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1993-08-25
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How does it work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Some questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Quick initial installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
TbFence demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
USAGE OF TBFENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Predefined configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Program invocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
De-installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Status of diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Encrypt a diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Decrypt a diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Options menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Format to normal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Setup temporary gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Formatting diskettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Bootable diskettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The TbFence.Sys device driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Viruses and Anti-Virus products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The encryption scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Exit codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
INTRODUCTION
Nearly every PC is equipped with one or more diskette drives. While a
diskette drive is necessary for maintenance and upgrading, it may also
be used to introduce malicious software into the system, copy software
owned by the company, or even to export confidential information.
Many companies have had unfortunate experiences with computer viruses,
leaked information, or pilferage of software. For this reason many
companies fiddle with diskless workstations, mechanical locks on the
diskette drives, etc. While these measures prevent the introduction of
malicious software or export of company properties, it is now also hard
to transfer data from one desk to another, and to perform maintenance
like upgrading software.
TbFence was developed to solve these problems neatly. With TbFence you
build a fence around your company or departments. Between the borders of
this fence the data flow is not affected, but data can not cross the
fence. A fence has a gate, and of course TbFence also offers you one.
You may setup one workstation as a 'gateway' station. This gateway
station can be used to import or export diskettes, of course under your
control and after examination of the contents of the diskette!
How does it work?
TbFence is actually a transparent data encryption/decryption mechanism.
Once you have installed TbFence, all data going to the diskette drive
will be encrypted automatically, and all data read from the diskette
drive will be decrypted as well. This background encryption and/or
decryption is completely transparent to the user. If you don't tell the
user, he will not even notice that something has been changed, until he
tries to insert his unauthorized game diskette. TbFence will simply
refuse to read from or write to this diskette. If the user copies
information to a diskette, this diskette can be read on other machines
equipped with TbFence, but when he tries to read the diskette at home,
he will find out that it is impossible to read it. He is however still
able to share the TbFenced diskettes with other employees of the compa-
ny.
+-----------------------------+
| # | #
| # TbFenced machines # | # The 'outside' world
| |
| #
| # # |\gateway station
| # |
| # # | #
| |
+-----------------------------+
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
All machines between the TbFence borders can share diskettes, but to
export diskettes to the 'outside' world, the diskettes have to pass
through the 'gateway' station where they can be examined before allowing
the conversion. The same applies to the import of diskettes. No diskette
can enter the area within the 'fence' without autohorization by the
gateway.
Some questions
By now some questions have probably entered your mind. Hopefully they
will be answered by the sample questions listed below.
Q: How can I import or export diskettes?
A: The supervisor can temporarily override the settings of TbFence and
allow it to use normal disks. You can also setup a permanent
gateway station which can be used to convert diskettes, of course
under control of the supervisor!
Q: Are my employees able to remove TbFence?
A: TbFence is installed on the master boot record of your hard disk.
When you install TbFence you have to enter a password. You need to
know this password when you want to remove TbFence. Low level disk
utilities can not be used to remove TbFence.
Q: What if the user boots from a non-authorized diskette?
A: TbFence hides the partition information of your hard disk. If you
boot from an unauthorized diskette the partition information is not
available and the user is not able to access the hard disk.
Q: What if I need to reboot from a diskette?
A: You can reboot from a diskette if this diskette has been converted
by TbFence, or when this diskette has been created on a TbFence
machine. When you boot from such a diskette, the hard disk will be
available, and the installed configuration of TbFence will still be
applied, as if the user booted from the hard disk. So, if the user
is normally not allowed to read normal diskettes, he is still not
able to do so after a diskette boot. Remember, TbFence is complete-
ly transparent to the user!
Q: What if my employees install TbFence at their machines at home?
A: The password you need to enter when you install TbFence is also
used as an encryption key. This means that if the employees do not
install TbFence with the same password as the TbFence on the compa-
ny's PC, they still can't use the diskettes.
Q: Once installed, can I remove TbFence from my system after the
evaluation?
A: Sure. You can remove TbFence from your system, leaving no trace, if
you enter the correct password.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
Q: What problems can I expect when using TbFence?
A: Unlike some other 'Fence' products, TbFence has been implemented as
very low level system software and works independent of the opera-
ting system. Therefore TbFence is not affected at all by software
like Windows, disk doublers, etc. It is very unlikely that you will
ever encounter problems when using TbFence.
Q: How does TbFence affect the performance of the machines?
A: The encryption mechanism of TbFence performs very fast. You will
probably not notice any decrease of speed. Also the memory require-
ments of TbFence are very small: just 1000 bytes!
Quick initial installation
1) Make sure you have a recent backup of your system.
2) Run TbFence and select 'Install' in the main menu. It is recommen-
ded to setup a gateway station first, so select 'Gateway' in the
installation menu. Enter a password when TbFence prompts you to do
so. Make sure you don't forget this password as you will need it
again when you want to remove TbFence from your system.
3) Reboot the system
TbFence demonstration
1) TbFence is now active! Since the machine has been setup as a
gateway station you are still able to read from and write to normal
diskettes.
2) Take a formatted diskette and copy some files on it. Now startup
the TbFence program and select 'Encrypt diskette'. After the
conversion is completed return to DOS. Now use any DOS command you
like, the diskette can still be used as usual. However, if you put
this diskette into another machine without TbFence, you will see
that it can't read that diskette.
3) Make a copy of your bootable system diskette and convert it as
described above.
4) Now take another machine and install TbFence on it. Select 'crypto'
in the installation menu. Enter the same password as you did on the
'gateway' machine. Reboot the system from the hard disk when the
installation has been completed.
5) This machine is now a 'crypto' workstation, and it can only read
from and write to encrypted diskettes. Put a normal diskette and an
encrypted diskette into the drive: the encrypted bootable diskette
will be readable, but the normal disks will not!
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
6) Put a 'normal' system diskette into the machine and reboot. You
will see that the harddisk can not be accessed after the reboot.
7) Put the encrypted system diskette into the machine and reboot
again. You are now able to access the harddisk. You can still read
encrypted diskettes and you have still no access to 'normal' ones.
8) If you are satisfied with the results you may want to register
TbFence and install it on all your workstations. If you want to
remove TbFence from your system, just run TbFence again and select
'Remove'.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
USAGE OF TBFENCE
System requirements
TbFence can be used on any machine with one or more diskette drives and
a hard disk. There are no special system requirements. TbFence is
compatible with Windows and disk doubler software. TbFence allocates one
Kb of memory.
Predefined configurations
When you install TbFence on a system you can choose between five prede-
fined configurations:
Normal disks Encrypted disks
read write boot read write boot
---- ----- ---- ---- ----- ----
Secure No No No Yes No Yes
Reader Yes No No Yes No Yes
Crypto No No No Yes Yes Yes
Importer Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Gateway Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Secure
A machine configured as a 'secure' workstation can only read encrypted
diskettes, and it can not write at all. If you don't want the user of
the machine to use unautorized diskettes, and you want to be absolutely
sure that no data can be exported from this system, you can configure it
as a 'secure' workstation.
Reader
A machine configured as a 'reader' can read any diskettes, but never
write. If you don't care what users put into their machines as long as
they can not export information the 'reader' configuration might be what
you are looking for.
Crypto
This is very likely the configuration you are going to install on most
of the workstations. Machines configured as a 'Crypto' workstation can
read from and write to encrypted diskettes, but they can't do anything
at all with normal diskettes. If you use this configuration you do not
affect the flow of data within your company, but you don't take the
risks that people may introduce viruses or other malicious software, and
you don't take the risk that confidential information will escape from
the site.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
Importer
A machine configured as an 'Importer' is almost the same as a 'Crypto'
workstation, but it is also able to read normal diskettes. An 'importer'
machine is able to import information from outside the 'fence', but can
still not be used to export information from within the 'fence' to the
outside world. You don't have to perform special actions to switch
between reading normal diskettes and encrypted diskettes: TbFence will
automatically sense the diskette type and act accordingly.
Gateway
This configuration is intended for the supervisor. A 'gateway' station
can read and write any diskette type, and diskettes can be converted in
either direction. TbFence will of course automatically sense the type of
diskette and act accordingly. This means that if you put an encrypted
diskette into the drive TbFence will always write to this diskette with
the encryptor enabled, and if you put a normal diskette into the drive
the encryptor will be disabled automatically.
Program invocation
TbFence can be used either as a command line utility or menu driven. If
you enter TbFence without command line options it will popup a menu
shell. All command line options have corresponding menu items. You will
probably prefer the menu shell of TbFence. The command line options are
handy when you want to automate some TbFence actions in batch files.
For an overview of command line options type:
TbFence /help
Installation
Make sure you have a recent backup of your system. Invoke TbFence.
Select 'Install TbFence' in the main menu. Select one of the five
different types of workstations: 'Gateway', 'Importer', 'Crypto',
'Reader', 'Secure'. You can mix all configurations as long as you use
the same installation password on every machine. TbFence will also ask
you for a group name. You can enter anything you like, the groupname is
not used by TbFence, but you may use it to identify the machine in case
you want to setup separate "fence area's" in your organizations.
Enter a password when TbFence prompts for it. You should use the same
password on every machine within the 'fence'. Make a record of the
password. You don't need the password anymore until you want to remove
TbFence or change the configuration. When ready TbFence asks you to
reboot. If you have a disk cache active with deferred writes, wait a few
seconds to make sure the cache flushes before pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
Note: if you need to install TbFence on many machines, you will probably
want to make a diskette with a batch file that uses the command line
options of TbFence to automate the installation process.
For more information type:
TbFence /help
Command line example:
TbFence crypto password=secret
This installs a crypto workstation with password 'secret'. If your
password contains spaces you need to put the password between double
quotes: password="this is secret".
De-installation
Make sure you have a recent backup of your system. Invoke TbFence.
Select 'Remove TbFence' in the main menu. You have to enter the same
password as when you installed TbFence. When ready TbFence asks you to
reboot. If you have a disk cache active with deferred writes, wait a few
seconds to make sure the cache flushes before pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Note: if you need to remove TbFence from many machines, you will proba-
bly want to make a diskette with a batch file that uses the command line
options of TbFence to automate the de-installation process.
For more information type:
TbFence /help
Command line example:
TbFence remove password=secret
If your password contains spaces you need to put the password between
double quotes: password="this is secret".
Status of diskette
TbFence is transparant to the user. This is probably exactly what you
want, but it makes it also difficult to keep track which diskettes are
encrypted and which not. If you select this option TbFence will tell you
what kind of diskette is in the specified drive.
Note: if you need to know inside a batch file whether a diskette is
encrypted or not, you can use the 'query' command line option. You can
test for the result using the DOS 'errorlevel' command. See also section
'Exit codes' of this manual.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
Encrypt a diskette
This option is of course only available on machines configured as
'importer' or 'gateway'. If you select this option TbFence will encrypt
the diskette in the specified drive.
Note: if you need to encrypt many diskettes you may want to create a
batch file for this purpose. See also the example 'Encrypt.Bat' file in
your TbFence directory.
Decrypt a diskette
This option is of course only available on machines configured as a
'gateway'. If you select this option TbFence will decrypt the diskette
in the specified drive.
Options menu
If you select this menu item you will go to the TbFence 'options menu'.
In this menu you can read the TbFence documentation and consult the list
of TbFence agents. The two other options are listed below:
Format to normal
This option is only available on 'gateway' stations. By default, if you
format a diskette on a TbFence machine, the diskette will be encrypted
automatically. If you want to format a normal diskette you have to
toggle this option. This option will be reset to its default value when
you reboot the system.
Setup temporary gateway
If you want to temporarily override the configuration of a TbFence work-
station, you can use this option. Of course you need to enter the
correct password! Once you have selected this option the machine will
act as a gateway station until the next reboot. Now you can import new
software or export data without the need to convert the disks first.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Formatting diskettes
If you format diskettes on a TbFence workstation they will be encrypted
automatically. On a 'gateway' station you are allowed to override this
default setting.
Bootable diskettes
Normal bootable diskettes can no longer be used to boot TbFence worksta-
tions, except for gateway stations. For maintenance reasons however it
would be a good idea to create TbFence bootable diskettes. There are two
ways to create a TbFence bootable diskette:
1) Convert an existing bootable diskette using the 'Encrypt' option of
TbFence.
2) Format a diskette on a TbFence workstation and use the DOS command
'SYS A:' to make the diskette bootable.
The TbFence bootable diskette will now automatically load TbFence before
passing control to the operating system. Once booted, the machine will
behave as intended, so a 'Crypto' workstation will act as such, and a
'Secure' workstation is still not allowed to write to diskettes.
Note: You can not use a TbFence bootable diskette to boot a machine
without TbFence, as this would allow the 'foreign' machine to read the
diskette.
The TbFence.Sys device driver
Normally you do not need the TbFence.Sys device driver. You will only
need it when you use an ASPI driver as supplied by Adaptec. Put the
following line in your Config.Sys file AFTER the ASPI driver invocation:
Device=c:\tbfence\tbfence.sys
Viruses and Anti-Virus products
Viruses
While using TbFence you have a good protection against computer viruses,
as it is no longer possible for employees to introduce unauthorized
software to the company's PCs. However, even the supervisor may make
mistakes and introduce a virus into the system. If you have a file virus
on your system, you should act as explained in the manual of your anti-
virus package.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
Bootsector viruses can still be introduced in the system. Although most
employees will no longer introduces diskette to the company (as they
know that their home diskettes can not be used anymore) it is of course
still possible that a diskette contains a bootsector virus.
Should a TbFence workstation get infected by a bootsector virus, try to
boot from a TbFence bootable diskette. If this works, follow the clea-
ning guidelines of your anti-virus product. However, should the TbFence
loader report that the system is probably infected, it will refuse to
boot. In this case the virus has written itself in front of the TbSetup
loader. Boot the TbFence workstation from a NORMAL bootable disk (regar-
dless of the TbFence configuration). Of course the hard disk is now not
accessable, but this doesn't matter. Now clean the system as explained
in the manual of your anti-virus product. After a reboot the system
should work as usual.
Anti-Virus products
Due to the nature of TbFence, some anti-virus products may treat the
TbFence loader as a virus. Contact your anti-virus vendor for support.
Although most anti-virus products will behave correctly on a TbFence
system, we recommend to use Thunderbyte Anti-Virus, as this anti-virus
product is developed by us too, and therefore guaranteed to work in
cooperation with TbFence. Please consult your TbFence vendor for more
information.
The encryption scheme
As TbFence is designed as a transparant filter against unauthorized
diskette transport within a company, it is not intended to be used as a
data encryption tool against company spies. If you want to encrypt very
confidential information you should not rely on the TbFence encryption
alone, but use an adequate DES encryption scheme too.
By default, TbFence will only encrypt the system areas of a diskette. If
you want to use a full encryption scheme you can force TbFence to
encrypt the complete diskette by using an asterisk (*) as the first
character of the password. Keep in mind that in this case conversion of
the disks will consume much more time. The resulting encryption scheme
however will still not have the same degree of protection as a DES based
encryption algorithm.
Exit codes
In command line mode TbFence exits with an exit code. You can use this
exit code in batch files by using the errorlevel command. Consult the
example Convert.Bat file for a detailed example.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
Only command line options 'encrypt', 'decrypt', and 'query' supply an
exit code.
query
1 The diskette is not encrypted
2 The diskette is encrypted
3 The diskette is encrypted but with another password
10 A disk read error occured
encrypt/decrypt
1 The diskette was already decrypted
2 The diskette was already encrypted
3 The diskette was encrypted with another password
10 A disk read error occured
11 A disk write error occured
12 The diskette format is not compatible and can not be converted
255 TbFence not activated. Conversion aborted.
Error messages
While booting
This is not a TbFence machine! You tried to boot from a TbFence
bootable diskette on a system without
TbFence.
Non system disk! The diskette is not bootable. Use the
DOS SYS command to make the diskette
bootable.
Security check failed! The security check of the TbFence
loader failed. The system might be
infected by a bootsector virus. Use
an anti-virus product to find out.
Unregistered evaluation version! You are using the evaluation version
of TbFence. Once you have registered
TbFence this message will not appear
anymore.
While installing TbFence
Incompatible disk layout! Your disk has probably been partitio-
ned by a DOS version below 3.0. Back-
up your data, re-partition your sy-
stem with a more recent DOS version,
and restore the backup. Now you
should be able to use TbFence.
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TbFence user manual (C) Copyright 1993 Thunderbyte B.V.
While using the TbFence program
Error: TbFence not activated! You have configured the machine as a
gateway station and you booted from a
normal DOS diskette. If this is true,
reboot from a TbFence bootable dis-
kette, or reboot from the harddisk.
If the above is not true, you might
need to use the TbFence.Sys driver.
Check the 'TbFence.Sys' section in
this manual for more information.
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