A secure USB key

A USB key is a very practical thing for having data available to you everywhere you go. You want to have all kinds of data available to you at all times. Keeping that data safe is another matter. It's all too easy to loose a key or have it stolen from your person. Are you sure that all the data you put in the key is harmless, even when the data it contains is put on the internet for the whole world to see?
This series of articles will show you how I solved this problem.

A USB key is a very practical thing for having data available to you everywhere you go. You want to have all kinds of data available to you at all times. Keeping that data safe is another matter. It's all too easy to loose a key or have it stolen from your person. Are you sure that all the data you put in the key is harmless, even when the data it contains is put on the internet for the whole world to see?
This series of articles will show you how I solved this problem.

A USB key of 512MB minimal is needed. About 120MB is needed for all applications. The rest can be used to store data in the encrypted virtual drive. I used a 4GB USB key for which I payed 10 Euro.

These are the applications I used

  • KeepPass
  • TrueCrypt
  • PStart
  • Thunderbird
  • Tor application bundle with Firefox and Pidgin

All these applications are totally free.

KeePass

URL: http://keepass.info/

License: GNU General Public License v2 or later

Description: This application allows you to safeguard all your passwords and application settings. It runs on Windows, Mac OSx and Linux (using mono), both installed and on a USB stick. You can synchronize the data with all instances as long as you use the same version. Many plug-ins are available

TrueCrypt

URL: http://www.truecrypt.org/

License: TrueCrypt License

Description: TrueCrypt can create virtual disks that are encrypted, encrypt partitions or whole disks and thus allows you to store data securely.

PStart

URL: http://www.pegtop.de/start/

License: Freeware (no further specific license mentioned)

Description: To be able to start the installed applications easily, PStart allows you to open an encrypted drive by clicking a button and entering a password. Getting access to all your stored passwords is also just a click away.

Thunderbird

URL: https://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/

License: Mozilla Public License, the GNU General Public License and GNU Lesser General Public License and others

Description: Thunderbird is known to be a very versatile and safe application. Hundreds of plugins are available so you can tune the application to do exactly as you want.

Tor application bundle

URL: https://www.torproject.org/easy-download.html.en

License: Tor-> GNU General Public License, Firefox -> Mozilla Public License, the GNU General Public License and GNU Lesser General Public License and others, Pidgin -> Mostly "GPLv2 or later."

Description: If you want nobody to know where you are located while connecting to the internet, or you are using a network that is shared with other people you have no reason to trust, Tor provides a solution by encrypting the first part if your connection to the internet. Use it when every you want some privacy when you are connected to a wireless network that is poorly or not protected or you want your traffic to remain anonymous.
The Tor application bundle includes a pre configured Firefox and Pidgin. Firefox is the browser to use when you want safety and versatility. Pidgin is multi protocol Instant messaging application.

Get ready to start

Once you have your USB key ready, let's start. Plug it into your computer, copy everything you still need from it to a safe place and format it. Use FAT or FAT32 as the file system. If you are using Windows, you needn't worry about this as it will be automatically selected. If you use any other OS (Apple OSX or Linux) I assume you are knowledgeable enough to know how to format a USB key with this format.

Now you are ready to move on and get yourself a safe master password in the next part.