Frequently Asked Questions
I want to use EC3 to encrypt e-mails. How can the person I am sending them to decrypt the emails?
I have accidentally lost my 'key' file. How can I decrypt my document?
What operating systems does EC3 run under?
How secure is EC3?
What encryption system does EC3 use?
How can I secure files on a PC that is used by several people?
When I use the BURN program to wipe free disk space my computer warns me that I have run
out of disk space and it then offers to run Disk Cleanup.
What happens if my Computer crashes while it is encrypting a data file?
does EC3 / Burn work with Windows XP?
I want to use EC3 to encrypt e-mails. How can the person I am sending them to decrypt the emails?
The safest way to achieve total security over email (or www) is to create a key onto floppy disk (EC3 has an option to do this when setting up a new key) and to make a copy of the key file onto a second floppy disk. The copy can then be handed (or posted) to the person who needs to be able to decrypt your messages.
For maximum-security use different keys for correspondence with different people and another key for your own local encryption.
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I have accidentally lost my 'key' file. How can I decrypt my document?
Without your key file you cannot decrypt files that were encrypted using that key. The encryption techniques used in EC3 make the code unbreakable and there are no 'master keys' or 'backdoors' in EC3.
LOOK AFTER YOUR KEY FILE!
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What operating systems does EC3 run under?
EC3 is designed for Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000.
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How secure is EC3?
EC3 has several levels of security. Standard government specifications for encryption call for a 256 bit key size - EC3 uses a keysize of up to 64K bits and is therefore up to 250 times stronger than the standard techniques. We believe that EC3 encryption is simply unbreakable. The weakest part of any security system is the key file. EC3 manages the keys for you to provide the best possible security.
Remember ultimate security requires that you hold your keyfile on a floppy disk and do not leave this with your computer.
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What encryption system does EC3 use?
The dynamic encryption method we employ ensures your data is completely safe.
We allow several key sizes, which allows you choose how secure you want your data to be, from 256bits straight to a massive 65536 bit key size can be selected.
The dynamic encryption means that in order to decrypt any character you must
have first decrypted the prior character correctly. The function applied and the
key bit position encryption starts at is a complex non-linear relationship and can only
be solved if you have the key. In order for you to feel secure you must understand that your data is properly encrypted. For this end we will be supplying a set of free tools to analyse
the data. Our aim was to achieve maximum randomisation, we believe we achieved it.
You must have the key to decrypt. We added to this strength further by ensuring
that keys and the data do not carry patterns. Compression of data, serves multiple
purposes reduces the storage space and time of transmission and also removes patterns of
repeated characters. When keys are generated random characters are passed through a
rolling window which ensures characters are dispersed and patterns avoided.
Every temporary file EC3 creates is destroyed, not deleted. This means we overwrite
every byte of your file with 0XFF and only then unlink it from the directory
table. When you request the original to be destroyed, again this happens.
We made sure there are no remains of your data in the hard disk, no imprints
that can be got at by specialized tools. When you encrypt and destroy your original
your data is truly lost without the key you hold.
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How can I secure files on a PC that is used by several people?
Very simple - keep your keyfiles on a floppy disk. Carry the floppy disk with you at all times. It is also good practice to leave a copy of the keyfiles at a secure location as a backup.
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When I use the BURN program to wipe free disk space my computer warns me that I have run
out of disk space and it then offers to run Disk Cleanup.
Go to: Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
Run Disk Cleanup and select the Settings tab. Check the item 'If this drive runs low on disk space, automatically run Disk Cleanup'.
Do this for each disk drive.
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What happens if my Computer crashes while it is encrypting a data file?
EC3 safeguards your data files at all times. It never works on your actual data
files but makes a working copy which is destroyed after successful encryption or
decryption. Further details of possible crash 'scenarios':
1. During encryption
If the computer crashes, the result will be that your sourcefile will remain
un-encrypted. There will be no damage to the source file. There will not be an
encrypted file created. You will need to perform the encryption again.
If the crash happens after you have encrypted then encrypted file will be available.
In any case you will have your data protected either within your encrypted file or
in your original source.
2. Whilst a file is opened in another application (eg Word)
Your encrypted file will remain undamaged. The decrypted source file will also
be available. If your application saved the state before the crash happened then
the decrypted source will have these changes but not in the encrypted file.
If the application kept a backup then changes you made can be recovered, otherwise
you will lose the changes made to the opened file.
When you try to open the encrypted file it will say that there is an application
working on the file, if you don't want to recover any changes then press Yes otherwise
press No and open the earlier decrypted document.
The worst scenario is that you will loose the changes applied whilst opened. Your
original data will always be safe.
3. During decryption.
Your original data file will always remain safe. The worst thing that can happen is that
you will have to run EC3 again to decrypt the file.
EC3 sometimes creates a temporary file (This happens if you
have had copy of the decrypted file and you have asked it to be overwritten) which will be
safely deleted by EC3 when next run.
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does EC3 / Burn work with Windows XP?
No. EC3 file access does not correctly work with Windows XP.
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