03-02-2006, 05:00 PM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 74
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Tales from Encrypt: SecureNow 2006 v1.00 Reviewed
Product Category: Software
Manufacturer: Rural Network Solutions
Where to Buy: Handango (affiliate link)
Price: $19.99 USD
System Requirements: : Works on all Pocket PC platforms (requires Microsoft .NET Compact Framework version 2)
Pros:- Encryption and decryption is relatively fast and straightforward;
- Free upgrades are offered by the company.
Cons:- Unprofessional registration approach;
- Slow launch time due to full device scan;
- Explorer view does not automatically refresh to show new files that are added to the device after launch;
- Cannot encrypt folders;
- After performing an encryption or decryption operation, the program navigates to back to the root of the device after a lengthy �remapping� which forces the user to drill back down to the location of the file.
Summary:
Users of mobile devices store more data than ever on their Pocket PCs. As external storage cards grow in capacity (with most formats offering at least 1 GB of storage space), these devices are used as portable hard drives housing business documents and sensitive customer information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and social security information. This increase in storage capacity means that the information stored on Pocket PCs is far more valuable than the actual devices. Encrypting this valuable information is one way to protect it from theft and exploitation, and Rural Network Solutions offers 256-bit strong encryption in their SecureNow product.
Read on for the full review!
Introduction
The year 2005 produced a number of stories about financial institutions that lost very private customer information such as credit card and social security numbers by either losing tape backups while transporting them or through the theft of laptops. Most security experts agree that if these institutions had mandated that sensitive data must be encrypted, the exposure of customers to identity theft and fraud would have been greatly reduced. Many mobile device users carry sensitive documents on their PDAs which can also be lost or stolen. Few users even take the precaution to add a simple four digit password to their device so a lost device means lost data. How many of us have left a device on an airplane or taxi cab and realized how much private information (both to you and whatever company for which you work) has been exposed to the wild? Even those of us who have devices with advanced biometric authentication techniques like fingerprint scanners are still exposed since storage cards can be removed from these devices and inserted into any card reader have their contents reviewed. Similar to the advice given to financial institutions, encrypting information stored on a mobile device is the best way to protect sensitive data. Rural Network Solutions provides a 256-bit strong software solution in their SecureNow 2006 program. Read on to find out if this program provides the security blanket we need to keep our information secure.
Installation and Registration
After reading horror stories about users who encrypted their hard drives and then lost the encryption keys (thus rendering their data forever lost), I synchronized my data using ActiveSync and made a backup of the files on my storage card. I then downloaded SecureNow 2006 from Handango to my laptop and copied the .CAB file to my Windows Mobile device. I used File Exlorer to navigate to the .CAB file and clicked it to install the software. The installation took seconds to complete, and I navigated to the Programs folder to find an icon (rather nondescript) for SecureNow.
Figure 1: SecureNow keeps it simple with a basic icon.
However, when I tried to launch it by tapping on the icon, it immediately showed a screen stating that the version of the .NET Compact Framework required by SecureNow 2006 is higher than the version I had installed on my Windows Mobile 5 device. After going to the Microsoft website and downloading and installing Microsoft Compact Framework 2 (which required a soft reset of my device), I again tapped the icon to launch the application.
After waiting several seconds for the application to launch, I was then asked to activate SecureNow by emailing my name and a number (which simply had a lot of zeroes separated by a dash) to a HOTMAIL email address. I was immediately concerned that any software company would use a free email address for application activation. Rural Network Solutions should invest in a corporate email domain if they want to be viewed as a serious software company. Furthermore, the dialog box stated that a file (SNW.sit) with the activation code would be found in the �My Documents� folder, but I was unable to find such a file anywhere on my laptop.
Figure 2: Email activation request screen.
Despite my misgivings, I emailed the requested information and waited for a response. Fortunately, I received an email from Rural Networks less than 24 hours later. The email had an attachment called �SIT.lic� which the email directed me to copy anywhere on the device. I assume that SecureNow 2006 scans the entire PDA looking for this file in order to find the license (which explains the long initial launch time). I would have preferred that Rural Network Solutions had integrated with Handango to provide a registration key instead of following this email authentication approach.
Trying for the third time to launch the application, I tapped the SecureNow 2006 icon and finally was presented a screen that indicated a successful launch. The disclaimer stated that Rural Networks was not liable for any loss of data so I did another confirmation of my backup and clicked the �Continue� button to enter the application.
Figure 3: Disclaimer protecting Rural Network Solutions from liability in case of data loss when using SecureNow.
Encryption
The application has a clean and simple interface. It has an �explorer view� interface similar to Windows explorer, and users can browse their entire device for data on which to operate. Three large buttons provide the ability to respectively encrypt, decrypt, or exit the application.
Figure 4: The application interface.
I initially wanted to try to encrypt an entire folder, but the program explicitly stated that this version would only allow files to be encrypted.
Figure 5: SecureNow v1.0.0 does not work on folders.
Although the ability to encrypt an entire folder would be a useful feature, I navigated to a simple text file (98 bytes in size) on my device to test the program�s file encryption capability.
Figure 6: The Contents of the text file before encryption.
I pressed the encrypt button which brought up a screen to enter a password for the file.
Figure 7: The Password Entry screen prompts for a encryption password.
It prompted me for a password. It�s important to note that this password is for the session and not just for this file. By that, I mean that all files encrypted will have the same password assigned to them (i.e., you cannot specify a password for each file). I supplied one and clicked submit. The application urged that I remember this password.
Figure 8: Reminder to remember the password.
After clicking �ok�, I was informed that my encryption attempt was a success!
Figure 9: Success!
Strangely, after the encryption completed, the program hung for a few seconds while it �remapped�. I assume was again scanning the device to present the explorer view interface.
Figure 10: SecureNow apparently re-scanning my device to render the explorer view.
Frustratingly, I was returned to the root of the explorer view and had to navigate back to the location of the text file to see the results of the encryption.
Figure 11: Back at the top of the explorer view. I had to navigate back to the location of my file.
I found that my original text file was changed to a new file (now 112 bytes in size) with this naming convention <original file name>(<original file extension>).sit (so shopping.txt became shopping(txt).sit). Furthermore, when I opened the encrypted text file in Word Mobile, the contents were garbled. Copying the file to my laptop and opening it there also resulted in an unreadable document.
Figure 12: The contents of the text file after encryption.
I then copied a PDF file (621 KB in size) to my storage card to test. I found that the navigation tree in SecureNow 2006 was not able to see the PDF file in its tree. I had to exit the application and then re-open it which then allowed the PDF file to show up in the tree which proves that the application does do a full device scan to populate its explorer view. I encrypted the PDF file (which took several seconds longer than encrypting the text file. In fact, a screen that I did not see during the text file encryption since it happened so fast, was now viewable and contained an indicator that encryption was in progress.
Figure 13: Encrypting the PDF file.
The operation resulted in a new file (also 621 KB) that followed the same naming convention used in the text file. Going back to the text file, I tried changing the extension of the encrypted text file back to .TXT to see if I could easily circumvent the encryption. This resulted in a text file with unreadable information inside of it.
I now had two files that I was unable to read on my device. How easy it would be to reverse the encryption and return them to a readable state?
Decryption
I launched the application and clicked the Decrypt button to remove the encryption from the text file. The application asked for the password for the encryption operation. I intentionally typed the wrong password and the program displayed an error stating that the decryption process failed.
Figure 14: Typing the wrong decryption password results in an error.
It then went through another �remapping� where it hung for a few seconds and then returned my to the explorer view. Similar to its behavior when encrypting, I had to navigate back to the location of my text file to try again. I then typed the correct password and the application stated that the decryption process had completed. Sure enough, I was able to open the text file and view the original comments. I did the same for the PDF file and was able to successfully remove the encryption and view the file although it took a few seconds longer than it did when decrypting the text file.
Conclusions
SecureNow 2006 is a very straightforward application that does one thing (encryption/decryption) and does it fairly well. However, I would have liked to see a few enhancements.
First, the registration process should not use a free email account. A more polished and professional approach would be to receive a license key at the time of purchase. Second, documentation should be either incorporated into the application or supplied in a file that�s included with the download of the installation executable. Although the application is simple to use, there were some things I had to figure out (e.g., that the password is tied to the session and not to the individual file). Third, improvements could have been made to usability. For example, the program should return the user to the location of the file after encryption or decryption instead of to the root of the directory structure. It was a pain to navigate back down to the file after each operation.
Finally, the application should allow the ability to encrypt entire folders and allow users to work on encrypted files instead of having to un-encrypt them first. Hopefully, one of the future �free updates� from Rural Network Solutions will incorporate these enhancements and make it into a better product.
Anjuan Simmons is an information technology consultant specializing in CRM technical implementations (with a focus on Siebel technical architecture and integration). He lives with his wife, two children and many gadgets in Houston, Texas, USA
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05-14-2006, 01:24 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1
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New Release - imminent
I am part of the team, who developed SecureNow and I would announce that a new version is to be released imminently that addresses all of the issues in this article. For example, folder encrypting/decrypting, on the fly use, real time update of the file view and many more new features.[/b]
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