Key management

Encrypter-X manages all the keys that are currently on the computer. For this purpose, it performs periodic searches in the background. It searches for bundle folders in the root directories on all currently accessible drives. Additionally all drives, which were marked before, are completely searched for hidden keys. Marked should be only drives on which not too large amounts of data (files) are, so that the search is not unnecessarily protracted.

All currently available keys (actually key bundles) are offered for selection and the currently selected key bundle is used for encryption. A virtual key is then obtained from it for each file to be encrypted using a random start position. These start positions are stored and cannot be used a second time, which is equivalent to discarding the key. If entire folder structures are to be encrypted, the currently selected key bundle must still have sufficient capacity of virtual, unused keys.

If drives (USB sticks, SD cards, or similar) are removed or added, Encrypter-X updates its internal list of available keys. If the currently selected key is then no longer available, a new key must be selected before encryption can be resumed.

New key bundles can be created at any time in any size (minimum 500 bytes and maximum 150MB), whereby the larger the keys, the greater the key bundle quality and the keys are thus always sufficiently long for large files. They should only be located on external data carriers and should always be stored separately from the encrypted data.

Instead of bundle folders, key bundles can also be woven into image or audio files, making them invisible. The disadvantage, at least for image files, is the limited size. In WAV format, depending on the length of the audio stream, several megabytes can already be accommodated.

Only encrypted files can be selected for decryption if the key bundle used for encryption is currently present. The decryption processor recognizes from the header of the encrypted data which key it needs for decryption and takes it independently from the list of available keys regardless of the currently selected key.