computer science

VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand VeraCrypt rather than just read about it. In short: VeraCrypt is a free and open-source utility for on-the-fly encryption (OTFE). The software can create a virtual encrypted disk that works just like a regular disk, but within a file.

Key takeaways

VeraCrypt belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect VeraCrypt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of VeraCrypt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

VeraCrypt is a free and open-source utility for on-the-fly encryption (OTFE). The software can create a virtual encrypted disk that works just like a regular disk, but within a file. It can also encrypt a partition or (in Microsoft Windows) the entire storage device with pre-boot authentication. VeraCrypt is a fork of the discontinued TrueCrypt project. It was initially released on 22 June 2013. Many security improvements have been implemented and concerns within the TrueCrypt code audits have been addressed. VeraCrypt includes optimizations to the original cryptographic hash functions and ciphers, which boost performance on modern central processing units.

Encryption scheme VeraCrypt employs AES, Serpent, Twofish, Camellia, and Kuznyechik as ciphers. Version 1.19 stopped using the Magma cipher in response to a security audit. For additional security, ten different combinations of cascaded algorithms are available:

AES–Twofish AES–Twofish–Serpent Camellia–Kuznyechik Camellia–Serpent Kuznyechik–AES Kuznyechik–Serpent–Camellia Kuznyechik–Twofish Serpent–AES Serpent–Twofish–AES Twofish–Serpent The cryptographic hash functions available for use in VeraCrypt are BLAKE2s-256, SHA-256, SHA-512, Streebog and Whirlpool. VeraCrypt used to have support for RIPEMD-160, but it has since been removed in version 1.26. VeraCrypt's block cipher mode of operation is XTS. It generates the header key and the secondary header key (XTS mode) using PBKDF2 with a 512-bit salt. By default, they go through 200,000 or 500,000 iterations, depending on the underlying hash function used and whether it is system or non-system encryption. The user can customize it to lower these numbers to as low as 2,048 and 16,000, respectively.

Security improvements

The VeraCrypt development team considered the TrueCrypt storage format too vulnerable to a National Security Agency (NSA) attack, so it created a new format incompatible with that of TrueCrypt. Support for the older TrueCrypt format was dropped in October 2023 starting with VeraCrypt 1.26, but older versions of VeraCrypt are still capable of opening and converting volumes previously created in the TrueCrypt format. An independent security audit of TrueCrypt released 29 September 2015 found TrueCrypt includes two vulnerabilities in the Windows installation driver allowing an attacker arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation via DLL hijacking. This was fixed in VeraCrypt in January 2016. While TrueCrypt uses 1,000 iterations of the PBKDF2-RIPEMD-160 algorithm for system partitions, VeraCrypt uses either 200,000 iterations (SHA-256, BLAKE2s-256, Streebog) or 500,000 iterations (SHA-512, Whirlpool) by default (which is customizable by user to be as low as 2,048 and 16,000 respectively). For standard containers and non-system partitions, VeraCrypt uses 500,000 iterations by default regardless of the hashing algorithm chosen (which is customizable by user to be as low as 16,000). While these default settings make VeraCrypt slower at opening encrypted partitions, it also makes password-guessing attacks slower. Additionally, since version 1.12, a new feature called "Personal Iterations Multiplier" (PIM) provides a parameter whose value is used to control the number of iterations used by the header key derivation function, thereby making brute-force attacks potentially even more difficult. VeraCrypt out of the box uses a reasonable PIM value to improve security, but users can provide a higher value to enhance security. The primary downside of this feature is that it makes the process of opening encrypted archives even slower. A vulnerability in the bootloader was fixed on Windows and various optimizations were made as well. The developers added support for SHA-256 to the system boot encryption option and also fixed a ShellExecute security issue. Linux and macOS users benefit from support for hard drives with sector sizes larger than 512. Linux also received support for the NTFS formatting of volumes. Unicode passwords are supported on all operating systems since version 1.17 (except for system encryption on Windows). VeraCrypt added the capability to boot system partitions using UEFI in version 1.18a. Option to enable/disable support for the TRIM command for both system and non-system drives was added in version 1.22. Erasing the system encryption keys from RAM during shutdown/reboot helps mitigate some cold boot attacks, added in version 1.24. RAM encryption for keys and passwords on 64-bit systems was added in version 1.24.

VeraCrypt audit QuarksLab conducted an audit of version 1.18 on behalf of the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund (OSTIF), which took 32 man-days. The auditor published the results on 17 October 2016. On the same day, IDRIX released version 1.19, which resolved major vulnerabilities identified in the audit. Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT) conducted another audit in 2020, following a request by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), and published the results in October 2020.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with VeraCrypt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what VeraCrypt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to VeraCrypt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about VeraCrypt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of VeraCrypt

In research: VeraCrypt appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses VeraCrypt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: VeraCrypt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 software, Cross-platform software, Cryptographic software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for VeraCrypt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study VeraCrypt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what VeraCrypt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain VeraCrypt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is VeraCrypt in simple terms?

VeraCrypt is a free and open-source utility for on-the-fly encryption (OTFE). The software can create a virtual encrypted disk that works just like a regular disk, but within a file.

Why does VeraCrypt matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study VeraCrypt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on VeraCrypt.