Apart from archiving, the data CD is a very convenient way to distribute documents and data. But what can be done to prevent unauthorised access when the content is confidential? The answer, of course, is encryption.

One method is to encrypt the content before burning the CD, which is not as convenient as being able to do it on-the-fly. Roxio's Easy Media Creator and Easy CD Creator offer on-the-fly encryption and file-hiding.

So, what is he down-side? The encryption process is limited to 128-bit, which is adequate for most situations. The end-user cannot read the CD on-the-fly, but has to download the content — through the decrypt process — onto a hard disk. End users must have the Roxio software in order to decrypt the content.

How does it work? During the process of setting up content to be burned to CD an "enable file encryption" box is checked; that invokes a request for a password and offers an option to "hide filenames". The end-user has to be provided with the password, which is entered into the Roxio Retrieve utility (part of the Roxio Easy Media Creator package) in order to extract the files in decrypted form.

It is possible to leave the password box blank, in which case the content will be decrypted simply by launching Roxio Retrieve.

The process is described in Greg Harvey: Roxio Easy Media Creator for Dummies [Wiley, ISBN 0-7645-7131-11 and Stephen Bigelow: PC Hardware Annoyances [O'Reilly, ISBN 0-59600715-91.

Reprinted from the August 2006 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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