Encrypt

Rodolfo J. Paiz rpaiz at simpaticus.com
Thu Sep 23 18:05:07 UTC 2004


On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 19:01, Michael Hart wrote:
> I have a couple of  partitioned encrypted with device mapper and the 2.6 
> kernel encrypting file system. I may be wrong but i do not think it can 
> encrypt an entire hard disk but only the individual partitions in the 
> hard disk.  The partition information is still not encrypted.  It 
> appears to be to me (as a mere user) simply an enryption layer 
> underneath a normal file system.
> 

Let me see if I understand this: by encrypting /home (for example), the
filesystem on that partition will be securely encrypted and thus the
information will be inaccessible if the hard disk is analyzed. This is
good if the hard disk is removed from the computer.

But what happens if the computer is stolen and turned on? Does the boot
process automatically mount and enable access to the partition? Does the
partition only get accessed when someone logs in?

Any docs I can read on this? I'd *VERY MUCH* like to encrypt /home.

Cheers,

-- 
Rodolfo J. Paiz <rpaiz at simpaticus.com>
Simpaticus.com





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