CentOS 5.3 now comes with disk encryption. When you install the operating system you have the option to encrypt block devices, partitions that you create. Block device encryption requires a passphrase or key as authentication in order to access the data on that partition.

One feature I've been looking forward to in Ubuntu 8.10 is the encrypted private directory. With this feature, you'ecll get a folder called Private in your home. Private will work just like a normal folder, but it will be transparently encrypted and automatically locked and unlocked when you log in and out.

This tutorial shows how you can use GnuPG to secure and verify data on your Linux box but the first part is relevant for Windows users too.

"I have been talking to quite a few people about Hushmail and I have been getting mixed reviews. For a long time, Hushmail was considered a very secure email provider until an affidavit from a DEA agent in 2007 raised concerns. And now there's this sketchy post on Cryptome saying their PGP app might be backdoored.

gpgdir uses GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) to encrypt and decrypt files or a directory tree. You could accomplish the same objective by tarring the filesystem up and then encrypting the tar.gz file with GnuPG, but then you would still have to shred or wipe every file in the original directory tree. With gpgdir the whole tree is encrypted in one command.

A new version of Truecrypt is out with a bunch of new features including the ability to encrypt an entire system partition with pre-boot authentication, and finally a GUI for Linux users.

TrueCrypt is free software that encrypts data “on-the-fly”. You can create an encrypted hard drive, a separate partition or a directory. TrueCrypt is portable -- it works on GNU/Linux and Windows. Worried about losing your valuable data when your laptop gets stolen? Don't wait and encrypt your data now!