NordLocker Review: Encrypt and Share Your Data

NordLocker is a program that will allow us to create encrypted containers on our computer with Windows or Mac operating systems. Thanks to NordLocker , we will be able to encrypt all the files and folders that we place inside, and, in addition, will allow us to share these files that are encrypted with other users just by providing an email address and the encrypted container itself. Do you want to know everything about this new program for end-to-end file encryption?

NordLocker main features

NordLocker will allow us to store photos, videos, notes, financial data and even passwords, within an encrypted container that uses the latest symmetric encryption algorithms to provide the best possible security.

NordLocker

This program greatly facilitates the task of encrypting and decrypting files or folders, as it does it directly “on the fly” , and simply drag and drop within NordLocker, it will also allow us to share files and folders very easily by configuring an email address electronic of the person with whom we want to share the data, and sending the encrypted container.

This program is ideal for uploading files to the public cloud such as Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, but fully encrypted , so that if someone can access these containers, they will not be able to decrypt the information without the master key.

Once we upload a file to the Internet or to the public cloud, we completely lose control over it, and for this reason it is always advisable to encrypt them before uploading them to the cloud.

Thanks to the end-to-end encryption of NordLocker, we will be able to easily encrypt our files and folders, and then send them or store them in the public cloud.

This program is based on the technology of GoCryptFS , a FUSE file system that allows you to encrypt data based on files, this means that we will not need to re-encrypt the entire data container when we add new files or folders.

This program gives us great flexibility, we can choose very easily which encrypted files we want to synchronize with the public cloud, we can open all the files directly from the encrypted container, it is not necessary to perform the corresponding export and then open it, but it will open and save The changes directly.

NordLocker makes use of the popular symmetric encryption algorithm AES-256-GCM , although they also make use of a modern encryption suite such as XChaCha20-Poly1305 .

When we create the container, the program itself generates a 256-bit random key with Libsodium, then they encrypt the container key with XChaCha20-Poly1305 using the secret key that we have entered (the Master Key that we created the first time we started the program) .

If we forget or lose the master password, we will not be able to recover it, since NordLocker does not store anything in the Cloud, nor is it possible to reset it without the recovery key generated by the program itself as an “emergency key”, the only thing NordLocker stores It is the public key to allow files to be easily shared among users.

NordLocker prices

NordLocker is a free program limited to an encryption of a maximum of 5GB, if you want to encrypt more files or folders, you must buy a monthly subscription. This subscription includes the possibility of encrypting files without any limit, sharing files of any size with the best confidentiality, and obtaining priority support 24/7.

From December 16 to January 6 there is an offer for the purchase of the 1-year and 3-year subscription. The price if you hire a year is $ 1.99 per month, and if you hire the 3-year subscription the price would be $ 1.49 per month. We recommend you access this purchase offer from NordLocker where you will find all the details.

NordLocker is compatible with Windows and also with Mac, we can access the official website of NordLocker where you will find all the information and link to its direct download.

NordLocker installation and requirements

To install NordLocker it is necessary to have .NET framework 4.8, we recommend you install the latest version of Visual C ++ , otherwise it is possible that when you open the encrypted containers, it will return an error. Therefore, the steps to install the program would be:

  1. Install NordLocker normally and use it.
  2. If it gives problems when “assembling” the encrypted container, restart the computer, download and install the latest version of Visual C ++, and restart again.

NordLocker operation

The first thing we have to do is log in to NordLocker, we can use our email or username and the password we created when registering on the official website.

To provide greater security, it is necessary to verify our email. They will send us an alphanumeric code that we will have to enter in the box, and click on “Continue”.

The most important step is to create the master password, this password must be entered whenever we start the program, both to create new containers, to open them etc. It is essential that we do not forget this password, and, of course, it is advisable to configure a robust password and not share it with anyone.

NordLocker will provide us with a recovery key, this key should only be used if we forget the master key that we have entered. It is advisable to keep this recovery password well, as it will be the last possibility to access the internal data of the encrypted container. If we also lose it, we cannot decrypt our files, since this program does not save the master password in the cloud.

Once we have created the master key, we can select the destination of the encrypted container, it can be in your document folder, or wherever you want. In addition, we can later change this encrypted container to any place, including removable storage devices.

As you can see, we have the possibility to store this container anywhere:

Once we have created it, we have the possibility of creating a new container, or opening an existing container.

We will not have to enter any password when opening the container, since at the beginning of the program we had to enter the master key, so you will use it.

Encrypt files with NordLocker

Once we have opened the container, we will simply have to drag and drop all the files and folders that we want to encrypt and incorporate into the container.

We will also have the possibility to click on “Add”, and manually add both files and folders.

If we add a couple of executable files, we can see that they are inside it, and we will have the possibility to extract them, rename them, or simply delete them. We must remember that if, for example, we put Word or Excel files, we can open them directly and on the fly, without having to decrypt them and open them “out” of the container.

File decryption with NordLocker

If at any time we want to extract the files or folders from inside, we will simply select everything we want, and right click on “Export decrypted copy”, in this way, we can export the file or folder already decrypted to our computer, a support of removable storage etc.

NordLocker will give us the option to save this decrypted file anywhere on our computer.

Once we have extracted the file, it will appear in Windows Explorer itself as usual.

All NordLocker menu options

At the top of NordLocker, we will have different menus to access all the program options. We can create new containers, open the containers, open the last ones, and we can even configure it to run at the beginning of the operating system to always have it at hand. We can also rename or delete the files and folders inside the container, hide the right details panel, reset the recovery key, log out, and go to the help section.

Share encrypted folder with other users

When we want to share an encrypted folder with other users, we will have to add their email address. Thanks to the ECC key exchange, to encrypt / decrypt a file or folder, we will use a public-private key pair of both users, following the typical public key cryptography scheme. Logically, it is necessary to send the recipient the encrypted container, otherwise, they will not have access to the content, since the NordLocker Cloud is not used at any time to store our containers, it is all locally.

If we right click on the container, and select ” Add user access “, a new menu will appear where we will have to enter the email, and then we will provide the encrypted container.

As you have seen, the use of this NordLocker program is really easy, something that will allow us to encrypt all the files and folders we want.

What’s New:

Search – this will be handy to better locate all your files.
Drag and drop – add files and folders to NordLocker even easier.
Change view – Grid or List, you choose.
Home screen – NordLocker launches with a list of your recent lockers.
Dropbox integration – Now users can share their lockers on the cloud easier.