Full Disk encryption and Linux Mint 13

[mfluder]

Has anyone out there figured out a way to fully encrypt system drive with Linux Mint 13? Truecrypt is fine, but is lacking in this area. It will only fully encrypt a Windows system drive, not Linux. Are there any apps in the software center that can accomplish this? Also, I am looking for 'on the fly' encryption. The new 'encrypt on boot' featured in Ubuntu 12.10 does nothing for me as my partition is already installed. (And no. There is no way that I am going to reinstall Mint 13.)

[DrHu]

FDE (Full Disk Encryption) is already on-the-fly encrypt/decrypt as per its operation--
http://www.stealth-x.com/articles/the-p ... -full-disk encryption.php
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/mobile-s ... ption.html
..the usual misinterpretations and drawbacks -->

As the name suggests, FDE solutions work by encrypting a system's entire hard drive – including the operating system and all applications and data stored on it. When the system is started, the user is prompted for the encryption key, which enables the system to boot and run normally. As information is read from the disk, it is decrypted on the fly and stored in memory – and any information written to the disk is also encrypted on the fly. Without the encryption key, the data stored on the disk remains inaccessible to thieves and hackers.

One drawback of FDE is that it does nothing to protect files "in motion." Once a file is sent via email or copied to a memory stick, it is no longer encrypted. For that reason, you may want to consider deploying FLE in conjunction with FDE, so that users have the option to manually encrypt files that need to be shared with others.

So for sharing files, there are obviously drawbacks to that process.

I hope you aren't simply falling for marketing ploys in believing FDE is somehow always protecting your system and its data..

• I actually don't get the value of FDE, since my data is more important than the OS files, presuming I am the admin and have some kind off recovery/backup/archiving procedures in place for the inevitable accidents..
• Encryption obviously complicates this..

I guess you try to rearrange your hard drive into lvm (logical Volume manager) groups and encrypt those spaces
--that is fedora's approach, but again easier on an install rather than after the fact; as you said for Ubuntu's partial FDE on boot..
I don't think you will be able to get any kind of FDE without touching your partition in some way: either shrinking to create an encrypted partition and copying your installation over or ??somehow otherwise
https://code.google.com/p/cryptsetup/wiki/DMCrypt
--going through something like this.

[mfluder]

hello. Thanks for your reply. The first link you sent me 404'd. The second link is interesting, but only offers non-free software. Is there anything in the software repository that I could install quickly? I don't mind using the terminal, but would prefer a graphical interface like truecrypt if possible for this operation. The reason for this is that I am constantly imaging and reimaging my system drives. Therefore, I need a quick and easy way to decrypt on the fly.

[mfluder]

Oh, I should add. I am well aware of how FDE works. I am not interested in protecting my system drive contents with encryption once the drive is booted and mounted. My concern is that someone can physically remove the drive from my machine without my knowledge and mount it somewhere else to get the contents. I work in a business environment and I need to prevent this. BTW, I am the only user running GNU/Linux here.

[mfluder]

Is there anybody out there that can help me with this? I keep searching online, but cannot find a single FDE solution for GNU/Linux. This is a serious strike against GNU/Linux adoption in the workplace. How can I justify dumping Windows without this capability? Someone please help.

[DrHu]

Search gets..
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FullD ... ptionHowto
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/344
--Mint forums, full-disk-encryption..

[mfluder]

Can I get a real response instead of Dr.Hu sending me dead links or stuff that I have read a hundred times. Once again, I would like a graphical alternative similar to Truecrypt. I need a COMPLETE FULL SYSTEM DISK ENCRYPTION solution. I need to encrypt and decrypt on the fly, usually from an offline enviroment such as parted magic. I cannot believe that no one besides the doctor will respond to me. I have a serious security issue here because my Linux system partition at work is not encrypted. Can someone PLEASE help me! I just need to know if such a solution exists that will meet my needs.

1.GRAPHICAL NOT COMMAND LINE!
2 FULL SYSTEM DISK ENCRYPTION
3. ON THE FLY ENCRYPT AND DECRYPT