Encrypting Files

[JMJ_coder]

What's the best way to encrypt or protect files on your computer? Say a plain ascii file that holds sensitive personal or company data that you don't want left as plain ascii text.

[BSDfan666]

I would use OpenSSL, but that's just me...

$ openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in naughty-doc.txt -out naughty-doc.encrypt

This will prompt you for a passphrase, now.. that can be a password, but it can also be a phrase.. you'll definitely need to remember the grammar & capitalization though.

If you decide to use a password, make it a long and complex one...

To decrypt the file:
$ openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in naughty-doc.encrypt -out naughty-doc.txt

You can obtain a list of ciphers via:
$ openssl enc -h

Good luck..

[TerryP]

I usually apply a Caesar cipher (not rot13), archive the data with a password, and encrypt it again in a stronger manor.


Whether or not it's a good idea, I dunno, but works for me.

[BSDKaffee]

For individual files, you could use GPG.

For many files, I use geli. That is only available on FreeBSD, however.

[Nightweaver]

Each BSD has it's own way of encrypting the whole hard drive. On FreeBSD you may go for geli or gdbe http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...ncrypting.html. On NetBSD you'll go for CGD http://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-cgd.html and on OpenBSD(which I use) you'll go for http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/...leserver-howto

For individual files and emails I use GnuPG.

[hydra]

+1 for openssl as suggested by BSDfan666.

[JMJ_coder]

Does anyone know where (/etc/passwd ?) and how login passwords are stored and encrypted (if at all)?

[TerryP]

As far as I know, it depends on the system and it's settings JMJ; it should obey /etc/login.conf.

[mfaridi]

Originally Posted by BSDfan666

I would use OpenSSL, but that's just me...

$ openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in naughty-doc.txt -out naughty-doc.encrypt

This will prompt you for a passphrase, now.. that can be a password, but it can also be a phrase.. you'll definitely need to remember the grammar & capitalization though.

If you decide to use a password, make it a long and complex one...

To decrypt the file:
$ openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in naughty-doc.encrypt -out naughty-doc.txt

You can obtain a list of ciphers via:
$ openssl enc -h

Good luck..

thanks this is good and nice method , but if I can use it for encrypt folder or directory it is great
Can I use it for encrypt folder ???

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by mfaridi

thanks this is good and nice method , but if I can use it for encrypt folder or directory it is great
Can I use it for encrypt folder ???

Use the tar(1) luke.

[mfaridi]

Originally Posted by vermaden

Use the tar(1) luke.

I do not want first tar that folder and then encrypt it , it is take time for extract it .

[vermaden]

Do not use compresion then, tar alone does not compress files.

[ephemera]

Originally Posted by mfaridi

I do not want first tar that folder and then encrypt it , it is take time for extract it .

Well, if its say a 1GB folder then the i/o involved will take time.

Why don't you simply create another user account called userX.
# chmod 700 ~userX

Then, put all ya top-secret stuff in there.

Anytime you want to access the top-secret stuff just do the following from your regular account:
$ su - userX

Ofcourse, for max. safety use tar + openssl.

[sverreh]

Originally Posted by JMJ_coder

What's the best way to encrypt or protect files on your computer? Say a plain ascii file that holds sensitive personal or company data that you don't want left as plain ascii text.

Using a tool like steghide you can hide the file in a picture or sound file, so people won't even notice that there are secret data available. To add extra security, first encrypt your file as proposed by several others, and then use steghide to hide the encrypted file.

Example:

steghide embed -cf picture.jpg -ef encrypted_file -sf new_picture.jpg

The file new_picture.jpg will look identical to the file picture.jpg, but the secret information is hidden in it. To retrieve your original secret data:

steghide extract -sf new_picture.jpg

steghide is in ports:

/usr/ports/security/steghide

[vermaden]

It may be little suspicious if someone would find a JPG image with 3.0GB size

[mfaridi]

I think this topic is best and nice topic in all of this forums. I like and love this topic
after I test openssl and encrypt file , I can understand I can delete encrypt file and it is so bad I want way to hide file and nobody can delete that file ,
I will test steghide I thinks this is good thing.

but I need something like truecrypt.

[ephemera]

steghide s a cool thing for hiding small files (secret emails?), passwords etc.
i wonder how many of us check downloaded images for hidden content?

[sverreh]

Originally Posted by vermaden

It may be little suspicious if someone would find a JPG image with 3.0GB size

Yes, I would be suspicious, too. But you could hide an awful amount of secrets in a 3 GB picture, I think. From what I have experienced, it seems like I can hide about 5 - 6 % of the files size. For instance, I have successfully hidden a PDF-file of 140 kB (6 pages filled with equations and diagrams) in a picture of 2.4 MB. My only problem is that I don't need to hide data, but it is quite fun!

[BSDfan666]

Originally Posted by mfaridi

...I want way to hide file and nobody can delete that file...

This is where file permissions and routine backups come in..

[ddekok]

Has anybody tried FUSE EncFS? It appears to be a file-backed file system with no pre-determined size. Also, given that it is FUSE based, it should be fairly portable.