14 DAY TRIAL // There numerous methods to keep sensitive files protected from being accessed by third-party or unauthorized persons. Setting the “hidden” attribute or restricting access to certain areas of the disk may do the job, but only until a workaround is found (and there are simple ways to achieve it).
A more reliable solution is to encrypt all the information and protect access to it with a master password. There are plenty of choices for this, but one of the newest ones is Protectorion ToGo, a freebie that can work with removable drives as well.
The application is free of charge for personal use, but for business use the developer makes available plans starting from $39.90 / 29.90EUR. This license covers one computer and two external devices.
Protectorion ToGo does not require installation, although a version that does is also available. You can use it with USB devices, and all the files that go through it are automatically encrypted, and you can save them in this state.
When run for the first time, the utility presents the license terms document, which you have to agree to. Next you are prompted to provide a master password to protect the safe.
This dialog window can also display the strength of the password you provide and allows you to type in a hint that could lead to remembering the countersign in case you forget it. All this information is mandatory for creating the vault, which is stored in the same location as the executable file.
What you end up with is a mechanism that can immediately encrypt any data you feed it and store it at the source location. The entire process is carried out quite fast (but depends entirely on the size of the data) and the standard used for protecting the data is AES-256. The application uses a randomly chosen 40-character key that is managed in the background.
There is nothing impressive about the interface as looks are plain and simple showing that the developer’s focus was on the functionality of the software rather than on aesthetics.
Adding the files to be encrypted is done by simply dragging and dropping them into the application window. Then you can choose to erase them after the import operation is over and the entire progress is visible.
The safe created looks like a basic version of a file manager. There is a folder-tree in the left hand side of the application window and the files are displayed in the right. There is the possibility to organize it into folders.
A trashcan ensures that hitting the delete button on an entry by accident does not make it lost forever and you can easily recover it. However, emptying the waste bin makes it unrecoverable.
Elementary file operations such as copying and pasting are supported, albeit only inside the program. As such, you won’t be able to copy an item in Protectorion ToGo and paste it in Windows Explorer or any other file manager.
Dragging and dropping it for this purpose is also unsupported; this can be done, though, through the “unencrypted export” function, available in the context menu of each item, or the “export” option present in the toolbar.
The program is quite flexible and it does not keep the data under strict lockdown. You are able to open the files straight from the vault. As expected, the process takes a little longer because data needs to be decrypted first.
A search bar can help you find a specific item in the vault. If there are multiple entries sharing the same name, you will have to instruct Protectorion to continue the search until the relevant result appears.
Sensitive information also includes passwords and various credentials. The developer is well aware of this fact and built a password manager into the program.
It is nothing fancy, just a very basic utility that can store user names and passwords along with web and email addresses.
You can also use it to store various notes for each entry. Furthermore, there is the possibility to organize them into groups and copy details to the clipboard.
Working with Protectorion ToGo is an easy job that can be performed even by the less skilled users. It runs on removable drives and even if you delete the executable, the vault is still available on the storage device. Thus, you can re-download the program and run it at the source.
The safe created by Protectorion is visible, but unless decrypted, the content is just a bunch of useless files.
The Good
Handling the files is easy as the program offers an Explorer-like file management experience. The built-in password manager allows you to store credentials securely.
