Encrypting your sensitive data is important. As you may know, CIA...

C onfidentiality

onfidentiality I ntegrity

ntegrity Availability

...are the essential elements of Information Security.





There are a number of tools and methods available out there, but not all encryption tools are same.

We are now living in an era where everyone is watching everyone else, and now you need to pay extra attention before choosing any tool.





VeraCrypt, a TrueCrypt alternative, is an open source file encryption software designed to protect your online privacy.





VeraCrypt enters the market within months after TrueCrypt died, almost similar to it, but with enhancements to further secure your data.





A week ago, latest version VeraCrypt 1.12 released with a new feature called PIM, which stands for "Personal Iterations Multiplier".





PIM (Personal Iterations Multiplier) is a new parameter introduced in VeraCrypt 1.12 to secure your data.





PIM is basically a secret numerical value that must be entered by the user each time alongside the password. Your Password is being used to mount the encrypted container or partition, whereas…

PIM value will decide the number of iterations, or in simple term, the speed of the mounting and booting process, simply brilliant. This feature makes the software a minimum of 10 and a maximum of nearly 300 times harder to brute force.





When creating a volume or when changing the password, there you find the new "use PIM" option that is disabled by default.





High PIM value offers additional protection against brute-force attacks by adding some delay to the opening of encrypted partitions, but with small PIM values, mounting/booting is quicker, which could decrease security if a weak password is used.



