System encryption

[Mr. Penguin]

I was trying to encrypt my system by folowing this guide: http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/428.

modprobe sha256

is generating this message:

WARNING: Error inserting padlock_sha (/lib/modules/2.6.24-24-generic/kernel/drivers/crypto/padlock-sha.ko): No such device

. Is there a way to fix it? cryptsetup is installed and I can load the other 2 modules (modprobe dm_crypt
and modprobe aes_i586).

[askrieger]

Re: System encryption

I would expect that you'd get a better answer to this question at Debian-Administration than you'll get here. Although, (*)buntu is based on Debian, it is not Debian. In addition, the number (and tenor) of the comments on Debian-Administration indicate that this is not a project to be undertaken lightly.

[Mr. Penguin]

Re: System encryption

ok, tnx. I'm using Kubuntu, so this looked like a good place for question...

[Detonate]

Re: System encryption

Why are you wanting to encrypt your system? No need to do that. You can store all of your sensitive documents in an encrypted folder, leaving your system to run normally. I use truecrypt for this. Just create an encrypted volume large enough to hold all of your sensitive documents.

[Mr. Penguin]

Re: System encryption

Yeah, I also use TrueCrypt for data partition. One whole partition is encrypted and I wrote a script which prompts for password at startup and mounts it. But I also want to protect home folder. For example, I store all my passwords in Firefox and they are saved in /home/.mozilla, right? Have another idea, but don't know when /home must be available to system? This is what I'm thinking: encrypt /home with truecrypt and instead of using a password, create few keyfiles on USB stick and write a script which will auto-mount it before anything else is used from /home. (I know it must be available at startup, because there were some errors when I messed it up once.) Is it possible or cryptsetup is a better solution?

[Detonate]

Re: System encryption

Unless you have shared your home folder, it is only available to you, and root. Any files in your home folder must be specifically shared for anyone else to access them. Also, I think the saved passwords in firefox are encrypted.

[Mr. Penguin]

Re: System encryption

You're right, but it would only matter if I share PC with someone over the network. It doesn't mean anything if I lose laptop; anyone can access home folder by using live cd. Passwords are just one example, I don't have anything specific to hide; just want to protect everything on hdd.
p.s. We are going offtopic, the question wasn't if I should encrypt it, but how. Thank you anyway!