story help: password protection for folders
April 18, 2024 3:21 AM Subscribe
Help with a story I'm writing. How would you password protect a folder of material you don't want other people to see, in the mid 2010s, if you're only averagely computer-savvy?
I know you can password protect folders in Windows 10 and 11, but I'm sure I tried password protecting folders on an old laptop and couldn't get it to work. (But then I am less than averagely computer savvy!)
I know you can password protect documents but don't know how you would do it with pictures etc.
The character would not be putting these pictures onto any online drives like Google Drive or Dropbox.
They are wealthy and love gadgets and probably have access to top of the line stuff but aren't particularly good at using any of it.
Could such a folder be deleted without having access to the password?
I know you can password protect folders in Windows 10 and 11, but I'm sure I tried password protecting folders on an old laptop and couldn't get it to work. (But then I am less than averagely computer savvy!)
I know you can password protect documents but don't know how you would do it with pictures etc.
The character would not be putting these pictures onto any online drives like Google Drive or Dropbox.
They are wealthy and love gadgets and probably have access to top of the line stuff but aren't particularly good at using any of it.
Could such a folder be deleted without having access to the password?
I would have made a password-protected ZIP file.
You can't do this in the native Windows file explorer (still can't...) which is one reason why programs like WinRAR were so widespread in the 2000-2010s.
posted by Klipspringer at 3:44 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
You can't do this in the native Windows file explorer (still can't...) which is one reason why programs like WinRAR were so widespread in the 2000-2010s.
posted by Klipspringer at 3:44 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
yup, zip file.
Anyone with access to the machine would still be able to see familystyle_scheisseporn.zip sitting there in a directory, though. They just wouldn't be able to open it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:58 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
Anyone with access to the machine would still be able to see familystyle_scheisseporn.zip sitting there in a directory, though. They just wouldn't be able to open it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:58 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
You can't do this in the native Windows file explorer (still can't...)
XP could do it. After opening a Zip file with Windows Explorer, there was an Add Password option on the File menu. The password protection built into the Zip format was very weak, though, which is probably why MS removed it in Windows Vista and later; knowing that you have no security is better than believing you do when you don't.
WinZip was installed as trialware on heaps of OEM Windows installations by default (if you remember being nagged to buy a licence every time you opened a Zip, that's why) and if I recall correctly it supported a more secure though not backwards compatible encryption scheme for Zip files based on AES-256. WinRAR and 7-Zip have also long offered similar capabilities for all the compressed archive formats they support.
So assuming your character was savvy enough to understand that simply adding a login password to a Windows account offers no protection at all against the use of offline tools to read that account's files, but not savvy enough to understand that the native Zip encryption scheme was easily cracked, that's probably what they would have been using. Slightly more savvy and they would have installed 7-Zip, and password protected their folders by turning them into encrypted 7z archives.
And yes, you can easily delete a password protected compressed archive file without knowing the password.
posted by flabdablet at 3:59 AM on April 18 [2 favorites]
XP could do it. After opening a Zip file with Windows Explorer, there was an Add Password option on the File menu. The password protection built into the Zip format was very weak, though, which is probably why MS removed it in Windows Vista and later; knowing that you have no security is better than believing you do when you don't.
WinZip was installed as trialware on heaps of OEM Windows installations by default (if you remember being nagged to buy a licence every time you opened a Zip, that's why) and if I recall correctly it supported a more secure though not backwards compatible encryption scheme for Zip files based on AES-256. WinRAR and 7-Zip have also long offered similar capabilities for all the compressed archive formats they support.
So assuming your character was savvy enough to understand that simply adding a login password to a Windows account offers no protection at all against the use of offline tools to read that account's files, but not savvy enough to understand that the native Zip encryption scheme was easily cracked, that's probably what they would have been using. Slightly more savvy and they would have installed 7-Zip, and password protected their folders by turning them into encrypted 7z archives.
And yes, you can easily delete a password protected compressed archive file without knowing the password.
posted by flabdablet at 3:59 AM on April 18 [2 favorites]
If they love gadgets, they might own a USB drive with built-in PIN code, like this: (Amazon link). (I think they would have been available back then.)
If they keep it with them, that would protect against it being deleted.
On the other hand, if your story requires the files to be lost: most ways of protecting only one folder (instead of a whole disk drive) would likely still allow the disk to be formatted, which wipes all data.
posted by demi-octopus at 4:42 AM on April 18
If they keep it with them, that would protect against it being deleted.
On the other hand, if your story requires the files to be lost: most ways of protecting only one folder (instead of a whole disk drive) would likely still allow the disk to be formatted, which wipes all data.
posted by demi-octopus at 4:42 AM on April 18
How would you password protect a folder of material you don't want other people to see, in the mid 2010s, if you're only averagely computer-savvy?
People who were only averagely computer savvy would have (and still would) put it seven levels deep in subfolders named something like c:\Users\Yourname\Downloads\Taxes_2007\Form-8202\Claimed-Expenses\Receipts\Scans\Scan4210\[porn_folder]
posted by mhoye at 4:45 AM on April 18 [18 favorites]
People who were only averagely computer savvy would have (and still would) put it seven levels deep in subfolders named something like c:\Users\Yourname\Downloads\Taxes_2007\Form-8202\Claimed-Expenses\Receipts\Scans\Scan4210\[porn_folder]
posted by mhoye at 4:45 AM on April 18 [18 favorites]
An alternative way to do this is name the folder and all the files within it some kind of gobbledygook that doesn't look interesting or come up on a search (like 1A000432Fgj7s4K). Then you bury that folder deep in your system files.
It doesn't actually protect anything, obviously, but no one you're sharing the computer with is likely to stumble across it.
On failure to preview, what mhoye said.
posted by phunniemee at 4:50 AM on April 18 [2 favorites]
It doesn't actually protect anything, obviously, but no one you're sharing the computer with is likely to stumble across it.
On failure to preview, what mhoye said.
posted by phunniemee at 4:50 AM on April 18 [2 favorites]
Pretty Good Privacy, PGP for short, is a much stronger encryption scheme than anything Zip.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:04 AM on April 18
posted by SemiSalt at 5:04 AM on April 18
Came here to say 'weird folder name saved in a nondescript place'- I really think that's more probable than actual password protection.
posted by wormtales at 5:19 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
posted by wormtales at 5:19 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
That "Recent Files" list could still betray you.
posted by k3ninho at 5:28 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by k3ninho at 5:28 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]
What SemiSalt says about PGP is true, but the number of "averagely computer-savvy" people who know that PGP exists is zero.
posted by mhoye at 5:45 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 5:45 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
For a truly only moderately computer-savvy person, security through obscurity for sure. It's still a cliche for some folks that the porn/nudes live in a folder labelled TAXES.
Alternately, I'd just handwave "I found a program that does this." Lots of folks who aren't that tech savvy find or are shown a single tool that's "above their skill level" and use a limited set of features from that app very happily. As a random example, half my wife's team at work use SFTP clients like WinSCP on a regular basis despite having no idea what it really does aside from "it transfers stuff to the vendor."
posted by Tomorrowful at 5:52 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Alternately, I'd just handwave "I found a program that does this." Lots of folks who aren't that tech savvy find or are shown a single tool that's "above their skill level" and use a limited set of features from that app very happily. As a random example, half my wife's team at work use SFTP clients like WinSCP on a regular basis despite having no idea what it really does aside from "it transfers stuff to the vendor."
posted by Tomorrowful at 5:52 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks! This is all so useful :)
I love the idea of him being betrayed by the Recent Files list... haha!
posted by unicorn chaser at 5:54 AM on April 18
I love the idea of him being betrayed by the Recent Files list... haha!
posted by unicorn chaser at 5:54 AM on April 18
I think they’d be more likely to put it onto a thumb drive and physically lock/hide that.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:22 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:22 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]
I think they’d be more likely to put it onto a thumb drive
For credible-story-writing purposes this brings the question of how big a USB stick you buy at the time, given the character's economic constraints, into play. Not a bad idea, just some context to keep track of.
posted by mhoye at 6:39 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
For credible-story-writing purposes this brings the question of how big a USB stick you buy at the time, given the character's economic constraints, into play. Not a bad idea, just some context to keep track of.
posted by mhoye at 6:39 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
If they were the type to have latest and greatest, they would have access to BitLocker via Windows 7
BitLocker let you encrypt an entire drive. It's pretty simple, when you click on the drive a password prompt pops up and if you get it right you can access the drive. It's easy to forget to lock the drive afterwards though, so if you left the computer running and someone else came along they could potentially read your secrets.
A gadget loving rich person might have also put their files on a removable disk and put it in a fancy safe hidden behind a painting or that pops out of the floor or is hidden inside of a shaving cream can like in Jurassic Park. Such "hide in plain sight" gadgets are a real life thing you can buy.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 6:40 AM on April 18
BitLocker let you encrypt an entire drive. It's pretty simple, when you click on the drive a password prompt pops up and if you get it right you can access the drive. It's easy to forget to lock the drive afterwards though, so if you left the computer running and someone else came along they could potentially read your secrets.
A gadget loving rich person might have also put their files on a removable disk and put it in a fancy safe hidden behind a painting or that pops out of the floor or is hidden inside of a shaving cream can like in Jurassic Park. Such "hide in plain sight" gadgets are a real life thing you can buy.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 6:40 AM on April 18
they would have access to BitLocker via Windows 7
BitLocker came out in 2017, and was initially only available in Windows Enterprise and Ultimate, which very few people would have had outside of their workplace.
As someone who occasionally had reason to want to encrypt files in the 2010s and earlier, I'd say the most likely tools would have been WinZip/WinRar or one of the many shareware apps that were around at the time.
posted by pipeski at 7:17 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
BitLocker came out in 2017, and was initially only available in Windows Enterprise and Ultimate, which very few people would have had outside of their workplace.
As someone who occasionally had reason to want to encrypt files in the 2010s and earlier, I'd say the most likely tools would have been WinZip/WinRar or one of the many shareware apps that were around at the time.
posted by pipeski at 7:17 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
TrueCrypt (free, open source) would have been available on Windows until 2014. Truecrypt allowed you to create a virtual encrypted disk within a file, or encrypt a partition on a drive. It very publicly announced that the project would no longer be maintained and recommended that users find alternatives (I remember that it seemed a pretty big deal at the time.)
The question is how "averagely computer-savvy" your character is. I have vague recollections of installing it on my laptop some time in the late 2000 aughts (I was a project manager - NOT a programmer at a digital agency at the time) and not using it very much because you had to type in the key every time you accessed the file/partition (altho this may be totally wrong). If this seems like a possible solution for your story the wikipedia TrueCrypt page will be helpful.
posted by lrm at 9:26 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
The question is how "averagely computer-savvy" your character is. I have vague recollections of installing it on my laptop some time in the late 2000 aughts (I was a project manager - NOT a programmer at a digital agency at the time) and not using it very much because you had to type in the key every time you accessed the file/partition (altho this may be totally wrong). If this seems like a possible solution for your story the wikipedia TrueCrypt page will be helpful.
posted by lrm at 9:26 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
You can also Hide a folder in Windows pretty easily, so it doesn't show up in Windows Explorer. This doesn't provide password protection, but someone would need to know it existed, and where, in order to find it.
Any files you access in it would still show up in Recent Documents, which can give it away.
posted by snarfois at 10:03 AM on April 18
Any files you access in it would still show up in Recent Documents, which can give it away.
posted by snarfois at 10:03 AM on April 18
In the mid-2010s I would have kept my Secret Documents on a thumb drive, in a password-protected zip file named "stuff.zip".
TrueCrypt existed but even as a huge nerd I never used it, in my recollection it was pretty niche and only really used by people who 1) were cryptography enthusiasts or 2) had real worries about technically-advanced adversaries.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:34 AM on April 18
TrueCrypt existed but even as a huge nerd I never used it, in my recollection it was pretty niche and only really used by people who 1) were cryptography enthusiasts or 2) had real worries about technically-advanced adversaries.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:34 AM on April 18
Nthing password protected Zip file, or security through obscurity with either a very nested folder or hidden USB thumb drive. I'd consider TrueCrypt and full-disk encryption to be above-average computer-savvy solutions.
posted by Aleyn at 12:13 PM on April 18
posted by Aleyn at 12:13 PM on April 18
You can password protect office documents if they’re using MS Word, then hide them in a folder as above.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:16 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:16 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
Personally for that time period I would have been using TrueCrypt, I switched to VeraCrypt after the End Of Life for TrueCrypt. Password protected Zip archives are AFAIK less secure than TrueCrypt. As far as deletion goes, sure a password encrypted Zip, a TrueCrypt volume or a VeraCrypt volume can all be accidentally deleted as long as a human is involved, although if any of them were open and in use the Operating System might balk. Stegonagraphy I believe would not be likely to be used by the type of folks you describe.
posted by forthright at 1:02 PM on April 18
posted by forthright at 1:02 PM on April 18
>BitLocker came out in 2017
Do you have a source that says 2017?
Wikipedia says 2007, and there are questions about it on superuser as far back as 2010, as well as others on random forums.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 2:18 PM on April 18
Do you have a source that says 2017?
Wikipedia says 2007, and there are questions about it on superuser as far back as 2010, as well as others on random forums.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 2:18 PM on April 18
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You’d still be able to delete the archive itself without the password, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:44 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]