Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

TrueCrypt VS LUKS

Compare TrueCrypt VS LUKS and see what are their differences

TrueCrypt logo TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is a leading cross-platform that provides encryption tools that allow you to migrate any encrypted data to virtual disks images on your systems.

LUKS logo LUKS

LUKS is the standard for Linux hard disk encryption.
  • TrueCrypt Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-06-17
  • LUKS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

TrueCrypt features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Availability
    TrueCrypt is available for multiple operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, making it a versatile solution for cross-platform encryption needs.
  • Free and Open Source
    TrueCrypt is available for free and the source code is open, allowing for independent verification of the software's security and integrity.
  • Strong Encryption Algorithms
    The software supports strong encryption algorithms such as AES, Serpent, and Twofish, ensuring a high level of data protection.
  • Hidden Volumes
    TrueCrypt allows the creation of hidden volumes, providing an additional layer of plausible deniability.
  • On-the-Fly Encryption
    Data is automatically encrypted and decrypted on access, eliminating the need for manual encryption and decryption processes.

Possible disadvantages of TrueCrypt

  • Discontinued Development
    TrueCrypt development was halted in 2014, which means there are no new updates or official support for the software.
  • Potential Security Vulnerabilities
    Given its discontinued status, any newly discovered vulnerabilities will not be patched, potentially exposing users to security risks.
  • Complex Installation and Setup
    The software can be complex to install and set up, especially for users who are not technically inclined.
  • Legal and Regulatory Concerns
    The use of TrueCrypt may have legal implications in certain jurisdictions where strong encryption is regulated or restricted.
  • Lack of Official Support
    Since the project has been discontinued, there is no official support or help available from the original developers.

LUKS features and specs

  • Strong Encryption
    LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup) utilizes industry-standard encryption algorithms (like AES), offering robust protection against unauthorized data access.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    LUKS is widely supported across different Linux distributions, allowing for flexibility in system and software choices.
  • Management Tools
    LUKS integrates well with cryptsetup, providing a range of command-line tools for managing encrypted volumes, such as creating, formatting, and unlocking partitions.
  • Passphrase Security
    Supports multiple passphrases for a single encrypted volume, enhancing security by allowing different keys for different users or recovery scenarios.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, LUKS benefits from community scrutiny, contributions, and transparency, potentially leading to more secure and reliable software.
  • Compatibility with Filesystems
    LUKS works at the block device level, making it compatible with a wide range of filesystems and not dependent on any specific file system.

Possible disadvantages of LUKS

  • Performance Overhead
    Encryption and decryption processes introduce extra CPU overhead, which can impact system performance, especially on lower-end hardware.
  • Complexity
    Requires a certain level of expertise to set up and manage, making it less accessible to inexperienced users or those unfamiliar with command-line interfaces.
  • Limited Native OS Support
    Native support is generally limited to Linux-based systems. Windows and macOS users need additional software to interact with LUKS-encrypted volumes.
  • No Built-in Data Recovery
    If the encryption keys or passphrases are lost, the data is essentially unrecoverable without prior backups, leading to potential data loss incidents.
  • Initialization Time
    Initial setup, such as encrypting large volumes, can be time-consuming depending on the size of the data and the performance of the hardware.

TrueCrypt videos

Truecrypt review

More videos:

  • Review - TrueCrypt Security Review - AT&T ThreatTraq #138 (2 of 7)
  • Review - Life After TrueCrypt. What are the Alternatives?

LUKS videos

#1092 - My MUK LUKS Review

More videos:

  • Review - LUKS & Full Disk Encryption

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to TrueCrypt and LUKS)
Security & Privacy
64 64%
36% 36
File Encryption
64 64%
36% 36
Encryption
64 64%
36% 36
Security Tools
51 51%
49% 49

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare TrueCrypt and LUKS

TrueCrypt Reviews

5 best TrueCrypt alternatives to encrypt your data today
TrueCrypt was a well-known open-source and free platform offering hardware and disk data encryption. It facilitated building encrypted partitions in any hardware such as USB flash drives. Also, it helped in creating simulated encryption disks within one file. However, after its discontinuation in 2014, many services came into play providing similar features, thus serving as...
6 TrueCrypt Alternatives for Reliable Data Encryption
VeraCrypt owners built the tool from an earlier TrueCrypt fork, but more recent releases broke with the TrueCrypt volume format, which means the encryption software cannot open existing TrueCrypt encrypted files. Built with the same features and interface as TrueCrypt—which significantly reduces onboarding time—the software was improved with increased iterations per...
Best Disk Encryption Software – the 5 top tools to secure your data
VeraCrypt is a fork of TrueCrypt and is widely considered its successor. It performs all of the same functions as TrueCrypt and then some. VeraCrypt adds security to the algorithms used for system and partitions encryption. These improvements make it immune to new developments in brute-force attacks, according to developers. You can find a full list of improvements and...
5 Best TrueCrypt Alternatives - Open source encryption apps
VeraCrypt is a fork of TrueCrypt and its direct successor. Other than minor branding changes, it front-end looks the same and its functionality is identical to that of TrueCrypt. It basically is TrueCrypt except that its code has been fully audited, problems discovered with TrueCrypt have been fixed, and the app is under active development.
Source: proprivacy.com

LUKS Reviews

Best Disk Encryption Software – the 5 top tools to secure your data
For Linux users, LUKS is based on cryptsetup and uses dm-crypt as the disk encryption backend. Short for Linux Unified Key Setup, LUKS specifies a platform-independent standard on-disk format for use in various tools.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, LUKS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

TrueCrypt mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of TrueCrypt yet. Tracking of TrueCrypt recommendations started around Jun 2021.

LUKS mentions (3)

  • Accessing tails persistent storage from a different computer
    As I understand Arch if you don’t make a point of adding things it won’t have it. You may need something like cryptsetup. Source: over 3 years ago
  • You really should encrypt your disks if you don't, because changing the root password from GRUB is the easiest thing in the world
    You'll probably want to use cryptsetup. How to install depends on your distro, but you should be able to find tutorials if you google something like mydistro cryptsetup. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Go bindings for libcryptsetup (LUKS)
    Hey guys, for a few years now I’ve been maintaining a set of Go bindings for libcryptsetup. They’re available here: https://github.com/martinjungblut/go-cryptsetup. Source: almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing TrueCrypt and LUKS, you can also consider the following products

VeraCrypt - VeraCrypt is a free open source disk encryption software for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

Knox - Knox offers easy disk image encryption and comes with a built-in backup service.

Windows BitLocker - This topic provides a high-level overview of BitLocker, including a list of system requirements, practical applications, and deprecated features.

Exocet - Exocet creates a Folder on your System.

Advanced File Security Basic - Download Advanced File Security Basic. Protect files by encrypting them with a strong password, a series of questions, or even an USB key you can carry around with this powerful security solution

Cryptomator - When it comes to saving your files on a cloud server, it is important to ensure the security of those files. Keeping your delicate files out of the wrong hands can save you a lot of time and hassle. Read more about Cryptomator.