Ubuntu Security :: Encrypting / Home Partition Without Reinstalling?
Jun 12, 2011
I have Kubuntu 11.04 64-bit installed (software upgrade from 10.10) and I have a separate /home partition. I want to encrypt my /home partition (and perhaps the swap partition as well) but I don't want to have to reinstall Kubuntu. (Mostly because it was a software upgrade and I don't have an 11.04 disc.) I found a tutorial for Encryptfs via one of the stickies that mentions post-install migration, but it says that using Encryptfs on a separate /home partition is more complicated than if it were part of the root partition and that the CDs don't have any software to preserve and configure existing encrypted /home partitions. (Granted this tutorial is made for 9.04, so things may have changed.)
Also, this tutorial makes it sound like if you have your /home directory encrypted that the encrypted data is stored in a folder on the root partition. Is it done the same way if the /home directory is on its own partition? Because I don't think my root partition is large enough to have all of my /home data. (I purposely kept it small because the root partition doesn't seem to get very large.)
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Mar 15, 2010
I have a /home partition at /dev/sda3 and I am currently in Gparted. I wanted to know if I am supposed to re-identify it somehow when I re-install ubuntu on /dev/sda2.
It seems to me that it would try and create a new home directory on /dev/sda2 unless I tell it otherwise. Is this correct? I just want to make sure I don't do two things...
1. End up with 2 home directories
2. Delete my existing home directory at /dev/sda3 (with my files)
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Aug 10, 2011
I would like to encrypt my swap partition ...During installation, I tried to select the "encrypt partition" choice, but it needed a passphrase.After installation, I tried to encrypt my partition ... I followed this article: The problem is that my swap partition always changes its path ...When I first booted the system, it was /dev/sda10, next it became /dev/sdc10, now it is /dev/sdb10. This is probably the reason why in fstab all entries are according to UUID.However, the swap partition is not fond of UUIDs ! I tried to mkswap /dev/<current swap partition> -L Swap, I received a UUID, puted it in /etc/crypttab ... it worked for the first time ... but the second time... did not.
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Jan 20, 2010
Compiz settings, my entire GUI would freeze up after the startup splash. It did the little ubuntu jingle and so on but wouldn't actually load up the desktop. I would've booted into recovery mode and deleted the settings that were messing it all up for me, but pressing ESC during grub did nothing! So as a last effort I reinstalled Ubuntu (Karmic) from the live CD on the first partition only, but I don't know how to make the second partition (with my old /home directory) the normal /home directory. The instructions linked above seem to require having done the whole process of moving the partition (so as to create "old" and "new" dirs, etc.).
So there are really two problems here: 1) How does one restore things to normal when a few too many cheeky moves with the desktop effects turns everything to pot? And 2) How does one reinstall Ubuntu with a separate /home partitions
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Mar 9, 2011
Has anyone tried encrypting the boot partition to prevent the kernel from being modified. Iv tried following this but I'm running into issues when building. [URL] Im using the source from bzr checkout [URL] Last time I tried I screwed grub and it wouldnt boot.
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Dec 19, 2010
In my opinion there should be a tool installed in Ubuntu by default which lets the user easily encrypt his home folder. One is given the option in the installed, but if one decides to encrypt his folders afterwards that's quite hard to achieve.
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Sep 29, 2010
I'd like to reinstall openSUSE 11.3 on a pc and would like to preserve the /home partition. The current partiton structure is
sda1 /boot
sda2 /swap
sda3 /extended partition
sda4 /
sda5 /home
When the installer gets to the point to set up the partitions it offers something like
sda1 /
sda2 /swap
sda3 /home
I'm not sure which option to take now. I assume I choose the option to edit the partitions but I'm not clear how to preserve the /home as it's now got a different partition number or does that no matter as long as I choose not to format it? Also, to replicate the original partition structure I'd need to delete the partitions and add them in the correct order but would that destroy the /home?I'm a bit confused with how it will work.
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Nov 10, 2010
I did a fresh Maverick install with custom partition layout and didn't select "encrypt home parition" as my home partition was being saved from previous installation.Now, is there a guide I could follow to encrypt my home partition the same way Maverick would do? I just want to avoid screwing my system in the next upgrade if encrypting methods differ.
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Jun 20, 2011
I saw this[URL]If your home folder is encrypted, will this work?I am just trying to prevent something like that from happening.
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Dec 2, 2009
I've changed my distro from Kubuntu to Opensuse with Kde and I really like the new one.
Kde look better on opensuse as well as firefox seems to run faster. But I miss a feature I had on Kubuntu that is the encryption of my home folder (And it is essential as I want to install Opensuse on my notebook).
I would like to know if it is possible and, if it is, how to encrypt my system in order to keep all my personal data and stored passwords safe in case of someone have access to my notebook.
I liked opensuse a lot but this is the only thing that is keeping me from a complete distro change.
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Apr 26, 2010
While setting up my laptop on a new hard drive (a bad mobo caused writes which pretty much rendered teh old hdd unusable) I was asked if I wanted to encrypt my home partition.
I've been wanting this for several years - even going as far as trying to get a copy of CheckPoint. That's waht my organization uses on all Wintendo laptops and is required.
In any case, I said "yes" and am happily using my laptop with an encrypted home partition. I'm assuming based on this - [URL] - that it is using EncryptFS as the scheme.
if I were to misplace my laptop, how easy would it be for a forensics team to retrieve my data. Let's assume I have a fairly strong passphrase, such as BisZumBitterenEnd3. [URL]
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May 3, 2010
I had some major problems after the recent Ubuntu upgrade and had to boot from a live cd. I have a separate /home partition, but it was encrypted using the default install encryption in the 9.10 install cd. How can I get to my files so I can back them up?
I have tried this but it did not work: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1337693
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May 6, 2009
I am looking into encrypting some data on a Fedora samba server. I'm not entirely sure the best way to do this. The server is currently running Fedora 5 but it can be updated if necessary.
I would prefer if the server could be booted up and that no interaction at the server itself have to be done so that users can access their shares.
Is there a way for the data to be encrypted on the server but when the user access the share over samba that it can be accessed?
The research i have done so far seems to point towards methods more intended for a desktop setup. Such as entering passwords at bootup or when opening folders.
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Oct 29, 2010
I have an Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS server that I set up a while back and I am considering encrypting the whole box. I store everything on the server and if it were stolen from a home robbery it could be quite devastating. The server is using two 750 GB SATA hard drives formatted with LVM. Inside the LVM I have a small partition on the first drive for the OS, SWAP, and everything else on the first and second drive is /var/media which is where I store all the data. I have set up an encrypted LVM on my laptop but that was during the install using the automatic method.
I can't figure out how to do what I want to do and I don't want to risk destroying the data on the server. What I would like is to non-destructively encrypt the server (System, SWAP, and DATA partitions) similar to how TrueCrypt works on Windows and I'd like the encryption key to be stored on a USB thumb drive so when the server boots it requires a hardware key. (And have the encryption key backed up online in case the flash drive dies.) And I'd like to use AES 256.
Code:
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Apr 11, 2010
What are the steps I must take to move my existing home folder to a separate, encrypted partition? Can I create this partition without damaging my current partition? Where is a trusted location to download App Armor profiles? What else can I do to harden the security of Ubuntu?
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Jun 10, 2010
why the following doesn't work with ext3 or 4?
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/tmp/container.bin bs=1024 count=20000
sudo losetup /dev/loop2 /tmp/container.bin
sudo cryptsetup -c aes -s 256 --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/loop2[code].........
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Jun 24, 2010
We use a squid proxy server for all http traffic. Is there any way to configure squid so that all traffic which squid and workstation communicates is SSL and encrypted ?
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Mar 6, 2010
I currently have my home folder encrypted with 128 bit encfs but i have the back up of that 'in the clear' on my back up hard drive. I am not that great with complicated instructions and especially the terminal so what if any is the easiest program to encrypt with?
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Jun 1, 2010
What is the easiest way to encrypt plain text content with a password only? I need to encrypt client login information, but I hate dealing with all the unnecessary complexities of Linux's encryption systems.
I know I am going to get a bunch of people telling me how perfect Seahorse and whatever is, but Seahorse and the default /home directly encryption have both given me too many problems when decrypting my information. I prefer to preserve my data rather than using these methods.
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Jun 17, 2009
i have recently installed thunderbird on my fedora 11 box and so far so good. i am interested in encrypting my emails and digitally signing them as well. does anyone have documentation as to how i can do this? i messed around with it last night but i was not able to import a valid certificate.
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Dec 12, 2009
I'm installing fedora 12 on a laptop using the live cd, and I have a few questions about the encryption process.
First, I'd like to fill the drive with random data. I've read the fedora documentation and it suggests using the following command: dd if=/dev/urandom of=<device>. The installer didn't offer an opportunity to do this, so I opened a terminal and typed the command. I expected it to take hours on my 160 gig hard drive, but it only took about 3 minutes, and indicated about 600 megs of data had been written. Did I do it correctly? According to palimpsest, my boot partition is sda1 and the other partition is sda2, so that's the one ran the command with.
Second, I need some advice on what to encrypt. The installer shows me the following layout after I select encryption:
LVM Volume Groups
Hard Drives
I know I can't encrypt boot, but I can encrypt lv_root and lv_swap. But is it necessary to do that? And tell me the pros and cons of using a boot loader password?
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Oct 21, 2010
I encrypted my hard drive on my media PC but it's really annoying having to type in a password every time I turn it on. I chose a short password so it was quick and easy to type in but is it worth encrypting data with a weak password?If the computer is suspended, someone could come along and resume the computer. They would be presented with a locked GNOME session) but the data would be unencrypted; does this go against encrypting the hard drive? Or does the locked GNOME session provide enough security to keep an intruder out?
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Aug 6, 2010
On my laptop (Dell Studio 1745) w/500GB HD, I have a common data partition shared by openSUSE. Fedora, FreeBSD, and windoze 7 currently. I would like to encrypt this partition (/Common) and have it accessible from all distros either with a passphrase key in /root or on a flash key. I've been researching on the web and there seem to be several possibilities using eCryptfs, Luks, cryptosetup, or any of several methods.
My question is, what have people here used and how well did it work? Also, what was required for setup (I'll probably have to explain/teach it to my wife who is technology challenged-but I still love her anyway) and my daughter who's just getting into linux. I would like to be able to keep the entire directory on the hard drive but also have the ability to copy it to external USB device for transport.
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Aug 15, 2010
So I was wondering about the dilemma of how to encrypt the password file on a key card to unlock your harddrive without having to enter any password. I came to the conclusion that that the scripts could do this without storing any passwords in plane text them self. Have a few extra steps to the scripts that would:
1. Read the UUID of any disks coming in.
2. Attempt to use that ID to decrypt a password file stored in the initrd.
3. Use the decrypted password file to unlock the the keycard partition.
4. THEN use the password files on the keycard to decrypt the main partition and boot the system.
However, if somebody stole your key card and didn't know what the unencrypted information was, then it's harmless for them to have it anyway. And if they did know, you wouldn't be any better off with it being encrypted because they probably can gain access to your computer anyway; leaving them to just pop the key card in and automatically decrypt the drive.
I suppose encrypting the keycard would give you extra assurance that the information would be much harder to recover if you destroyed the key card in a hurry. So would this extra security step even be worth it?
I guess the most secure thing would be to only have a password and type it in every time... unless you are concerned about the aliens/government stealing that from your brain which would probably mean they wouldn't need your password anyway.
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Jan 7, 2010
As part of making a encrypted private folder i told encfs to encrypt swap space on my pc knowing that this would probably break sleep and hibernation. That said i just turned on ubuntu for 5 mins, had to go away for a bit, when i came back to unlock the screen my password was not being accepted, and another 5 mins later the screen said that my session had timed out-i had to do a cold reboot Does this mean i cant lock the screen anymore?
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Jan 27, 2011
I've created a /tmp partition on a server that I would like to encrypt in a fashion that doesn't require a password to be entered on boot because this server is in a remote data center. Storing the password on the server so that it can automatically boot would obviously defeat the purpose of encrypting in the first place. Skipping automounting is another option but I'd really like to avoid that because there are a number of other services that would have to be suspended until the /tmp partition is online.
I found this article designed for centos (HowTos/EncryptTmpSwapHome - CentOS Wiki) which seems perfect since it generates a key randomly on boot and that key is destroyed and regenerated on each successive boot. However, the script doesn't seem to work on openSUSE - it throws errors saying . /etc/init.d/functions doesn't exist, restorecon command not found, action command not found, etc. Is there an openSUSE-ish way to achieve promptless partition encryption?
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Jan 8, 2010
I want to encrypt Full partition instead of creating a file and encrypting it, and also want to move this disk to another server. do i need some files also (that hold keys) with my self on new server. i am using FC11.
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Jan 14, 2010
Trying to clean install 11.2 dual boot with Win xp already installed. How do I create a new home partition, don't want to preserve the existing home partition from a previous attempt. DVD installation and automatic config keeps saving the thing.
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May 1, 2010
I already have Ubuntu 9.10 on my system and don't want to have to reinstall all my programs after a clean install. I want to encrypt my hard drive so it will boot and ask for a password. Does anyone know if this is possible?
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Feb 21, 2011
I have triple boot machine Windows 7 + Ubuntu + Mac OS X in a single HDD.
Windows 7 -- /dev/sda1
Ubuntu 10.10 -- /dev/sda2 (In same Partition grub 2.0)
Mac Snow Leopard -- /dev/sda3
I have installed GRUB 2.0 in same partition where current ubuntu is installed ie /dev/sda2 and basically Windwos Boot manager is installed within MBR.. & I have added GRUB 2.0 and Mac OSX entry into windows boot manger with some freeware from windows 7. So practically when I start my computer First Windows Boot manager comes up and asks me which OS to start first. I set up this type of installation with the thought that when grub 2.0 is not installed within MBR, I can format the whole /dev/sda2 partition without any difficulty and reinstalled any future release distro of ubuntu. So is it practically possible? If I format /dev/sda2 and reinstall new ubuntu release there.. Old grub won't affect the installation of new one.
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