Setting up TrueCrypt on Backtrack 4

In my previous post, we setup an encrypted private directory to address being able to keep the data from a pen test safe. I also found that TrueCrypt works great on Backtrack 4. It also addresses the issue of file and directory names not being encrypted. Of course the downside is that the volume must be manually mounted each time or at least I haven't worked out how to automatically mount it yet.

Assumptions

1. You have already created a bootable Backtrack 4 thumb drive with persistent changes.
2. You are using Backtrack 4 as root.
3. The following is performed with a windows manager active, e.g. KDE.
4. You are familiar with TrueCrypt

Installing TrueCrypt

Installing TrueCrypt is almost as easy as setting up encrypted private directories. The following steps will get TrueCrypt installed and ready to be configured.

First we need to download the install package. I picked the 'Ubuntu - x86 .deb' option on the TrueCrypt download page. I used Firefox and saved the file to root's home directory.

Next execute the following commands from a terminal session in root's home directory:

tar zxvf truecrypt-6.1a-ubuntu-x86.tar.gz

chmod +x truecrypt-6.1a-setup-ubuntu-x86

./truecrypt-6.1a-setup-ubuntu-x86

At this point, you will have a gui install window with a couple options on it. Click on 'Install TrueCrypt' and follow the prompts.

Now it's time to setup up our TrueCrypt volume. To do so, either from the 'run' command option on the menu or from a terminal session execute truecrypt. You should end up with a window like the following.

The next step is to create our encrypted volume. We do that by clicking on the 'Create Volume'' option above and using the following screen.

Follow the prompts and create a volume. Once that is done you can mount the volume and begin using it.

http://www.infosecramblings.com