Linux Encryption HOWTO

lazyecho writes: "How to set up a Linux 2.2 system to use encryption in both disk and network accesses. This document describes how you can use the International Kernel Patch and other packages to make hard disk contents and network traffic inaccessible to others by encrypting them." Hey, your box is stable, why not mix it up a bit? I'm not a security nut, but this strikes me as a fun one anyway.

Comments

Great for Laptops / Handhelds

[Xunker]

This is a great thing for those of use that use laptops on a daily basis and hope to use use *nix-based handhelds soon... at least here in the USA... to keep over-zealous law-enforcment officials at bay;

Now, IAMAL[?], but here is how I got it explained to me: Items on your person fall under the dictates of law governing search and siezure. If you have a cabinet in your home, the police are allowed to search is if they have probable cause; but if you have a safe in you your home, you are not required to volunteer the combination to it without a subpeona. Goes the same for passwords and crypto, too, AFAIK. They can put me in the squad car, but until they get a court order, I don't have to tell them the password to my PDA or my GPG/PGP secret key passphrase.

This is a good thing, because an over-zealous officer could start dinking around on you laptop and find some incrimitation evidence (violating S&C Law), but tell the judge that he found 'by accident'. Who is the judge going to believe? But if you have it all locked up tight, nothing short of a circuit court judge can force you to unlock it.

And please not my gratuitous use of the phrase 'over-zealous'. The VAST majority of law officers are decent human beings - its just those choice few emmy-award winners that makes everyones life hell.

At the very least put a pasword on your PDA, laptop, and modified-laptop-car-MP3-Player. Especially the MP3 player -- Ms. Spears would be so pissed if she found out I downloaded all 50 remixes of "I'm a closet dyke" off Napster :)