Hi, I'm thinking to do the disk partition encryptions now. However
"Hard drive encryption sounds like an intimating concept, mostly because it is. The thought of taking your precious files, then using a mathematical formula to convert them into random noise before scattering them back across your disk is a hard sell. " [1] 1. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/ how_to_encrypt_your_entire_hard_drive_for_free_using_true_crypt So I need some demystify of the whole thing around disk/partition encryption. The official "Disk Encryption HOWTO" from tldp.org [2] is only dated as 2004-11-17, so I would assume it is *way* outdated. In terms of security, I tend to turn to people that I trust for help. Having tldp.org failed on me, I need your help, people from the Debian community, instead of some random blogs found on the Internet. 2. http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/Disk-Encryption-HOWTO/ also, Linux Encryption HOWTO http://encryptionhowto.sourceforge.net/Encryption-HOWTO.html v0.2.2, 04 October 2000 Here are my questions, - First very noob question, I don't want whole disk encryption, just want to encrypt some selected already partitioned partitions. If someone mount those encrypted partitions, will they shows up as empty or, there are some hints that the partitions have been encrypted? - The Ubuntu [3] and CentOS [4] seems to endorse dm-crypt, instead of (widely-used?) cryptsetup-luks. So I need a bit of explanation which is better than others. 3. http://www.humboldt.edu/its/security-encryption-linuxubuntu 4. http://beginlinux.com/blog/2009/04/centos-53-encrypted-block-devices/ - In terms of encryption used, TrueCrypt supports the following encryption algorithms: AES, Serpent, Twofish, AES-Twofish, AES-Twofish- Serpent, Serpent-AES, Serpent-Twofish-AES, Twofish-Serpent; And these hash algorithms: RIPEMD-160, SHA-512 & Whirlpool [5] 5. http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1276279 So I need a bit of explanation why your chosen algorithm is better than others. Very very brief will do. - Is your partition encryption choice as cross-platform as TrueCrypt? - If I put the encrypted partitions in fstab, then I have to enter passphrase for each one of them when PC boot up, I guess. Will the whole boot up be hold up waiting for encrypted partitions passphrases? - Since I need to encrypt more than one selected partitions, if I want to mount encrypted partitions manually, is there any alternative way than to typing in passphrase for each one of them when mounting them? - how passphrase are cached? Do I have to repeatedly typing in passphrase each time I do the mount? I also heard of passphrase-less disk encryptions. Hmm... I don't want to go there so maybe I can skip that. BTW, I just need a mini intro about disk encryption, it does not need to be in-depth or comprehensive but rather short and to the point. Thanks a lot. -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/ihobsl$pt9$1...@dough.gmane.org
