Fort Knox on Tiger
by Erik Vlietinck, Publisher IT-Enquirer and Freelance IT-editor
May 19th, 2005

Knox is a file vault creation and maintenance application. Knox is unobtrusive, allows for more granular approach to file vaults than Apple’s FileVault, and uses the AES encryption algorithm, just like Apple’s security applications. Best of all, Knox is 100% transparent, meaning you don’t need the application to open Knox vaults.

When you start Knox for the first time, it asks you to create a new vault. This behaviour is OK in the beginning, but it can quickly get on your nerves as you keep using the application. A nice Preference setting enables you to switch off the startup question.

Knox’s vault creation request is about the only clearly visible window of the program. Knox’s other windows are non-existent. Only the Preferences panel with multiple tabs is the other visible proof you’re dealing with a program here and not a System Preference.

Knox’s preferences allow you to change the default behaviour of the program, get rid of the Dock icon and have it replaced by a menubar icon, and set up vault backups.



So far for Knox’s interface. Now the vaults. They’re great. Vaults are AES-encrypted images to which you can drag files and folders. Many different space options are available, including an option to set the space on a vault totally unrelated to a disk’s size. Vaults can be stored anyshere you like, not just in the Home directory. Using the Preferences panel, vaults can also be compacted, so they take up less space.



I tried creating a Knox Vault and then removing the program to see what would happen. Two things happened: the vault lost its cute Knox icon, becoming the generic disc image icon instead, and when I double-clicked it, a password-entry window appeared. When I entered the password, the image opened as a volume on my system.

Knox is in my opinion one of the easiest secure storage applications available on Mac OS X. Not only is it easy to use, the fact that it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel by applying weaker encryption algorithms like Blowfish also make it the safest. Knox is certainly a better approach to file “vaulting” than Apple’s all-or-nothing approach. Really sensitive files can be stored on a Vault until you need them, all without the risks that have been associated with using FileVault on Mac OS X systems.

A demo of Knox can be downloaded from the Knox web site. I would very much like to recommend people who want straightforward security to try this one out.

Publisher	Knox for Mac
Level	Beg/Intermed/Pro
Systems	Mac OS X 10.3 and Tiger
Pros	Easy to use. Unobtrusive. Extremely secure. Stores vaults anywhere. Knox application not needed.
Cons	None as far as I can see.

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