Confidentiality and integrity are increasingly important when it comes to security. The ability to encrypt data carriers is decisive in this battle, especially for mobile devices. This article shows you how to reliably protect your data and operating system with the open source VeraCrypt tool, as well as how to completely hide the encrypted containers if necessary.

In response to the increase in awareness of IT security, Microsoft began developing the software later known as BitLocker [1] for encrypting files, partitions, or entire hard disks in 2004. BitLocker came under suspicion during the Snowden incident, when it was suspected of possibly providing backdoors or master keys for intelligence services. However, this has never been confirmed and is unlikely to be confirmed any time soon. BitLocker is therefore often used in corporate settings because it gives administrators the ability to create backup keys and store them in Active Directory, for example.

Created at virtually the same time, the free TrueCrypt [2] encryption tool was based on Encryption for the Masses (E4M) source code (which was allegedly stolen from SecurStar) [3]. While it took BitLocker another three years to find its way into Windows, TrueCrypt enjoyed great popularity right from the start, although the developers remained anonymous for a long time and its source code was not freely available. Rumors later confirmed that TrueCrypt's development originally came from criminal circles. TrueCrypt announced the end of development in 2014.

[...]