Encrypt Your Thumb-Drive Data with TrueCrypt

Thumb drives are great for transporting data, but did you ever stop to think about what would happen if the drive got lost or stolen? If it contains sensitive information, you could have a serious problem on your hands. Enter TrueCrypt, an open-source encryption utility that password-protects the data on your flash drive.

TrueCrypt works on-the-fly, meaning that it encrypts and decrypts data as you access it. (The software also works with individual files and entire hard drives.) If you don't supply the correct password or encryption key, your data stays locked up tight.

And I mean tight: The software supports a variety of seriously secure encryption algorithms, including AES, Twofish, and others that are fairly meaningless to those of use who aren't security experts. Thankfully, TrueCrypt is pretty easy to use and totally transparent once it's up and running. A handy beginner's tutorial will get you started.

TrueCrypt is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. It's open-source, meaning it costs nothing to use.