ATLOCK Uses Windows NTFS ACLs for File Protection Instead of Encryption

A developer building ATLOCK, a Windows security tool, chose NTFS Access Control Lists over encryption to protect files, arguing that access control and encryption solve fundamentally different problems. File Guard leverages Windows' native permission system to restrict which identities can interact with protected files, keeping them unchanged on disk. The Password Vault, however, uses Fernet encryption with AES-128-CBC and HMAC-SHA256, with keys derived via PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, since confidentiality of stored credentials demands a different approach. ATLOCK also includes an Intruder Ops module that captures webcam images on unauthorized access attempts, designed as an asynchronous workflow to avoid freezing the UI during camera initialization. The developer describes the project as a security engineering experiment focused on matching the right protection mechanism to each specific threat.