In this article provides an in-depth walkthrough of four robust file encryption tools—Veracrypt, Picocrypt, Cryptomator, and 7-Zip—highlighting their unique strengths and practical applications. For each tool, you will find a comprehensive step-by-step guide that explains installation, configuration, and real-world usage scenarios to help you secure sensitive files and data effectively.

Contents

• Privacy Protection
• File & Data Protection
• Veracrypt – Free Disk Encryption Software
• Picocrypt – Lightweight Encryption Tool
• Cryptomator – Cloud Data Protection
• 7-Zip – File Archiver with Encryption
• Conclusion

Privacy Protection

Privacy protection means safeguarding personal, professional, and sensitive data from unauthorized access, surveillance, and misuse. It combines technology, habits, and awareness.

Your devices are treasure chests of data — bank logins, private photos, documents, conversations. If lost or hacked, it’s catastrophic.

Key Risks

• Laptop theft at airports/cafes.
• Malware capturing data.
• Law enforcement/confiscation.

File & Data Protection

Even if your device is secure, files get shared, backed up, or uploaded — these copies need protection too.

Key Risks

• Cloud providers scanning data.
• File leaks from sharing apps.
• Data recovery from old hard drives.

Best Practices

• File Encryption Tools
• Encrypted Cloud Storage
• Secure Backups

Veracrypt – Free Disk Encryption Software

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

Step 1: Download Veracrypt

You can download VeraCrypt from its official site: https://veracrypt.io/en/Downloads.html

Step 2: Creating an encrypted drive

Firstly, open Veracrypt and click on create volume.

Select Create an Encrypted File Container → Next.

Then, select the file you want to encrypt → Click Next.

Choose the size of the encrypted drive to be created.

Then, create a password for the drive → Click Next.

Now we are going to click on “format” and then move our mouse as fast as possible as the more we move our mouse the more protected our drive is going to be.

After completion, a new encrypted drive will be created.

Open VeraCrypt again → Select drive → Click Mount.

Then we type in the password we set before to access the drive.

Finally, now if we go to file explorer and click on this pc This PC, a new drive will appear containing your encrypted file.

Creating a hidden encrypted drive

VeraCrypt also allows you to create a hidden encrypted drive inside the main one. This provides plausible deniability—if forced, you can open the visible encrypted drive without revealing the hidden one.

Steps:

• Click Create Volume

• Select Hidden VeraCrypt Volume instead of standard.

 

• Choose Direct Mode.

• Enter the file location.

• Type in the password you set before.

• Now clicking on Next, set the size of the hidden volume.

• Create a new password for the hidden volume.

• Finally, click Format.

Now, mounting the volume with the first password opens the normal drive, while entering the second password opens the hidden encrypted drive.

And with this, we are done with VeraCrypt!

Picocrypt – Lightweight Encryption Tool

Picocrypt is a very simple tool but also powerful for advanced users.

Step 1: Download Picocrypt

You can download Picocrypt from github using the following link: https://github.com/Picocrypt/Picocrypt

Step 2: Encrypting a file.

• Firstly, open picocrypt and drag and drop the file you want to encrypt.
• Then protect the file by creating a password and click on “encrypt”.

Available Options:

Paranoid mode

It will employ HMAC-SHA3 for data authentication rather than BLAKE2b and encrypt your data using both XChaCha20 and Serpent in a cascade method. This offers the highest level of realistic security possible and is advised for top-secret file protection.

Reed-Solomon

If you intend to save critical data on an external medium or cloud provider for an extended period of time, this functionality is quite helpful. If enabled, Picocrypt will avoid file corruption by adding 8 extra bytes for every 128 bytes of data using the Reed-Solomon error correction technique.

Deniability

Enabling this option will give you plausible deniability if you wish to conceal the fact that you are encrypting your data. Without the right password, no one will be able to identify the output volume as a volume because it will be indistinguishable from a stream of random bytes.

Split into Chunks

Don’t want to cope with enormous files? Don’t worry! To make huge files easier to handle and upload to cloud services, you can use Picocrypt to divide your output file into custom-sized chunks.

Recursively

This option instructs Picocrypt to encrypt and decrypt each recursive file you drop in, one at a time, if you wish to encrypt and/or decrypt a huge collection of files.

• Once encryption is complete, a new encrypted file is created.

To Decrypt:

• Delete the existing decrypted version.
• Drag & drop the encrypted file into Picocrypt.
• Enter your password → Click Decrypt.

Cryptomator – Cloud Data Protection

Cryptomator is a simple tool for digital self-defense. It allows you to protect your cloud data by yourself and independently.

Step 1: Download Cryptomator

You can download cryptomator from its official website via the provided link: https://cryptomator.org/downloads/win/

Step 2: Encrypting data

• Open Cryptomator → Click the + in the bottom-left → Select Create New Vault.

• Then choose a name for your vault.

• Depending on your choice you can click on dropbox or can save your vault at a custom location.

• Enter a password and click on “create vault”.

A new drive will be created in your system. Anything saved inside will be encrypted automatically.

• To unlock again: click on “Unclock Now” and then click on “Reveal Drive”.

• Now you will see a new drive created in your pc. Anything you save in this drive is going to be encrypted.

• Now you can unlock your vault by simply clicking on “unclock” and typing in your password.

7-Zip – File Archiver with Encryption

7-Zip is a free software with open source.It is a file archiver with a high compression ratio.

Step 1: Download 7-Zip

It can be downloaded from the official website via the link provided: https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

Step 2: Encryption of data

• Open 7-Zip and provide the location of the file that needs encryption and then enter and confirm your password.

And with this simple step the encrypted zip file is created.

To Decrypt:

• Right-click the archive → 7-Zip → Extract Here.

• Then finally enter your password and the file is opened.

Other Recommended Encryption Tools

• GnuPG: https://gnupg.org/

Conclusion

We explored four powerful encryption tools—VeraCrypt, Picocrypt, Cryptomator, and 7-Zip—to secure sensitive files and cloud data. These tools make it possible to protect against cyberattacks, identity theft, and unauthorized access.

By adopting encryption, you ensure that even if attackers intercept your data, it stays unreadable without the correct key.

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Author: Shreya Madan is a Researcher and Technical Writer at Hacking Articles, specializing in Information Security. Follow her – Linkedin.