SecuBox 1.4.2 - safe storage for files on your Pocket PC - review
| 2008-07-07 | By: Saijo George, PPCInformer |
Recently I received an email from the folks @ AikoSolutions.com and they wanted me to review their encrypted file storage application for Pocket Pc and Smartphones called SecuBox . How many of us store personal and sensitive information on our mobile devices ? Most of us do. When we consider security related products for pocket pc we dont give much importance to them, but with increase in the use of mobile devices in our everyday lives we should be more concerned about the data we have on these devices. SecuBox created an encrypted partition for sensitive data. All information written to this encrypted storage is automatically encrypted on the fly using industry standard AES 256-bit encryption.
Installation is simple. You can get either a .cab or .exe ( installation via Active Sync ). Now lets see how the User Interface of the program looks like. Its got a menu bar on top which you might miss when you first look @ the application.
Lets try and create an encrypted partition on , the process involved is pretty straightforward. Hit create and a select the location where you want the encrypted partition information is to be stored. It creates an .asb file which is the encrypted partition. When a partition is mounted and if you open the file explore on the device it will show the partition in the ” My Device ” location.
You have an option to make this partition as a hidden or a read only partition. I choose to create a partition that was 50 MB, the application auto checks the max available space on the storage card / device and will not allow you to create a partition which is more than the available space and the maximum size for a partition is 2 Gb. Now there are 2 modes in which you can create a partition the quick create option or the normal create, the difference here is that in normal create takes longer to create the partition , coz the whole storage is filled with random data and thus its more secure. For data that’s less sensitive quick create is recommended. Normal create with 50MB took around 9:15 minutes while quick create option just took 15 seconds.
Password Meter will not accept passwords below 5 characters. The strength of the password 111111 and 123456 was both 23% which was kinda odd. It also supports nested partitions iso I can have an encrypted partition with in an encrypted partition. In this case SecuBox 3 can only be mounted if SecuBox 1 has been mounted, it provides an added layer of security for those extra sensitive data.
==> Storage Card / Device Memory
====> SecuBox 1
========> SecuBox 3
====> SecuBox 2
The application puts a small icon on the notification bar on the today screen. The yellow icon tells us that 1 or more partition has been mounted.
Pros :
* Advanced security algorithms
* Auto-unmount on device sleep to protects your data.
* On-the-fly encryption
* Command line support
* Secure storage deletion
* Multiple encrypted storages
* Notification Icon on Today Screen
* Integration with Windows Mobile File Explorer
* Nested encrypted storages
* Ease of Use
Cons :
* Password Strength meter was kinda off mark with the strength analysis
A representative from AikoSolutions.com got back to me saying “11111 and 12345 are almost equivalent because they have the same length and the symbols from the same set but if you change a symbol from another set - eg from the set “abc…z” - it will increase the password’s strength.”
=== DEMO DOWNLOAD===
Aiko Solutions offers a fully-functional 30 day trial at no cost, and it can be downloaded from http://www.aikosolutions.com/ . A single-user license can be securely purchased online at only USD $39.95.
The review is available at www.1800pocketpc.com
