From b15b88560c906db28c1956fac5c4d42fe8640990 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Evan Su <48808396+HACKERALERT@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2025 01:29:41 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] feature description refinements, recommend reading it
---
README.md | 20 +++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 13d1542..1b5b9a2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,9 +11,12 @@ Picocrypt is a very small (hence Pico), very simple, yet very secure encr
# Downloads
-**Make sure to only download Picocrypt from this repository** to ensure that you get the authentic and backdoor-free Picocrypt. When sharing Picocrypt with others, be sure to link to this repository to prevent any confusion.
-**Beware of picocrypt.org, which claims to be the official website for this project! Remember, there is no official website for Picocrypt.** Even if this self-proclaimed website is taken down, I will not remove this message; let it be a real-world warning to stay vigilant.
+ℹ️ **You are highly recommended to read through the [Features](https://github.com/Picocrypt/Picocrypt?tab=readme-ov-file#features) section below to fully understand the features and limitations of Picocrypt before using it.** ℹ️
+
+Make sure to only download Picocrypt from this repository to ensure that you get the authentic and backdoor-free Picocrypt. When sharing Picocrypt with others, be sure to link to this repository to prevent any confusion.
+
+Beware of picocrypt.org, which claims to be the official website for this project! Remember, there is no official website for Picocrypt. Even if this self-proclaimed website is taken down, I will not remove this message; let it be a real-world warning to stay vigilant.
## Windows
Picocrypt for Windows is as simple as it gets. To download the latest, standalone, and portable executable for Windows, click here. If Microsoft Defender or your antivirus flags Picocrypt as a virus, please do your part and submit it as a false positive for the betterment of everyone.
@@ -84,20 +87,20 @@ Here's how Picocrypt compares to other popular encryption tools.
Keep in mind that while Picocrypt does most things better than other tools, it's not a one-size-fits-all and doesn't try to be. There are use cases such as full-disk encryption where VeraCrypt and BitLocker would be a better choice. So while Picocrypt is a great choice for the majority of people, you should still do your own research and use what's best for you.
# Features
-Picocrypt is a very simple tool, and most users will intuitively understand how to use it in a few seconds. On a basic level, simply dropping your files, entering a password, and hitting Encrypt is all that's needed to encrypt your files. Dropping the output back into Picocrypt, entering the password, and hitting Decrypt is all that's needed to decrypt those files. Pretty simple, right?
+Picocrypt is a very simple tool, and most users will intuitively understand how to use it in a few seconds. On a basic level, simply dropping your files, entering a password, and hitting Encrypt is all that's needed to encrypt your files. Dropping the output back into Picocrypt, entering the password, and hitting Decrypt is all that's needed to decrypt those files. Pretty simple, right? For most users, this will be enough and the features below are not necessary.
-While being simple, Picocrypt also strives to be powerful in the hands of knowledgeable and advanced users. Thus, there are some additional options that you may use to suit your needs.
+But while being simple, Picocrypt also strives to be powerful in the hands of knowledgeable and advanced users. Thus, there are some additional options that you may use to suit your needs. Read through their descriptions carefully as some of them can be complex to use correctly.
- Password generator: Picocrypt provides a secure password generator that you can use to create cryptographically secure passwords. You can customize the password length, as well as the types of characters to include.
- - Comments: Use this to store notes, information, and text along with the file (it won't be encrypted). For example, you can put a description of the file you're encrypting before sending it to someone. When the person you sent it to drops the file into Picocrypt, your description will be shown to that person. Comments are not authenticated, meaning it can be freely modified by an attacker. Thus, it should only be used for informational purposes in trusted environments.
- - Keyfiles: Picocrypt supports the use of keyfiles as an additional form of authentication (or the only form of authentication). Any file can be used as a keyfile, and a secure keyfile generator is provided for convenience. Not only can you use multiple keyfiles, but you can also require the correct order of keyfiles to be present for a successful decryption to occur. A particularly good use case of multiple keyfiles is creating a shared volume, where each person holds a keyfile, and all of them (and their keyfiles) must be present to decrypt the shared volume. By checking the "Require correct order" box and dropping your keyfile in last, you can also ensure that you'll always be the one clicking the Decrypt button.
+ - Comments: Use this to store non-sensitive text along with the volume (it won't be encrypted and simply can't be by design). For example, you can put a description of the file you're encrypting before sending it to someone. When the person you sent it to drops the volume into Picocrypt, your description will be shown to that person. Or, if you're backing up personal files, you can give a description of the volume's contents so you can quickly remind yourself without having to fully decrypt. Since comments are neither encrypted nor authenticated, it can be freely read and modified by an attacker. Thus, it should only be used for non-sensitive, informational purposes in trusted environments.
+ - Keyfiles: Picocrypt supports the use of keyfiles as an additional form of authentication (or the only form of authentication). Any file can be used as a keyfile, and a secure keyfile generator is provided for convenience. Not only can you use multiple keyfiles, but you can also require the correct order of keyfiles to be present for a successful decryption to occur. A particularly good use case of multiple keyfiles is creating a shared volume, where each person holds a keyfile, and all of them (and their keyfiles) must be present to decrypt the shared volume. By checking the "Require correct order" box and dropping your keyfile in last, you can also ensure that you'll always be the one clicking the Decrypt button. Use the keyfile generator whenever possible for the best security.
- Paranoid mode: Using this mode will encrypt your data with both XChaCha20 and Serpent in a cascade fashion, and use HMAC-SHA3 to authenticate data instead of BLAKE2b. Argon2 parameters will be increased significantly as well. This is recommended for protecting top-secret files and provides the highest level of practical security attainable. For a hacker to break into your encrypted data, both the XChaCha20 cipher and the Serpent cipher must be broken, assuming you've chosen a good password. It's safe to say that in this mode, your files are impossible to crack. Keep in mind, however, that this mode is slower and isn't really necessary unless you're a government agent with classified data or a whistleblower under threat.
- Reed-Solomon: This feature is very useful if you are planning to archive important data on a cloud provider or external medium for a long time. If checked, Picocrypt will use the Reed-Solomon error correction code to add 8 extra bytes for every 128 bytes of data to prevent file corruption. This means that up to ~3% of your file can corrupt and Picocrypt will still be able to correct the errors and decrypt your files with no corruption. Of course, if your file corrupts very badly (e.g., you dropped your hard drive), Picocrypt won't be able to fully recover your files, but it will try its best to recover what it can. Note that this option will slow down encryption and decryption speeds significantly.
- Force decrypt: Picocrypt automatically checks for file integrity upon decryption. If the file has been modified or is corrupted, Picocrypt will automatically delete the output for the user's safety. If you would like to override these safeguards, check this option. Also, if this option is checked and the Reed-Solomon feature was used on the encrypted volume, Picocrypt will attempt to recover as much of the file as possible during decryption.
- Split into chunks: Don't feel like dealing with gargantuan files? No worries! With Picocrypt, you can choose to split your output file into custom-sized chunks, so large files can become more manageable and easier to upload to cloud providers. Simply choose a unit (KiB, MiB, GiB, or TiB) and enter your desired chunk size for that unit. To decrypt the chunks, simply drag one of them into Picocrypt and the chunks will be automatically recombined during decryption.
- Compress files: By default, Picocrypt uses a zip file with no compression to quickly merge files together when encrypting multiple files. If you would like to compress these files, however, simply check this box and the standard Deflate compression algorithm will be applied during encryption.
- - Deniability: Picocrypt volumes typically follow an easily recognizable header format. However, if you want to hide the fact that you are encrypting your files, enabling this option will provide you with plausible deniability. The output volume will indistinguishable from a stream of random bytes, and no one can prove it is a volume without the correct password. This can be useful in an authoritarian country where the only way to transport your files safely is if they don't "exist" in the first place. Keep in mind that this mode slows down encryption and decryption speeds, requires you to manually rename the volume afterward, renders comments useless, and also voids the extra security precautions of the paranoid mode, so you should only use it if absolutely necessary.
- - Recursively: If you want to encrypt and/or decrypt a large set of files individually, this option will tell Picocrypt to go through every recursive file that you drop in and encrypt/decrypt it separately. This is useful, for example, if you are encrypting thousands of large documents and want to be able to decrypt any one of them in particular without having to download and decrypt the entire set of documents. Keep in mind that this is a very complex feature that should only be used if you know what you are doing.
+ - Deniability: Picocrypt volumes typically follow an easily recognizable header format. However, if you want to hide the fact that you are encrypting your files, enabling this option will provide you with plausible deniability. The output volume will indistinguishable from a stream of random bytes, and no one can prove it is a volume without the correct password. This can be useful in an authoritarian country where the only way to transport your files safely is if they don't "exist" in the first place. Keep in mind that this mode slows down encryption and decryption speeds, requires you to manually rename the volume afterward, renders comments useless, and also voids the extra security precautions of the paranoid mode, so you should only use it if absolutely necessary. If you've never heard of plausible deniability, this feature is not for you.
+ - Recursively: If you want to encrypt and/or decrypt a large set of files individually, this option will tell Picocrypt to go through every recursive file that you drop in and encrypt/decrypt it separately. This is useful, for example, if you are encrypting thousands of large documents and want to be able to decrypt any one of them in particular without having to download and decrypt the entire set of documents. Keep in mind that this is a very complex feature that should only be used if you know what you are doing.
# Security
@@ -179,5 +182,4 @@ Finally, thanks to these people/organizations for helping me out when needed:
@Retengart for helping create the Flatpak
Privacy Guides for listing Picocrypt
Radically Open Security for auditing Picocrypt
- You?