TrueCrypt is based on Encryption for the Masses (E4M), an open source on-the-fly encryption program first released in 1997. However, E4M was discontinued in 2000 as the author, Paul Le Roux, began working on commercial encryption software.

Version history

Version Release date Significant changes
1.0 February 2, 2004 Initial release. Featured support for Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP. Added plausible deniability for containers (although due to its simplistic nature, the practical value of the "plausible deniability" offered in this version is debatable),[1] and various bugfixes and improvements over E4M.
1.0a February 3, 2004 Removed support for Windows 98 and ME because the author of the Windows 9x driver for E4M (the ScramDisk driver) gave no permission that would allow his code to be used in projects derived from E4M.[2]
2.0 June 7, 2004 Added AES algorithm. Release made under the GNU General Public License, and signed as the TrueCrypt Foundation – previous versions were signed by TrueCrypt Team.
2.1 June 21, 2004 New release due to licensing issues relating to the GNU General Public License. This release was made under original E4M license.[3] Added RIPEMD-160, size of a volume was no longer limited to 2048 GB, ability to create NTFS volumes.
2.1a October 1, 2004 Removed IDEA encryption algorithm. Version released on SourceForge.net, which became the official TrueCrypt domain. The official TrueCrypt domain moved back to truecrypt.org again at the beginning of May 2005, and the SourceForge website redirects to there.
3.0 December 10, 2004 Added hidden volume support for containers. Added the Serpent and Twofish algorithms, along with cascaded cipher support.
3.1 January 22, 2005 Added portable "Traveller mode", along with new volume mounting options such as being able to mount as "read only".
4.0 November 1, 2005 Added support for Linux, x86-64, Big Endian machines, keyfiles, hot keys, ability to protect hidden volumes against corruption when their outer volumes are mounted, favorite volumes, the Whirlpool hash algorithm, and language packs.
4.1 November 25, 2005 Added LRW mode, which is more secure than CBC mode for on-the-fly storage encryption.[4] LRW mode also neutralized an exploit that could (under certain circumstances) be used to compromise the plausible deniability of a TrueCrypt volume by allowing it to be distinguished from random data.[5]
4.2 April 17, 2006 Added various features to the Linux version, such as the ability to create volumes, change passwords and keyfiles, generate keyfiles, and backup/restore volume headers. In the Windows version, it introduced support for dynamic (sparse file) volumes.
4.3 March 19, 2007 Added support for Windows Vista, support for file systems using sector sizes other than 512 bytes. This release phased out support of 64-bit block ciphers, disallowing creation of new containers using the Blowfish, CAST-128, or Triple DES algorithms.
5.0 February 5, 2008 Introduced XTS mode of operation, which is more secure than LRW mode. Added Mac OS X support, Linux GUI and Windows system disk encryption with pre-boot authentication, ability of creation of hidden volumes within NTFS volumes, but removed the ability to create hidden volumes on Linux, use the tool on a non-gui console and the ability to create encrypted partitions from the text mode. Encrypting the system volume for Windows 2000 is no longer supported (encrypting containers and non-system volumes are still supported, however). Pipelining, SHA-512.
5.1 March 10, 2008 Added support for hibernation on Windows computers where the system partition is encrypted, the ability to mount a partition in Windows that is within the key scope of system encryption without pre-boot authentication, and added command line options for creating new volumes in Linux and Mac OS X. This version also reduced the minimum memory requirements for the TrueCrypt Boot Loader (AES) from 42 KB to 27 KB in Windows and included significant improvements in AES encryption/decryption performance. Changed to assembly implementation of AES.[6]
6.0 July 4, 2008 Parallelized encryption/decryption on multi-core processors (or multi-processor systems). Increase in encryption/decryption speed is directly proportional to the number of cores and/or processors. Deniable encryption support. Volume format updated to allow for a built-in backup, which allows recovery of containers with minor damage to their headers. Ability to create hidden volumes under Mac OS X and Linux.
6.0a July 8, 2008 On systems where certain inappropriately designed chipset drivers were installed, it was impossible to encrypt the system partition/drive. This will no longer occur. Other minor bug fixes.
6.1 October 31, 2008 Ability to encrypt a non-system partition without losing existing data on the partition (in place encryption) on Windows Vista and Windows 2008. Added support for security tokens and smart cards (two-factor authentication), though only to store keyfiles (without encryption). TrueCrypt boot loader now customizable. Pre-boot passwords can be used to mount non-system volumes. Linux and Mac OS X versions can now mount an encrypted Windows system partition.
6.1a December 1, 2008 Minor improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements.
6.2 May 11, 2009 The I/O pipeline of the Windows version now uses read-ahead buffering to improve read performance, especially on solid-state drives.
6.2a June 15, 2009 Improved file container creation speed on systems that have issues with write block sizes greater than 64 KB. The "Device not ready" error will no longer occur when the process of decrypting a system partition/drive is finished. Other minor improvements and bug fixes.
6.3 October 21, 2009 Full support for Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. "System Favorite Volumes" that allow regular TrueCrypt volumes to be mounted before system and application services start and before users start logging on.
6.3a November 23, 2009 "Minor" unspecified improvements and bug fixes.
7.0 July 19, 2010 Hardware-accelerated AES. Encryption of hibernation files on Windows Vista and later. Automounting of volumes.
7.0a September 6, 2010 Workaround for a bug that caused system crashes when hibernating Truecrypt-encrypted systems. Other minor bug fixes and minor improvements.
7.1 September 1, 2011 Full compatibility with 64-bit and 32-bit Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Minor improvements and bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux).
7.1a February 7, 2012 Minor improvements and bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux).
7.2 May 28, 2014 Final release; neutered (only decryption capability); Warns that TrueCrypt has been discontinued on all operating systems and may contain unfixed security issues.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Plausible Deniability
  2. ↑ The authors of Scramdisk and E4M exchanged some code – the author of Scramdisk provided a driver for Windows 9x, and the author of E4M provided a driver for Windows NT, enabling cross-platform versions of both programs.
  3. ↑ "TrueCrypt User's Guide" (PDF). TrueCrypt Version 3.1a. TrueCrypt Foundation. 2005-02-07. p. 44. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-27. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  4. ↑ Fruhwirth, Clemens (2005-07-18). "New Methods in Hard Disk Encryption" (PDF). Institute for Computer Languages, Theory and Logic Group, Vienna University of Technology. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  5. ↑ "TrueCrypt".
  6. ↑ "Version History Part 1". TrueCrypt Documentation. TrueCrypt Foundation. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  7. ↑ Lyne, James (2014-05-29). "Open Source Crypto TrueCrypt Disappears With Suspicious Cloud Of Mystery". Forbes. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
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