Review: Utimaco SafeGuard Easy

For: The software is fast, easy to install and use. It performed well in all categories.
Against: Lack of free support on just about any level.
Verdict: While it does not have some of the added features of other products, it is a solid, fast whole drive encryption package.

The product is applicable both to individual use and enterprise implementation. The enterprise installation provides the user with additional audit logging capability beyond that offered in the standalone option.

Utimaco also provides online, email and phone support to registered users with a support contract. The site provides downloads of trial versions of the products. However, the installation guide and the software are easy enough to understand that in most cases additional support should not be necessary.

The product claims AES 128 and 256 bit encryption, as well as IDEA and several others. It is in the process of obtaining FIPS 140-2, as well as EAL-4 of the Common Criteria (ISO 15408).

Utimaco SafeGuard Easy was tied for the fastest time to encrypt the 60 GB hard drive — one hour 40 minutes. Once the software was installed, PassMark’s Performance Test reported no performance degradation. The de-installation of SafeGuard leaves the system in a clean state that is still capable of boot. This is an important improvement over similar products that we reviewed last year.

The available support at no cost is extremely limited and consists of downloads of manuals. We found that unacceptable for a product that, if it fails, could cost an individual or organization a serious data loss.

SafeGuard Easy was the most expensive product we tested. We liked this product a lot, but found that it was a rather plain vanilla whole disk encryption product at a somewhat higher price than similar products. That said, from a technical perspective the product has no obvious weaknesses.

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