Sales figures, strategy papers, payrolls and private records, pictures, account data, and passwords do not belong in the wrong hands. This article shows where encryption is necessary and how it is best implemented.
Encryption is technically not a problem at all. There are several reliable methods under Linux for protecting individual files, dynamically growing folders, or even entire partitions. Encryption always means increased complexity and costs a bit of discipline and loss of convenience. It is therefore important to encrypt appropriately, where it is really necessary, and using the method that requires the least amount of effort.
Enc FS: encrypted folders locally and mobile
The easiest way to protect data on a mobile data carrier such as a USB stick or a notebook hard drive is with EncFS (Encrypted File System). Enc FS is more convenient than encrypting files individually for larger amounts of data, and it is more dynamic than the volume method of Truecrypt / Veracrypt, where you have to specify a fixed size when creating the encrypted volume. Truecrypt / Veracrypt should continue to play a bigger role where the exchange of encrypted data between Linux and Windows computers is in the foreground.
Enc FS is the better choice for Linux and Android users only (Android app Encdroid ). Enc FS is also compatible with Mac OS X; Enc FS only runs poorly on Windows systems. Enc FS can be used on any external data carrier without worrying about the file system there: Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, FAT, FAT32, NTFS – everything is possible.
The free Android app is fully compatible with Enc-FS folders that have been encrypted on Linux.
The free Android app is fully compatible with Enc-FS folders that have been encrypted on Linux.
Installation and setup: Enc FS is usually not preinstalled, but it can be found in the repositories of all major Linux distributions. Install it with Ubuntu or Linux Mint
sudo apt-get install encfs
or via the software center. Then you can get started right away.
In principle, Enc FS can be completely controlled and used via the command line. This has some advantages (see below), but we will first describe the many uses preferred graphical tool Cryptkeeper. Even this little tool is not a standard and must under Debian / Ubuntu / Mint only with
sudo apt-get install cryptkeeper
can be installed later.
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