Mac Security

Cryptix: Encryption Made Easy

Cryptix is a nice little app available on the App Store that allows you to encrypt and decrypt files using a variety of algorithms. However, while an easy to use encryption tool, it’s actually an even better learning tool for figuring out how various types of encryption techniques actually work.

When you first open Cryptix, you’ll see a list of supported algorithms for encrypting files and passphrases. That part is simple enough, but click on the Tools icon in the toolbar.

Here, you’ll see a number of features along the sidebar, including Checksum, which performs a quick checksum of files dragged on top of the green arrow and tracks hashes, based on the algorithm you choose. Below that can be found more detailed information about interfaces, man page access and a few other things that show the developer was learning how to do a few neat things while writing the tool (such as using DNS from the tool).

Overall, the encryption and decryption aspects of this tool alone are worth the price on the App Store. The checksums are super fast. The other features are interesting as well. I don’t do a lot of app reviews, but this one unexpectedly caught me off guard as something I’d recommend.