If you have confidential data on your Mac, you can make it private with a new encryption/decryption application called NOYBcryption^TM. Chris Heimark, who is a fellow MLMUG member, wrote this software.

For the past few years, there have been increasing concerns about identity theft and the confidentiality of computer files. The popularity of laptops and USB thumb drives has spurred the need for good encryption software.

Encryption is the process of scrambling data into a format that is only recognizable by those who know how to unscramble it. People encrypt data to keep it private.

The federal government mandates that those who handle many types of confidential data keep it private. Accidental disclosure of regulated data can cause great harm to innocent individuals, result in heavy penalties, and litigation.

You are no doubt aware of news reports about credit card data for thousands of people being lost or stolen. If you work in the financial sector or deal with patient records, there are federal and state regulations involving how you handle your data.

Two well-known sets of federal regulations that mandate data confidentiality are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Educators and health care practitioners should be aware of these regulations.

If you must share confidential information via email, be careful. Email is not private. To prevent unauthorized data disclosure, encrypt your data before you email it and give the recipient the pass phrase to decrypt it via some means other than email.

NOYBcryption^TM to the rescue! Download NOYBcryption^TM from Chris' web site, double-click on the downloaded file, and you are ready to encrypt or decrypt data. Unlike Apple's File Vault, NOYBcryption^TM encrypts individual files and folders.

When you drop a document on the application's icon, you be prompted to type in a pass phrase, then an encrypted version of your file will be created. The encrypted file's name will end in ".noyb." After you generate the encrypted file, you can trash the original file.

NOYBcryption's documentation explains how it works. Tips for choosing good pass phrases are also provided. An example of a good pass phrase is, "Pancakes are r0und and squares are square." Be sure to select a memorable pass phrase; don't store it with the encrypted data, and don't forget it either.

Using NOYBcryption^TM, I encrypted and decrypted several files and folders. The encryption process is fast and easy, as is decrypting previously encrypted files.

A free tool called NOYBreader can decrypt .noyb files. To make it easy for a recipient of an encrypted file to decrypt it, you can create a copy of NOYBreader from NOYBencrypted's file menu and send it to recipients of your encrypted files.

To decrypt a file, you need the pass phrase that was used to encrypt it. If you don't know the pass phrase, you cannot decrypt the file. You can also use different pass phrases for different files, but be sure to remember them.

NOYBcryption^TM is currently available only for Mac OS X. Chris is working on a Windows version, so keep an eye on his web site to see when that version is available.