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(C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises E N C R Y P T - I T F O R W I N D O W S Version 1.xx Reference Manual Encryption, decryption, and cryptanalysis program. Supporting the secure Data Encryption Standard (DES). Context sensitive help and on-line manual make it easy! Encrypt-It for Windows is user supported software (Shareware). If you use it past the initial 15 day evaluation period, you are required to register it. No exceptions! Registered Users: Your serial number can be found on the back of your manual, the distribution disk, or on the registration card. Encrypt-It for Windows "Encryption/Decryption/Cryptanalysis -- Fast, Safe, and Easy to Use" is published by MaeDae Enterprises 5430 Murr Road Peyton, CO 80831 U.S.A. Published and printed in the United States of America. Copyright 1991 MaeDae Enterprises as a licensed, unpublished, proprietary work. All international rights reserved. Page 1 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises The printed Reference Manual and associated registered software may not be copied, resold, reproduced, disclosed, archived, transmitted, or transferred in any form, electronic or otherwise, without the express written permission of MaeDae Enterprises. You may freely distribute the Shareware version. REGISTERED USERS: (those who paid and received a serial number) MaeDae Enterprises hereby grants a "book" license to the original individual (even if purchased by a company) user of this copy of Encrypt-It. You may use the program on your computer and make one backup for storage as long as there is no possibility of use or residence on more than one machine at any time. Just like two people cannot read the same book in different locations at the same time. Every registered copy of Encrypt-It has a unique, embedded serial number for traceabililty. You may not sell or give copies of the registered program or printed documentation to anyone. No exceptions. Pricing, specifications, and conditions are subject to change without notice. Send all registrations and inquiries for site (multiple CPU or network) licensing to MaeDae Enterprises at the address on the previous page. Disclaimer: MaeDae Enterprises makes NO claims AND offers NO warranties of any sort with Encrypt-It. MaeDae Enterprises assumes NO responsibility for any damage resulting from the apparent or actual use of Encrypt-It (mental or physical). The program provided is not guaranteed as to merchantability or fitness for its ultimate use. The user accepts all responsibility for use and may not resell the program. IBM PC/XT/AT are registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. Encrypt-It is a trademark of MaeDae Enterprises. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Page 2 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises PREFACE ABOUT THIS MANUAL You will notice that this manual is concise. This is intentional as we strived to make Encrypt-It the easiest program of its type to use. We opted to provide an extensive built-in user help system. Feel free to use this reference manual to install and get acquainted with the program. For many of you, this may be your first exposure to Shareware. To help eliminate possible confusion, we included a short description of the Shareware marketing concept, explaining what it is and why it relies on YOU for its survival. What is Shareware? Shareware is not a kind of software. It is a revolutionary method of marketing Commercial software. Our software is Commercial software that we are allowing you to examine for 15 days before you make the purchase decision. With traditional marketing methods, you have to purchase Commercial software from a computer store or through mail order businesses, then try it out, and hope it does what you want. Shareware allows you to "try before you buy!" We rely upon you, the customer, to examine our software. If you find it useful, please register. Your support is needed for us to continue to improve our products. Enough of this verbage. The real fun and learning begin when you use the program. So, enjoy! With warmest regards, The gang at MaeDae Enterprises. Page 3 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises Table of Contents ================= Page Description ==== ============ 5. What is the Data Encryption Standard (DES)? 5. What is Encrypt-It? An overview of its features. 6. Hardware Requirements 7. Installation - the "README.DOC" file. 7. Installation Notes 8. Getting Started 9. Tutorial 10. Additional Features 11. Troubleshooting 12. Basic Definitions 13. Encrypted Ramblings Page 4 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises WHAT IS THE DATA ENCRYPTION STANDARD (DES)? =========================================== Most encryption schemes are kept secret. One exception is the Data Encryption Standard (DES), which was issued by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. Even the National Security Agency (NSA) was intimately involved in the development and acceptance testing of the algorithm. But, how does it work? DES performs its encryption "magic" by working on a block of 64 bits of your data using a 64 bit key (we generate the 64 bit key from the key you supply). Basically, DES is a substitution cipher. We know this sounds very technical, but don't worry, we have hidden all the complexity of DES behind an extremely easy to use interface. Our extensive built-in user help system makes protecting your data a simple task. Why did we choose to implement DES? We chose DES because it is a standard. Its ability to protect your data is well documented. Our goal is to provide you the best possible software tool for the protection of your data. We use multiple layers of encryption, with DES as the final layer of protection for your data. Because of this approach, we feel your data is protected far better than using DES by itself. WHAT IS ENCRYPT-IT? =================== Encrypt-It is a powerful encryption/decryption package for Windows 3.x that allows you to: 1. Encrypt any file using Data Encryption Standard encryption, 2. Decrypt the file using a confidental key, 3. Perform encryption and decryption on entire groups of files in a batch mode, 4. Obtain file statistics (frequency/distribution, mode, mean, median, and more) to determine how well the file is encrypted (also to look at other encrypted files), 5. Erase files completely without leaving a trace. We even support a government standard file wipe option. 6. And do it all without cryptic commands! Page 5 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ===================== 1. IBM PC/XT/AT, IBM PS/2, or fully compatible computer capable of running Windows 3.0 or later. 2. At least one 5.25" or 3.5" floppy disk drive. Two floppy disk drives or one floppy and a hard disk (300K free space minimum for the full system) are strongly recommended. INSTALLATION - README.DOC ========================= For all installation information see the README.DOC on the main distribution diskette. You can view the information on-line or print it out on your printer. README.DOC is constantly updated to contain the latest information. P.S. The Shareware version of Encrypt-It is compelete. However, it is a 15 day trial version. Also, additional product information screens are added. Feel free to share ONLY the Shareware version with friends and potential users of Encrypt-It for 15 day trial/evaluation purposes only. You may not use the Shareware version on other machines in order to avoid purchasing additional copies of the full program. You may not give away any copies or make more than one copy of the fully operational program for other than archival purposes. The full version of Encrypt-It has a unique serial number embedded in each copy for traceability. Page 6 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises IMPORTANT INSTALLATION NOTES: 1. Diskette #1 contains many files in addition to EIW.EXE. Please make sure these files are all installed in the same directory when running the program. 2. If Encrypt-It does not run properly: A. Your machine may not be 100% IBM PC operating system compatible or Windows 3.0 may be installed incorrectly. This is not always disastrous and a quick call to our phone support staff may solve your problem. B. You may have a slightly incompatible Windows 3.0 video driver. Usually, updating your driver or re-installing Windows solves the problem. C. If you have any memory resident programs or system drivers, try running without them loaded on your computer. On some computers, ANSI.SYS is suspect. 3. This manual is designed to give you a general overview and familiarity with the program. More complete, up-to-date information is available to you through the extensive built-in user help (F1) system. When using the more advanced features of the program, the help screens will guide you through the toughest questions with ease. As Encrypt-It continues to add more features, you can be sure that the built in help will give you the guidance needed. This way everybody wins. We don't spend money continually revising manuals and charging you higher prices. You get what you want and deserve: accurate up-to-date information. So fire up the computer, dig in, and welcome to Encrypt-It! Page 7 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises GETTING STARTED =============== After you run EIW.EXE using the file manager, the MAIN MENU will appear on your screen. The Main Menu options with descriptions are below. *File: This menu option provides the basic File Select option which allows you to select the file(s) you want to work with. It also provides utilities like File Remove and File Statistics which allow you to "look" at any file to see how well it is encrypted. Note: You must first select a file before you can work with it. Grayed menu options will then become dark text indicating you can now use those options. After you encrypt, decrypt, or remove files, you will notice the encrypt and decrypt options become grayed. They are now disabled because you altered the contents of the directory and it needs to be re-read before you can continue. *Encrypt: Encode or hide the information within a file to make it unreadable to anyone who doesn't have a special access code called a key. Just like you can't unlock a lock without a key, you can't look at an encrypted file without the key. You limit the number of people who know the key, thereby limiting the number of people who can access the intelligence within the file, even if they have access to the file. A key is simply a combination of letters and numbers. They may or may not have any conventional meaning. For example, the letters xyz12345 could be a key. *Decrypt: Decryption is the opposite of encryption. You use the same key initially used to encrypt the file and reverse the process. Please note we provide two methods of encryption and decryption. The two methods are our lighter proprietary method and the Data Encryption Standard (DES) encryption method. DES provides the more powerful method, but is much slower. Choose the appropriate method for the level of protection you require. Encrypt-It can't retrieve the key used to encrypt the file. If you forget the key you can also forget your file. This is the nature of data protection. We have no way of helping you recover any lost data due to a lost key! So be careful! *ClearKey!: This option clears the encryption/decryption key from memory. Use of this option is strongly recommended before you leave Encrypt-It running un-attended. You must protect your key to prevent someone else from gaining access to your data. *Options: This menu item provides access to the options available to you for encryption and decryption. You can set the level of encryption (DES or proprietary), tell Encrypt-It what to do with source files after encryption/decryption, etc. Page 8 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises You may choose any of the displayed options by holding down the Alt key, then pressing the letter which is underlined on the menu item or by selecting it with the mouse. TUTORIAL (ENCRYPTING/DECRYPTING A FILE) ======================================= Now let's do something simple to demonstrate how Encrypt-It works. Choose the File menu option. Then pick the Select option from the menu. A File Select dialog box will appear allowing you to select one or more files. Choose the first file by double clicking the mouse on it. Did you notice that the Encrypt and Decrypt main menu options are now enabled? Pick the main menu Encrypt Option. A dialog box will appear asking you several questions. The only one that has to be answered in this tutorial is the key. Since this is the first file we've encrypted, the Encryption Key won't contain anything. The cursor should be on the line prompting you for a key. Choose an easy to remember key and type it in. Now click on the OK box. A file will be written in encrypted form using the default key and default filename shown. The file to be encrypted is broken into small blocks which can easily be read into your computer's memory, then encrypted. You have just encrypted your first file. Did you notice that the Encrypt/Decrypt Options grayed? You just added a new file to the default directory invalidating the file list stored in memory. It will stay grayed until you update the in-memory list through the use of the File Select option. *** Warning *** Encrypt-It remembers the last key you used until you exit the program, or 10 minutes have passed with no activity on your computer! If you haven't cleared the key, and it wasn't cleared automatically, it is still available for use by Encrypt-It in the next operation. This makes it easier for you but can lead to problems if you walk away from your computer with Encrypt-It running. Another user could potentially find out the last key you used by checking the encrypt or decrypt screens. We recommend you NEVER leave your computer with Encrypt-It running. Now lets decrypt the file you just encrypted. To decrypt a file you just reverse the process. You first select the file you just encrypted using the same steps as for encryption. Look for the filename created when you encrypted the first file, then select it with mouse. Now select Decrypt from the main menu and the Decrypt Files dialog box opens. Use the same key as when you encrypted the file. The output filename will be extracted from the header of the encrypted file. You can allow Encrypt-It to overwrite the original, unencrypted file or choose a new filename. It's that simple. Page 9 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises ADDITIONAL FEATURES =================== MULTIPLE FILE OPERATIONS Use the File Select dialog box to tag multiple files. If multiple files are tagged, Encrypt-It will prompt you for confirmation and then work with the entire group of files at one time. This works for Encrypt, Decrypt, File Remove, and File Stats. AUTO FILENAME GENERATION Encrypt-It will automatically generate a unique destination filename when you encrypt a file. You have the option to override this feature for single file operations. We suggest a tilde (~) as the first character of an encrypted file's extension. Encrypt-It automatically generates an extension with a ~ followed by two characters. Your directory is checked for files and we generate 00-99 and AA-ZZ until we find a unique unused filename. Most of the time the extension will be a .~00 for the first encrypted file, a .~01 for the second, etc. This technique allows encrypting groups of files in a batch mode without your manual input. Using this method we can generate about 776 unique filenames by working with the file extension and leaving the main portion of the filename unchanged. AUTO KEY CLEARING The key used to encrypt/decrypt files must be kept secret for your data to remain protected. Encrypt-It has a built-in auto key clearing feature. Any time you have a key typed in and leave your computer for 10 minutes with Encrypt-It running unattended, your key will be automatically cleared. For this feature to work, you must be at the Encrypt-It main menu. Page 10 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises TROUBLESHOOTING =============== If Encrypt-It will not run, you may have insufficient memory or too many memory resident programs. Try running Encrypt-It with no memory resident programs or allocate a larger swapfile under Windows. See your Windows User's Guide for help with the Swapfile program. If Encrypt-It just stops running and you get an "Unrecoverable Application Error," you may have incompatible hardware/software. Try running Encrypt-It in the 386 Enhanced mode (if you have a 386 computer) to see if that corrects the problem. Occasionally, certain memory resident TSR or "pop-up" programs conflict with Encrypt-It. In general, there is no problem, but there are many new programs being written without regard to the system requirements of other programs that may be running at the same time. Remove them from memory, and try again. If that fails, try getting rid of device drivers in your CONFIG.SYS file. ANSI.SYS is a prime suspect for some not-so-compatible computers. MISCELLANEOUS Encrypt-It works closely with your computer's hardware to gain much of its speed. However, it never directly addresses the hardware without using standard DOS calls. If you have any memory resident software that modifies the way DOS works, then Encrypt-It may not function properly. We strongly recommend that you remove all memory resident software before running Encrypt-It. Page 11 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises BASIC DEFINITIONS: ================== The terms used in Encrypt-It may be a little confusing. They are terms frequently used when discussing cryptography. We have tried to pick a handful of the most important terms and define them for you. They are: Data Encryption Standard (DES) - The Data Encryption Standard was issued by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. The National Security Agency (NSA) was intimately involved in the development and acceptance testing of the algorithm. DES performs its encryption by working on a block of 64 bits of your data using a 64 bit key (we generate the 64 bit key from the key you provide). Basically, DES is a substitution cipher. Cryptography -- The general study of hiding the meaning of messages and the general techniques used for the hiding. Cryptanalysis -- The solving or breaking of codes without any knowledge of the key. Cipher -- Any technique, method, or scheme (substitution, transposition, and XOR) used to encrypt and decrypt text, without regard to its linguistic structure. Plaintext -- The unencrypted or totally decrypted readable text. Ciphertext -- The unintelligible text, after encrypting it. Encrypting -- The process of encoding/encrypting a plaintext file to hide the intelligence. Decrypting -- Decoding an encrypted/ciphertext file. Key -- The text used to encrypt or decrypt a file. Sometimes called a code word. Keys can be simple everyday words or very complex combinations of characters that have no meaning. Some electronic information services pick your password by combining two regular words with a character between them. Examples keys: abc1234, Never:Again, and alsdkfqiaef. Page 12 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises ENCRYPTED RAMBLINGS - SOME GOOD INFORMATION =========================================== As networks proliferate, the need for data security increases. The world in the past has largely depended on physical security, that is safes and locks. Computers, much to everyone's consternation, are rapidly eroding the possibility of physical security (wherever a modem is connected to a phone line). Laws will be passed, but in the final result, honesty depends on good locks and all the ministrations of legislators and bureaucrats will have little positive effect on security. Human nature will win out. The easier it is to get, the more likely it is to be stolen. Encryption provides part of the answer to the need for increased security. It will be especially useful in systems that are open to all users but which have some confidential data. Instead of complex levels of user verification through passwords, everyone can get the file but only the people with the key can decode the information. Encryption in its present state is cumbersome and time consuming but, faster computers and better programs can ease this problem. This is where Encrypt-It comes to the rescue. Encryption is a fascinating exercise. Encrypt-It implements a version of Vernham's machine developed at Bell labs in the 1920's as part of its lite encryption method. The original machine used Baudot code on a teletype and performed an exclusive or (XOR) on each character of the message and the key to produce the encrypted character. The message was decoded by the same machine in the same manner. The method is considered unbreakable if two conditions are met. First, the key is longer than the message and second, the key is only used once, sometimes called a "one time pad." Typically the files you will be encrypting are much longer than the key (also much longer than the one we build from your key) thereby weakening the encryption. Distribution and maintenance of keys is unworkable in the day-to- day operation of any communications operation of any size. Encrypt-It builds a much more complex key in its lite encryption method from your simple key, in an effort to provide a means to ease this problem. It creates a one time pad based on your unique key. Even if you always use the same key, Encrypt-It adds random information to make the key unique. Most random keys are not truly random since all random functions are repeatable and their true randomness is somewhat suspect. What is the solution? The specter of bigger and faster computers looms in the future to provide even faster encryption. Thinkers build on the best thoughts of those preceding them. More powerful computers and better encryption techniques will eventually provide a good solution to this problem. Encrypt-It provides encryption methods that range from the fairly secure to the very secure. When you choose DES we use the lite encryption methods as the first layer followed by the secure DES. This further complicates the process of breaking the code. Page 13 (C) Copyright 1991,1992 MaeDae Enterprises The best encryption in the world won't protect your data if you give away the key. Secure encryption of the data is our job. The choice of a good key and its protection is your job. How do you select a good key? Several things should be considered. The key should not have a lot of repeating characters. If they have any pattern to the eye they should not be used. Keys should be kept secure. Encrypt-It supports keys up to 40 characters in length. We recommend you use as long a key as practical. Phrases or short sentences should work well as the key and still be easy to remember. Spaces may be used in your key, but we recommend not using spaces at the beginning or end of the key. These spaces are easily forgotten. NOTE: If there is any question about the randomness of the encrypted file, Encrypt-It could be used on it multiple times using different keys. The true randomness of the key should not matter since the use of more than one key should make unraveling very difficult, if not impossible. This process could be repeated until the paranoia of the person generating the keys was satisfied. Page 14