Truecrypt Free open-source disk encryption software
Any/all software programmer is welcome to contribute to this open-source disk encryption software in order to make it better. Truecrypt is free open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux that has been developed in different versions, with the latest being the 7.1 version.
Some of its features include:
- Creation of a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it as a real disk
- Encrypting a storage device such as a USB flash drive or hard drive or an entire partition
- It does a pre-boot authentication by encrypting the drive or partition where Windows is installed.
- The encryption is done on-the-fly, that is, automatic, transparent and real-time.
- Data can be read and written as fast as if the drive was not encrypted due to pipelining and parallelization.
- On modern processors, the encryption can be hardware-accelerated.
- It provides plausible deniability, that is steganography (hidden volume) and hidden operating system in case one is under duress to reveal the password.
The new TrueCrypt 7.1 is fully compatible with 64-bit and 32-bit Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. It has bug fixes for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X with minor improvements from the previous version of 7.0a.
Version 7.0a’s major improvement was the workaround for a bug initiating hibernation on TrueCrypt-encrypted operating systems. Some custom (non-Microsoft) drivers for storage device controllers caused systems to crash. This, for the most part, affected Windows Vista / 7/2008/2008R2.
Version 7.0 came with the greatest improvements and new features. Some of these are:
- AES Hardware-acceleration
- Automatic configuration of a Windows volume mounted whenever the host device has a connection to a computer as long as the password and/or keyfiles are correct.
- If caching of the pre-boot authentication is enabled, TrueCrypt does not prompt a password.
- For Windows and Linux, partition/device hosted volumes are created on drives with sector size 4096, 2048, or 1024 bytes. This was not supported before on such drives.
- It has a favorite volume organizer for Windows used to set various options for each separate favorite volume. These are mounted upon a logo as a removable medium or read-only and sometimes, assigned special labels excluded from the hotkey mount.
- Non-system favorite volumes are mounted on the favorites menu
- File-hosted TrueCrypt volumes on floppy disks can be created, but device-hosted volumes located on floppy disks are no longer supported by TrueCrypt.
- The major security improvement is the API encrypts (Windows) for hibernation and crash dump files in a safe documented way. This is a public API for encryption of hibernation files on Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. This fixture came about due to public outcry.
Significant Upgrades in Version 1.26.24
The latest release, version 1.26.24, brings several enhancements across all supported platforms. For improved performance, VeraCrypt now supports SHA-256 x86 intrinsic for password-based key derivation, while ARM64 platform users benefit from AES hardware acceleration. These upgrades ensure that VeraCrypt remains a top performer across various devices.
For Windows, support for 32-bit systems has been discontinued, reflecting a focus on newer, more secure architectures. The minimum supported version is now Windows 10 (October 2018 Update). Other Windows-specific improvements include fixes for driver issues in low-memory scenarios, streamlined updates to address “Access Denied” errors, and updates to random number generation mechanisms for enhanced security.
On Linux, key security vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-54187 and CVE-2025-23021) have been resolved. These updates prevent path hijacking and improve safeguards against improper mounting of encrypted volumes. Additionally, functionality improvements ensure seamless operations across different Linux distributions.
MacOS users also benefit from the same critical security fixes and additional enhancements, such as disabling screen capture by default for added privacy and improved sudo session detection during administrative tasks.
Maintaining Plausible Deniability with Older Volumes
For users who created encrypted volumes with VeraCrypt version 1.17 or earlier, a vital step is to recreate those volumes, including both outer and hidden layers. This ensures the highest level of security and prevents unintentional disclosure of the existence of hidden data. Recreating system-encrypted volumes or hidden operating systems is also necessary to align with the software’s latest protocols.