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Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 11:27 am
by Atlantian
I wonder, if someone gains access to my hard drive (HDD) physically or remotely, could he be able to view my files on some other computer, server etc?
If it is even slightly possible, how should I protect my HDD? I do know about some encryption software, but unfortunately it is not designed for Linux Mint 12 and other distros.
How to get it done without big risk? Any ideas?
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 5:05 pm
by xenopeek
[Moved here by moderator]
If you have not selected during installation to have an encrypted home folder, then yes. If somebody has physical access to your hard disk they can view all your files (talking about somebody at least somewhat computer savvy, unless you don't require a password to login to your computer ... then anybody with physical access to your computer can view your files).
Can somebody remotely access your hard disk? Not unless you are running some services (like a web server or remote desktop server), and those have unpatched security holes or you have set them up with weak passwords or weak security. However, normally the firewall in your broadband modem blocks all unsolicited traffic to your computer, unless you have configured it to allow traffic to your computer's services. You may add a firewall on your computer as an extra layer of defence, which again will block all such traffic unless you explicitly allow it. To do so, open the Firewall Configuration from the menu, unlock it (little lock icon in bottom right) and drag Status to On. Boom! You are protected
If you are planning to install Linux Mint 13, I'd just wait and when setting up the user account during installation of Linux Mint 13, checkmark to have an encrypted home folder. You can encrypt your home folder after installation, but it will take some work on the terminal:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/encrypt-ho ... ion-linux/ (On Gnome 2 it used to be easy to add a user with an encrypted home folder, but for whatever political reason, the Gnome 3 and/or Ubuntu developers have removed the ability to do that from the add user dialog
)
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 11:53 am
by Atlantian
It's shame they removed it from the "inside" as a dialog, since at the very beginning most users like me, that is newbies
weren't sure if and what to switch on or off. I will try from the console if possible. Stay tuned. Thanks.
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 1:44 pm
by realitykid
I remember I used to be able to download and use TrueCrypt from the Ubuntu repos. What happened to that? Now I can't find it.
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 2:47 pm
by 900i
Truecrypt is still available from
http://www.truecrypt.org/
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 2:58 pm
by realitykid
Ya, I know that. But, I don't like mucking up my system with stuff that's not found in the default repositories. I've got a couple third party repositories but that's it.
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 12:18 pm
by Atlantian
xenopeek wrote:[Moved here by moderator]
If you have not selected during installation to have an encrypted home folder, then yes. If somebody has physical access to your hard disk they can view all your files (talking about somebody at least somewhat computer savvy, unless you don't require a password to login to your computer ... then anybody with physical access to your computer can view your files).
Can somebody remotely access your hard disk? Not unless you are running some services (like a web server or remote desktop server), and those have unpatched security holes or you have set them up with weak passwords or weak security. However, normally the firewall in your broadband modem blocks all unsolicited traffic to your computer, unless you have configured it to allow traffic to your computer's services. You may add a firewall on your computer as an extra layer of defence, which again will block all such traffic unless you explicitly allow it. To do so, open the Firewall Configuration from the menu, unlock it (little lock icon in bottom right) and drag Status to On. Boom! You are protected
If you are planning to install Linux Mint 13, I'd just wait and when setting up the user account during installation of Linux Mint 13, checkmark to have an encrypted home folder. You can encrypt your home folder after installation, but it will take some work on the terminal:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/encrypt-ho ... ion-linux/ (On Gnome 2 it used to be easy to add a user with an encrypted home folder, but for whatever political reason, the Gnome 3 and/or Ubuntu developers have removed the ability to do that from the add user dialog
)
I have a problem I couldn't resolve based on the website you showed me. Sudo is better than su, since it makes me as root, but I cannot launch encrypt as root after creating new user let's say test with root privileges and after restarting I get this:
Code: Select all
neo@neo ~ $ sudo ecryptfs-migrate neo
[sudo] password for neo:
sudo: ecryptfs-migrate: command not found
neo@neo ~ $ sudo ecryptfs-migrate-home –u neo
Usage:
/usr/bin/ecryptfs-migrate-home -u USER
-u,--user Migrate USER's home directory to an encrypted home directory
WARNING: Make a complete backup copy of the non-encrypted data to
another system or external media. This script is dangerous and, in
case of an error, could result in data lost, or lock you out of your
system!
This program must be executed by root.
neo@neo ~ $
Did I miss something? What did I wrong? Something trivial?
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:20 am
by Atlantian
Still cannot solve the problem with console errors. Anyone?
Re: Encrypting Linux Mint 12 vs my HDD is vulnerable?
Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:30 pm
by realitykid
Atlantian wrote:Still cannot solve the problem with console errors. Anyone?
Have you tried using the "su" command? Try doing that, and then inputting the command. When you do this, make sure that you have a little more than half of your hard drive capacity free. It took me awhile to get it working right because I had to delete a lot of stuff that I don't need in order to free up space.