Desktop app that will encrypt string that I can copy and paste

Question

Does anyone know of a desktop application that will allow me to type/paste a string, the string is encrypted, I can then copy and paste it somewhere else, e.g., email, IM. The person on the other end, and I, would have a pre-shared password. They can use that password to decrypt the string using the same software.

Ideally this software is for Mac OS X. However, I can possibly work with Linux, scripts, Windows, etc. I'm not likely to use a web app or browser plug-in.

Answer 1

You could use a custom 'workflow' with Alfred for OSX.

I haven't tested it, but this blog post looks like what you want.

For more ideas about what Alfred can do, check out https://github.com/zenorocha/alfred-workflows

Answer 2

You can use openssl:

$  openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -a -in <(printf %s 'text to encrypt')
enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
Verifying - enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
U2FsdGVkX1/Tz3HOSTTHE/cZlb05EwFv8sKQ1Bhe0yQ=
$ echo U2FsdGVkX1/Tz3HOSTTHE/cZlb05EwFv8sKQ1Bhe0yQ= > temp.enc
$ openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -a -in temp.enc
enter aes-256-cbc decryption password:
text to encrypt$ 

Prefixing the first command with a space tells the shell not to save the command to a history list. -a uses Base64.

Encrypting and decrypting files:

openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -a -in file -out file.enc
openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -a -in file.enc -out file

Answer 3

You can use PGP (available on all platform) and since you mentioned email, you can set up private key on both end (either the same or different private key), and use your public key to encrypt your email, and your private key to decrypt and read the email.

The 2 options you can do: 1 Private Key shared between the two of you - not recommended but doable.

2 individual private key, and you both simply sharing public keys (you have each other's public key)

Hope this helps.