is possible to backup, move or copy it to other disk (CD-ROM or network, for instance) and continue to access encrypted data using BestCrypt.

BestCrypt for Linux uses strong proven encryption algorithms:

Encryption algorithm	Key length in bits	Operation mode
Blowfish	448, 256, 128	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC
Rijndael	256	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC
Twofish	256	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC
GOST	256	Cipher Feedback / CFB
Triple DES	168	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC
CAST	128	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC
IDEA	128	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC
DES (not recommended)	56	Cipher Block Chaining / CBC

Quick start

Installation

Please note that kernel sources are required to build and install BestCrypt for Linux.

If your Linux distribution supports RPM, download .src.rpm version of BestCrypt for Linux. Then rebuild

or on newer systems and install it

If your Linux distribution does not have RPM, you should download .tgz version of BestCrypt distributive. In order to install, unpack it into separate directory and run there

and

BestCrypt for Linux will be compiled and installed on your computer. You can now consult

Using BestCrypt

The software supports encrypted virtual volumes, hence, all that you should know is how to create at least one volume, mount, format and dismount it. All these operations are close to those ones used for usual Linux volumes, the only term you should understand is a "container file".

Container is the warehouse of your confidential information - all files you are going to store on BestCrypt volume will be stored inside the container in encrypted form. Let's go on and create BestCrypt container file, for example, with 'top_secret' name. As well, we choose the Blowfish encryption algorithm, size of the container will be 10 MBytes and its description - "my docs":

$ bctool new top_secret -a Blowfish -s 10M -d "my docs"
Now we can mount the container as a new encrypted Linux volume, but we should not forget about formatting the container before using it for the first time:
$ bctool format top_secret
Ok, let's mount the container as /mnt/secret mountpoint:
$ bctool mount top_secret /mnt/secret

Now you can do everything what you want with the new mounted volume (write new files to it, read them and so on) - everything what you do with other regular drives. As soon as you decide to hide away all that you placed to the BestCrypt volume, just unmount it:
$ bctool umount /mnt/secret

Additional notes

Container can be formatted with any filesystem supported by Linux (MINIX, EXT, EXT2, FAT, FAT32, and others) and mounted as additional volume to any mount point.

BestCrypt for Linux is developed for Linux Kernels 2.2/2.4/2.6 and compatible with container files, created by BestCrypt v.6 for Windows or newer using SHA-1 or SHA-256 Key Generator.

BestCrypt for Linux is distributed as software with 30 days evaluation period. After evaluation period expired, the user has to either pay for his/her copy of BestCrypt software for Linux or uninstall it.

All sources of BestCrypt for Linux are opened and available for downloading.

Changelog

10-October-2008 | v.1.6-21

Fedora Linux 2.6.26.5+ kernels support added.

16-September-2008 | v.1.6-20

Random crash on x86_64 systems fixed. Linux kernel 2.6.26 support added.

23-June-2008 | v.1.6-19

Linux kernel 2.6.25 and Fedora Core 9 support added.

17-June-2008 | v.1.6-18

Ubuntu 8.04 support added.

06-February-2008 | v.1.6-16

Linux kernel 2.6.24 support added.

16-November-2007 | v.1.6-15

Module Makefiles support build with external LDFLAGS. Thanks to Alon Bar-Lev.

19-July-2007 | v.1.6-14

Fedora Core 7 support added.

16-March-2007 | v.1.6-13

Linux kernel 2.6.20+ support added (Thanks to Stephen Moehle).

08-February-2007 | v.1.6-12

Missing symbdds in key generators fixed.

01-February-2007 | v.1.6-11

Compile time warnings removed. Thanks to Gentoo team.

09-November-2006 | v.1.6-10

Ubuntu 6.10 compatibility added.

07-November-2006 | v.1.6-9

Fedora Core 6 compatibility added (Thanks to Stephen Moehle). Minor fixes for clean compilation.

20-October-2006 | v.1.6-8

Linux kernel 2.6.18+ SMP support added (Thanks to Stephen Moehle). Gentoo patches merged.

27-September-2006 | v.1.6-7

Linux kernel 2.6.18+ support added.

17-August-2006 | v.1.6-6

/dev/bcrypt devices used by mounted containers are protected.

12-April-2006 | v.1.6-5

Minor fix for Fedora Core 5 2.6.15 kernel.

29-March-2006 | v.1.6-4

Fixed compatibility issues with 2.6.16 kernel (Fedora Core 5). Many thanks to Stephen Moehle.

07-March-2006 | v.1.6-3

Fixed compatibility with BestCrypt Corporate edition.

11-August-2005 | v.1.6-2

Fixed compatibility issues with new distributions, including Fedora Core 4.

17-May-2005 | v.1.6

SHA-256 key generator added

5-January-2004 | v.1.5

Linux 2.6.x kernels basic support added.

18-November-2003 | v.1.4

Incorrect container handling fixed. Please upgrade from BestCrypt v1.3. See changelog for details.

5-November-2003 | v.1.3

Initial vector generation procedure fixed

18-October-2002 | v.1.2

BestCrypt Development Kit added

23-August-2002 | v.1.1

Urgent unmount feature added, docs reviewed and updated, array out-of bound bug fixed (thanks to Dr. Andreas Rieke). 2.4.19 kernel compatibility fixed

15-January-2002 | v.1.0b

Added support for containers lerger then 2Gb, hidden part support added, additional passwords support added,advanced commands added.

29-October-2001 | v.0.8-8

Mount locking segmentation fault error fixed - many thanks to Sirron Davis. Added support for mounting container on its parent directory (thanks to Tomi). Read also a correspondent part in Tips and Tricks section.

04-June-2001 | v.0.8-2

root access bug fixed (thanks to Carl Livitt, m0bius and Joel Eriksson)

13-April-2001 | v.0.7

support for 2.4.3+ kernels added.

26-February-2001 | v.0.6

added new algorithms: Rijndael, IDEA, CAST, Triple DES, and Blowfish with 128- and 448-bits keys.

15-January-2001 | v.0.5b

support for 2.4.x kernels added; disk access speedup.

4-February-2000 | v.0.4b

support for 2.3.32+ kernels added; disk access speedup; container on raw block device support added; user, group and mode mount options added.

11-October-1999 | v.0.3b

Fixed a serious bug that may cause data damage, device name changed from /dev/bc* to /dev/bcrypt*, support for fsck added, support for 2.3.x kernels added, fixed loop device (/dev/loop*) support, added proper kernel version handling and added support for SMP kernels.

13-September-1999

BestCrypt for Linux v.0.2b got 5 golden penguins at Linuxberg (Console/Encryption software)

8-September-1999 | v.0.2b

BestCrypt for Linux is announced for 2.2.x kernels.