FileVault
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:FileVault icon.png FileVault is a system that protects files on a computer. It can be found in the Mac OS X operating system versions 10.3 "Panther" and later.
It works by encrypting the user's home directory using a 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm and the user's login password (a master password can be set as a precaution against a user losing their password). The algorithm automatically encrypts and decrypts on the fly. Although early versions were slow and caused system hanging for high disk use applications, such as sound and video editing, FileVault is much improved in more recent versions of Mac OS X.
Some users complain that one cannot select which parts of the disk to encrypt and which parts one would like to leave alone. For example, the user cannot encrypt the whole disk as one would be able to in Linux or on Windows XP using PGP. In addition, one has to encrypt one's whole user directory, or nothing at all, meaning one cannot, for example, encrypt only mail and documents, one has to encrypt photos and films as well. On the other hand, one can use Apple's Disk Utility Application, included in the standard installation, to create an encrypted disk image using the same 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard offered by FileVault, allowing one to encrypt any given file or folder.
External links
- Apple's Filevault page.it:FileVault