Schneier, UW Team Show Flaw In TrueCrypt Deniability

Slashdot relates how noted cryptographer Bruce Schneier and a group of researchers at the University of Washington have hacked the ultra-paranoid feature in the TrueCrypt disk encryption tool.

The DFS (Deniability of File System) feature in TrueCrypt is a fairly extreme file-protection function that first encrypts the file, then hides it in an area on the disk drive that is also encrypted, sort of like a 'cloaking device'. However, Schneier, chief security technology officer with British Telecom, and colleagues have found that Microsoft Vista, Word, and Google Desktop can each blow the cover for these files that use the DFS feature.

Schneier says that DFS is actually easier to hack than encryption and that there may be no way to really make files undetectable on a hard drive.

“Deniability is a much harder security feature to enable than secrecy,” he says

The researchers discovered that Windows Vista shortcuts can give away the existence of a hidden file, Google Desktop exposes hidden files in TrueCrypt versions below 6.0 and the auto-save feature of Word saves versions of hidden files.

See more at Dark Reading.