Private Disk is a
disk encryption application for the
Microsoft Windowsoperating system, developed by Dekart SRL. It works by creating a virtual drive, the contents of which is encrypted
on-the-fly; other software can use the drive as if it were a usual one.
One of Private Disk's key selling points is in its ease of use, which is achieved by hiding complexity from the end user[1] (e.g. data wiping is applied transparently when an encrypted image is deleted.) This simplicity does however reduce its flexibility in some respects (e.g. it only allows the use of AES-256 encryption.)
Although Private Disk uses a NIST certified implementation of the AES[2] and SHA-256/384/512[3] algorithms, this certification is restricted to a single component of Private Disk; the encryption/hash library used[4][5] and not to Private Disk as a complete system.
Feature highlights
NIST-certified implementation of
AES-256-bit, and
SHA-2. Private Disk complies with
FIPS 197 and
FIPS 180-2
CBC mode with secret IVs is used to encrypt the sectors of the storage volume
Disk Firewall, an application-level filter, which allows only trusted programs to access the virtual drive
Ability to run directly from a removable drive, requiring no local installation
Offers access to encrypted data on any system, even if administrative privileges are not available
Encrypted images can be accessed on Windows Mobile and Windows CE handhelds; this is achieved by making the encrypted container format compatible with containers used by SecuBox (disk encryption software by Aiko Solutions)
File wiping is applied when deleting an encrypted image
PD File Move, a file migration tool, which will locate the specified files on the system and securely move them to an encrypted disk
There are multiple versions of Private Disk, which provide a different feature set:
Private Disk - hard disk encryption software that uses 256-bit AES encryption, is highly configurable, offers application-level protection, USB disk portability, etc.