Security

How to encrypt text files using Notepad++

Encryption is necessary if the document is very important. There are so many text editors, but Generally many professionals use a popular text editor Notepad++. we can encrypt the text or whole document in the notepad with a simple plugin, NppCrypt. so its unreadable to user without password.

Step 1:
Download and install Notepad++

Step 2:
Visit Notepad++ plugin collection and download NppCrypt Plugin from the given list. Extract the nppcrypt.dll file to your ‘programFiles/Notepad+ +/plugins’ folder to install this plugin.

Step 3:
for encryption select the text or to encrypt whole document don’t select text. and go to Plugins–>NppCrypt–>Encrypt

Step 4:
Select the type of cipher and choose Strong passwordfor the decryption. ie whenever you want to decrypt the selected text you need this password. Press Ok and the text encrypted.

Step 5:
Similarly for decryption go to Plugins–>NppCrypt–>Decrypt and enter the password which you set at the time of encryption. press ok. the text gets decrypted.

For step by step guide watch below video

Tricks to Hide Any files inside the Image

The art and science of writing hidden messages in the image is known as steganography. Its the safe and cool way to pass your message to your loved ones with out knowledge of anyone else.

Can’t believe?? save the above image on your desktop and open it with WinRAR OR WinZip. See the magic. 🙂

Hiding data inside the image was never easy task but below tricks will show how to do this quickly and easily.

Below trick uses JPEG(JPG) image to store any data inside it. when i say any data means literally any file, .txt, .doc, .ppt, .exe, .pdf,.mp3 and so on..

Step 1 :

Take a JPEG and a text file for this trick. you can use any file instead of .txt, I have taken it for the sake of easy understanding. save it on C:\> drive

Step 2:

Now compress these two files to .zip or .rar file. save all these files on C:\ drive

Step 3:

Now go to command prompt.
start–> run–> type ‘cmd’ and press Enter.
start–> type ‘cmd’ and press Enter. (for windows 7)
a command prompt will open. go to C:\> by pressing cd..

Step 4:

Now combine image and .RAR OR .ZIP file to create new image, this new image will look same as original image. in command prompt, Type

c:\>copy /b monalisa.JPEG+secretMessage.rar NewMonalisa.jpeg

press Enter.

It will create new image same as original image but now its with the .rar file embedded inside it.Note that size of new image has increased.

[For enthusiasts /b converts the files in to binary format ie 010101.. thats why its possible to add .rar file in the image.]

Done!!

But how to Extract the data from that image?

Its also very simple Just open that image file with winRAR or change its extension from .jpeg to .RAR and
open that compressed file to your PC.

Thats it !! Good Luck !

Let me know your views in comment. and if you like this trick then don’t hesitate to share it with your friends and family.

How To Create Strong Passwords ?

You might have multiple online accounts and you don’t want to use the same password for all. but you don’t remember different passwords for different accounts. so what to do then?

What makes a password strong (or weak)?

A strong password:

Is at least eight characters long.
Does not contain your user name, real name, or company name.
Does not contain a complete word.
Is significantly different from previous passwords.

Contains characters from each of the following four categories:

Character category

Uppercase letters A, B, C
Lowercase letters a, b, c
Numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Symbols ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ – + = { } [ ] \ | : ; ” ‘ < > , . ? /

A password might meet all the criteria above and still be a weak password. For example, Hello2U! meets all the criteria for a strong password listed above, but is still weak because it contains a complete word. H3ll0 2 U! is a stronger alternative because it replaces some of the letters in the complete word with numbers and also includes spaces.

Avoid common password pitfalls

Cyber criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly decipher passwords.

Avoid creating passwords that use:

Dictionary words in any language.
Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
Common letter-to-symbol conversions, such as changing “and” to “&” or “to” to “2”.
Sequences or repeated characters. Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).
Personal information that could be guessed or easily discovered. Your name, birthday, driver’s license number, passport number, or similar information.

So here is a guide to create simple yet Powerful/ strong passwords for your account.

Tips:

The concept is simple, we human being can easily remember the phrase for eg.’The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’. abbreviate it. so it will be like this Tqbfjotld
Now try to make it complex by adding special characters at start and end. like !Tqbfjotld@
Put numbers that are meaningful to you after the sentence. like !Tqbfjotld@007
finally add the letters of the website(eg. Facebook) for which you are going to set this password. like !Tqbfjotld@007FbK
for YouTube !Tqbfjotld@007YtB and so on..

Our base password is same but we have different password for different website. and Its STRONG enough !!

check out Tips from the security experts at Mozilla to help you choose strong, easy-to-remember passwords

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COU5T-Wafa4

To check the strength of your password Microsoft offers a online tool . This will quickly tell weather your password is strong or weak.

If you feel you must write down your password in order to remember it, make sure you don’t label it as your password, and keep it in a safe place.

Happy Security..