Encryption for the Masses (E4M) is a

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

disk encryption software Disk encryption software is computer security software that protects the confidentiality of data stored on computer media (e.g., a hard disk, floppy disk, or USB device) by using disk encryption. Compared to access controls commonly enforced by a ...

for

Windows NT Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems sc ...

and

Windows 9x Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced from 1995 to 2000, which were based on the Windows 95 kernel and its underlying foundation of MS-DOS, both of which were updated in subs ...

families of operating systems. E4M is discontinued; it is no longer maintained. Its author, former criminal cartel boss

Paul Le Roux Paul Calder Le Roux (born 24 December 1972) is a former programmer, former criminal cartel boss, and informant to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In 1999, he created E4M, a free and open-source disk encryption software program for ...

, joined Shaun Hollingworth (the author of the

Scramdisk ''Scramdisk'' is a free on-the-fly encryption program for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me. A non-free version was also available for Windows NT. The original ''Scramdisk'' is no longer maintained; its author, Shaun Hollingworth, joined Paul ...

) to produce the commercial encryption product DriveCrypt for the security company SecurStar. The popular source-available

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

program

TrueCrypt TrueCrypt is a discontinued source-available freeware utility used for on-the-fly encryption (OTFE). It can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file, or encrypt a partition or the whole storage device (pre-boot authentication). On 28 May ...

is based on E4M's source code. However, TrueCrypt uses a different container format than E4M, which makes it impossible to use one of these programs to access an encrypted volume created by the other.

Allegation of stolen source code

Shortly after TrueCrypt version 1.0 was released in February 2004, the TrueCrypt Team reported receiving emails from Wilfried Hafner, manager of SecurStar, claiming that Paul Le Roux had stolen the source code of E4M from SecurStar as an employee. According to the TrueCrypt Team, the emails stated that Le Roux illegally distributed E4M, and authored an illegal license permitting anyone to base derivative work on E4M and distribute it freely, which Hafner alleges Le Roux did not have any right to do, claiming that all versions of E4M always belonged only to SecurStar. For a time, this led the TrueCrypt Team to stop developing and distributing TrueCrypt.

References

External links

Archived version of official website
Cryptographic software Disk encryption Free software {{crypto-stub

Allegation of stolen source code

See also

References

External links