Encrypt your disks on Linux
Conclusions
Encryption on Linux, whether on servers or desktops, is no longer a problem. Linux comes with the required built-in tools in the form of Cryptsetup and LUKS. Distributions integrate these built-in tools so well that you can set up a system with an encrypted root partition and encrypted home directories without any worries.
For mobile devices like laptops, these encryption tools put Linux on a par with other products like Windows (Bitlocker) or macOS (File Vault). The same applies to the encryption of portable media like USB sticks or external USB hard drives. Here, solutions are available in the form of Veracrypt, GocryptFS, and again Cryptsetup/LUKS, which can be set up quickly and work in an absolutely reliable way. If you travel between OS worlds from time to time, you will even find a solution in the form of Veracrypt that you can use on all common operating systems.
One consideration is that an existing system without encryption cannot easily be switched to encryption. Against the background of fast external drives with USB-C and Thunderbolt interfaces, it seems to make more sense to migrate all data from the device, re-install with encryption, and copy the data back.
Infos
- LUKS: https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup
- Veracrypt: https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html
- GocryptFS: https://github.com/rfjakob/gocryptfs
- Zulucrypt: http://mhogomchungu.github.io/zuluCrypt/
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