[plug] encrypting drives on a samba server and backups

[Phillip Bennett]

Ari wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Okay, I need some guidance here. I've helped a mate get started with
> linux and he's happy using a FC11 install as a samba server (he wanted a
> copy of what I had, but with more hard drives for backing up his video
> editting, documents, etc etc). All is well with that, but after a recent
> theft he's worried about his files being accessed if the server or the
> backup drives are stolen. I'm not really sure where to start for
> encrypting things but still having them available to all his windows
> PCs. He has 3TB of storage drives (the FC11 install is on a separate
> small 40GB drive) with the entire drives shared via samba. I've got him
> using rsync for his backups to his external usb drives. Is it possible
> to encrypt the samba shared drives and still have samba be able to use
> them? What about the backups with rsync? I'm reluctant to admit I've
> never worked with encryption on linux drives before, and I know I really
> really should have as it's the sort of security measure that I should
> know about. Help please :-(
>
> TIA,
>
> Ari
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>
>
>

Hi,

You could always try out LUKS encryption.  It's pretty standard with
RedHat and probably fedora - my home box is off right now, so can't
check for you..  Basically, you create an encrypted partition that gets
opened at boot with a password.  You can even dictate the strength of
the encryption when you set it up.  Once it's opened with the password,
it will be seen by the operating system as just another block device
that can be formatted as whatever you like (etx2/3, fat32, etc..) so
samba would be able to see it and share it as if it was just another
filesystem.  Once powered off, the encrypted data is inaccessible
without the password.  We use it here in the Scottish Blood Service for
keeping patient data secure on our mobile devices (laptops).

Hth,
Phil.


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