Secure and encrypt your texts with the help of this cross-platform and open-source, little tool
What’s new in EncryptPad 0.5.0.1 Beta:
- FakeVim mode to enable editing files with Vim-like interface
- The lock icon has been replaced with a page and lock with the higher quality of the image.
- Botan has been updated to version 2.18.1
- The build system has been improved to support more distributions
EncryptPad is a multi-platform, open-source (Linux, Windows, and macOS) app for viewing, encrypting, and decrypting text and binary files.
Even though it looks rather similar to a typical text editor from the old days, EncryptPad uses the OpenPGP RFC 4880 (a popular email encryption protocol) to get the job done. This means that your texts and binary files (images, videos, archives, PDFs, etc.) are symmetrically encrypted.
The app also very good at protecting your texts via its double protection protocol. In short, you can encrypt files using both key files as well as passphrases.
Feature rundown
To make things as easy as possible for you, the app also features a random key file generator. Other noteworthy features include a FakeVim mode (helpful for editing files using the Vim-like GUI), a read-only mode (to prevent accidental file modifications), UTF8 text encoding, and a customizable passphrase generator.
The app is also format compatible with OpenPGP. This means that you can encrypt files with another tool with the said format, and open it with EncryptPad and vice versa.
Iterated and salted S2K, passphrases not kept in the memory for reuse, and an ASCII armor feature complete the app’s list of features.
In terms of cipher algorithms, EncryptPad uses TripleDES, CAST5, AES, AES192, AES256, Camellia128, Camellia192, Camellia256, and TwoFish. The supported Hash algorithms include SHA-1, SHA-384, SHA-256, SHA-512, and SHA-224.
Potential drawbacks
EncryptPad is designed for one purpose and one purpose only – to keep y our files as protected as possible. However, the app is not exactly adept at working with large multi-gigabyte files.
Furthermore, the app doesn’t provide you with any way of recovering potentially forgotten passphrases or key files, which is not exactly a drawback, but more of a necessary limitation of the app.
Verdict
EncryptPad is a minimalist yet very secure text/binary encryptor and decryptor app. It implements the RFC 4880 OpenPGP format, thus allowing you to symmetrically encrypt various files with ease.
That said, if you need a simple, lightweight app to protect your passwords, key files, and other sensitive information, Encrypt is definitely worth a shot.
