Tricks, Hacks and Fixes for Everyday Problems.

Data security is something most people take for granted even though our computers and the Internet are inherently insecure. This insecurity is heightened even further if other people have physical access to our computers. With enough time, anyone can break into our windows/linux/Mac accounts, copy our internet history, our saved passwords and much  more. I am going to show you two ways to securely hide your data through trickery, obscurity and encryption.

First, I am going to show you how to hide your data  on a simple USB flash key. Doesn’t sound secure? Well we are going to pull a switch-a-roo: We are going to take a 1gb USB key and put the insides of it into a 256mb USB key’s casing, then edit the partitions so when people plug it into their computer it will appear to be 256mb.  The remaining portion of the drive will be hidden so no one will be aware you actually have another 700+ mb’s of hidden data.  As a backup the hidden portion will be secured with Government Top-Secret Level AES encryption and hidden behind another dummy hidden portion. So, even if it is discovered that there is a secret area on your USB key it will be almost impossible to break. Welcome to the Obscura USB swap.

Second, I’m going to explain how you can place a USB key into a spare phone jack in your wall. Not only will no one think to look there, but a special cable (that I’ll tell you how to construct out of an old USB cord and an old phone cord) are required to access the data. Afterward, you can encrypt it with the same level of encryption as your other drive making it obscure and secure.

** A Little Warning **

You are going to be breaking apart USB drives, messing with partitions and editing other important stuff. There is a chance you could break something. By doing anything in this article, you are agreeing that Myfriendjosh.com bears none of the responsibility.

What do you need for this article?

• 2 USB flash keys of differing sizes (preferably with their sizes labeled on the outside) OR 1 USB flash key without its size labeled on the case.

• TrueCrypt Encryption Software | Get it here. <- Download it now!

• Boot It Software | Get it here. <- Download it now!

• Your Laptop

Hiding a Large USB flash drive inside a smaller drive with a secret and Top Secret Classified level encrypted area.

So let’s get started. For this article I am using a 1 gb USB key and a 256mb USB key.
*Note* if you are using a single USB drive that’s not labeled just skip to step two.

Step One: Take both of your USB keys and crack them open. Place the insides of the USB key with the higher storage capicity (1gb) into the casing of the lower capacity USB drive (256mb). Place the other USB key insides and casing aside for Part Two of this article.

Step Two: Now that we have the 1gb USB key inside of the 256mb USB key’s casing, we need to modify the partitions so your USB drive shows up as only 256mb when people plug it in, the leftover space is where we will be hiding our secret files. Before we can do this, we need to change a setting on the USB key which is called “The Removable Bit”. This “Bit” basically locks down the partitions on a USB key from being altered.

Download and run the program “Boot It”. Select the drive your USB key is on (you can check this by opening My Computer). Click the “Flip Removable Bit” button, then click ‘ok‘. Now take the USB key out of the computer and plug it back in. Close the program and the “Bit” has been flipped off.

Step Three: Now that the “Bit” is out of the way, you can change the size of the USB key partition and make a hidden one. First, go into Windows Computer Management. To get there click on the ‘Start or Windows Button‘, Right click on ‘Computer or My Computer‘ and left click  “Manage“.

Now on the left hand side of the window, left click “Disk Management“. In the main window should appear your computer’s hard drive and your USB key. Right click on your USB key (you can tell that it’s your USB key by the size or the name of it), and click “Delete Volume“. A warning will pop up, click “Yes“.

Now we are creating your smaller 256mb partition. Still in “Disk Management”, Right click on the USB key and click “New Simple Volume“.

Click “Next” on the first screen that appears, and that will bring you to the screen below. This is the screen where you can choose the (visible) size of your USB key. So, since my 1gb USB key is inside a case that says 256mb, I want to make my new visible partition 256mb so when people plug it in they think it’s actually a 256mb USB key. If you used a different size USB key, e.g., if you put a 2gb USB key into a 1gb casing you’d want to change it to 1024mb (which is 1gb). Then click “Next“.

In the next screen you are to pick a Drive letter: Leave the default ‘E‘ or ‘F‘ or whatever came up and click “Next“.

The next screen is formatting options. By default, these settings should be right. Just incase though, click ‘Format this volume with the following settings‘ circle. The file system selected should be ‘FAT‘. Allocation unit size should be ‘Default‘. The ‘Volume Label‘ option should be changed to whatever you want – this is your USB key’s name. Then click ‘Next‘. The next screen that comes up is just a summary of the changes. Click ‘Finish‘.

At this point you may get this pop-up below…just click ‘cancel’ as you just formatted it.

From this point on, we will be repeating some of the steps with small variations, so I haven’t posted pictures for every step.

Now we are back at the ‘Computer Management’ window. On the left hand side, click ‘Disk Management‘ again. Now in the main window you’ll notice that your USB key has 2 separate partitions. One is the size you just set (for me 256mb) and 1 clump of unallocated space that is equal to the remaining size on your key (for me 724mb). Now we are going to make this clump your hidden partition that will be invisible. Right Click the ‘Unallocated Space’ and left click on ‘New Simple Volume‘.

These steps are almost exactly the same as the ones we just did. You will see the Welcome to new simple volume wizard, click ‘Next‘. The next screen should ask you to specify your volume size – by default it will be the maximum amount allowed and this is what you want. Just click ‘Next‘.

This screen is where you would assign a drive letter, but we DO NOT want to do that. Instead click on the bottom option ‘Do not assign a drive letter or drive path’. By not assigning a drive letter, when the USB key is plugged into a computer, the computer won’t try to find this partition, making it mostly hidden. Click ‘Next’.

The next screen should be labeled ‘Format partition’: You want to make sure that the ‘Format this volume with the following settings‘ box is checked, that File system option is ‘FAT‘, that Allocation unit size is ‘Default‘, Volume label can be whatever you wish (this is just the name of your partition), and lastly that the ‘Perform a quick format‘ is checked. Now click ‘Next‘. This will present you with another summary screen – just click ‘Finish‘.

At this point you may get this popup below again, just click ‘Cancel‘.

Step Four: Now we are going to install TrueCrypt to the USB key in order to encrypt and fully hide the secret partition. It’s actually going to create 2 encrypted drives on your USB key, both of which will be inside your secondary (hidden) partition. One that is a dummy partition you can put some dummy files in and never touch, the other that will be the actual secret partition where you will store the sensitive data. The point of  having two encrypted, secret partitions is if someone confiscates your USB key and demands that you give them the access codes to it (on the slim chance they even find the hidden partition) then you can give them access to the dummy partition with your dummy files and they will not even know about the real hidden partition.

First, run the setup file we downloaded earlier. You will see a licencing agreement. Click the check box saying that you ‘Agree to the terms‘ and then click ‘Next‘.

This next step is important: If you’d like to install TrueCrypt to the USB key so you can access the hidden parts no matter where you are then select ‘Extract‘. If you’d like to install TrueCrypt to your computer instead click ‘Install‘, but remember you’ll only be able to access the USB key’s hidden partition on a computer with TrueCrypt installed if you don’t install it to the key itself. For this article, I am installing it to the key so I chose to ‘Extract‘ it. Click ‘Next‘. You will get a pop up – ignore it and click ‘yes‘. *Small note, people looking at your USB key might ask why you have TrueCrypt on your USB key but nothing encrypted. They have a point, so after all this is said and done, I would go back and encrypt some not so important files and put them in your primary partition*

Now you will select where you want to install TrueCrypt, so I clicked ‘browse‘ and selected the USB key’s drive letter from my computer (E:/ on mine). Click ‘OK‘. Now it should show you where your going to install TrueCrypt – mine shows E:/, so after that I type “truecrypt” so it now shows E:/truecrypt. Make sure that you have the ‘Open destination location when finished’ box checked off, and click extract. When it’s finished, click ‘Finish‘. It should open the folder that you installed TrueCrypt to. Double click “TrueCrypt.exe” and let’s get started.

You should now be presented with a bunch of drives. Ignore all of that and click the ‘Create Volume‘ button.

On this screen, you will choose the option ‘Encrypt a non-system partition/drive‘, then click ‘Next‘.

On this screen, you will choose ‘Hidden TrueCrypt Volume’, then click ‘Next‘.

After that, you should see another screen named Volume creation mode, Select ‘Normal Mode‘ and then click ‘Next’.

Ok, now on this screen you will select the partition you want to install. If you mess this up, you will have to start over so pay attention! :) Click ‘Select Device‘ and at the bottom of the list that pops up you should see your USB key’s name (Mine is NEW VOLUME). Right below that is the partition with no drive letter – select that one (you can also go by the size, remember that my hidden partition was 733mb) and click ‘Ok‘. Then Click ‘Next‘.

Then click ‘Next‘ again.

Now you will pick the encryption type for your dummy drive. It doesn’t really matter what you pick because you don’t really care if others can break into this part. Leave everything the way it is: The default Encryption algorithm should be set to ‘AES‘ and the Hash algorithm should be set to ‘RIPEMD-160‘. Click ‘Next‘.

It will show you a verification page giving you the partition size,  just click ‘Next‘ again.

Now this is where you set your password for the dummy hidden drive. Again, this isn’t very important because this is the password that you would give-up if the drive is confiscated. I made my password ‘Mysecretdrive’ – something stupid that I will remember. Click ‘Next‘.

On the next screen, just click ‘Format‘ and then ‘Yes‘ to the warning pop up.

This is the only time  that you will be able to put anything onto the dummy partition without risking damaging your files on your actual hidden partition. To do this click ‘Open Outer Volume‘ and dump in some unimportant files that seem like files that you would want to hide. I put a bunch of fake poetry, journal entries and old password lists that aren’t valid anymore. When you are finished, go back to TrueCrypt and click ‘Next‘.

Now we are getting close to the end of the road, and on to creating the actual hidden and encrypted partition.

On your first screen just click ‘Next‘. You will now be presented with the encryption options again. Everything can be left exactly the way it is: Encryption Algorithm is ‘AES’ (you can choose other encryptions or multiple encryptions here, but if AES is good enough for Top Secret Classified info it’s good enough for me) Hash algorithm is ‘RIPEMD-160‘. Then click ‘Next’.

The next screen is for setting the size of the hidden partition. You’ll want to make the hidden partition the maximum allowed minus the size of the files you put into your dummy drive, so if your dummy drive had 10mb of files put in it,  make your hidden drive the max minus 10mb. If you don’t do this, the files in the partitions overlap and the files on both drives may corrupt. For mine, I made it 723mb in size. (733mb – 10mb).

The next screen is the Hidden Volume Password. You want this password to be as long and complicated as possible. Follow “good password rules”: it should be at least 10 – 15 characters in length, with at least 1 upper case letter, 1 lower case letter, 1 symbol and 1 digit. My password is ‘n0E1u2R3o!m4A5n6C7e8R9!’ which is just neuromancer with 0123456789 spliced in between. It’s easy to remember, but it’s long and fairly secure. (No, this isn’t my real password). Now click ‘Next‘ and on the next screen just click ‘Format‘. Once you are done waiting for the format to finish…

…Close the window and you are done the hard part!

So, now if you go to Windows Explorer and look at the drives attached to your computer you should have only one USB key attached that is 256mb (or whatever you selected). Use this just like you would a normal USB key now.  To access your hidden encrypted partition open TrueCrypt and click the ‘Auto-mount Devices’ and enter that long disgusting password (mine was ‘n0E1u2R3o!m4A5n6C7e8R9!’) and like magic your hidden drive should appear, just right click it and select ‘Open’, you now have access to that drive. Put all of your secret or classified info in there.

To hide the drive again go back to TrueCrypt and click ‘Dismount All‘ and like magic, it’s hidden again.

Part Two: Making a phone jack into a secure obscure USB data vault.

I saw this article on lifehacker.com a while ago and thought it would be a great partner to this article. Basically, you can take the spare USB key (the insides that you took out of the case for the previous hack) and wire it up to a to a phone jack and stick it in your wall. How many people are going to think you have a USB key in your phone jack? No one. Unless they find your weird USB/phone cable.

Instead of  re-inventing the wheel, I am just going to link to the original article via Instructables here.

Hope you enjoyed part one of “Secura Obscura”! Stayed tuned for Part Two, where we will be looking into digital steganography and other ways to hide files in plain sight.

Josh