We are happy to announce the release of AFFLIB 3.2, the first support of AFFLIB with full support for public key cryptography.

AFFLIB now supports the following features:

• Images in AFF or AFD format can be digitally signed.
• Raw files and split/raw files can be digitally signed using the AFM format.
• Images in the AFF or AFD format can be encrypted with a passphrase.
• Images in the AFF or AFD format can be encrypted with a public key; once encrypted, the image can only be accessed by someone with the corresponding private key.

Encryption keys and passphrases can be specified either in filenames or in environment variables, allowing for transparent operating with existing AFF-compliant programs such as SleuthKit. Encryption is fully operable in the affuse program, allowing an encrypted AFF image to be mounted as an unencrypted, raw image in a Linux file system. This can be used in conjunction with VMWare player and Windows XP, allowing programs such as EnCase and FTK to access AFF-encrypted images.

The draft of a journal article that describes AFF encryption appears at http://www.afflib.org/affcrypto.pdf.