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Thread: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
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    Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    Hey,

    This was something handy I discovered yesterday that I thought I might share. I'm running Ubuntu 8.10, but it might work fine with other versions too.

    If you have a user on your laptop, such as one you use for work related material, that you want to secure...but you don't want to encrypt the whole drive, this is for you.

    Quickly and not in too much detail you can do the following:
    - create a new user (let's call him or her 'work')
    - download and install TrueCrypt. There is a .deb package for it that's easy to install.
    - create an encrypted file/disk image (not partition). You'll find the instructions for how to on the web. Make it ext3.
    - in my case I called the file workimage.tc and placed it in /home, but you can place it anywhere as long as the 'work' user owns it and can read and write to it.
    - edit /etc/gdm/Init/Default after:
    Code:
    #!/bin/sh
    # Stolen from the debian kdm setup, aren't I sneaky
    # Plus a lot of fun stuff added
    #  -George
    
    PATH=/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/opt/X11R6/bin:$PATH
    OLD_IFS=$IFS
    ...add the line:
    Code:
    truecrypt /home/workimage.tc /home/work
    Now when you boot the computer, just before the login screen you'll get a popup asking you for the password for workimage.tc (it also asks when switching users...or complain that it's already mounted if it is). Pressing Cancel on the password prompt will go on to the login screen, letting you use the other users without mounting the truecrypt image.

    It's pretty easy to setup, and lets you run a mix of encrypted and non-encrypted users on the same machine.

    It is not 100% secure though, as you're only encrypting that users files and settings, and not your logs or swap space. For that you would need whole drive encryption. The 'work' folder itself should be 99.99% secure provided you've used a long random password (and nobody captures you and tortures the password out of you).

    Hope someone finds this usefull...


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    Missoula, MT USA
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    Sweet!
    I was messing with this idea a few months ago and couldn't make it work.
    Thanks for the tip!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    How does this differ from requiring a password at login?

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    Quote Originally Posted by yogo View Post
    How does this differ from requiring a password at login?
    The password is not for authentication, it's needed to decrypt the "work" user directory. If you don't want to log in as that user, simply don't put in that password and the work user directory remains encrypted while you log in as a different user.

  5. #5
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    why not just simply use full disk encryption?

  6. #6
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    If you have an installed and configured system and don't want to install the whole thing again, encrypting just the user folder could be a way to do it. That was my reason for trying it anyway, that and curiosity.

    Other reasons might be perforamnce, doing it this way lets you pick between security and performance. Log in as the encrypted user for the secure stuff, and as an ordinary user for performance. And if you share the computer with others, and you want to keep your stuff private I guess.

  7. #7
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    Quote Originally Posted by ragtag View Post
    Other reasons might be perforamnce, doing it this way lets you pick between security and performance. Log in as the encrypted user for the secure stuff, and as an ordinary user for performance.
    only problem is that there will be parts saved that are unencrypted...

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    Yes, that's true. If you want high security, you should encrypt the whole drive, swap and all.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    I did exactly the same thing and it serves my purporse, however, I would like tc to unmount after I log off or on shutdown (seems kinda messy to leave volumes mounted during shutdown).

    Does anyone know where to put "truecrypt -d" to do this?

    PostSession folder in /etc/gdm doesn't work, as it gets executed while the user is still logged in...

  10. #10
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    Re: Using TrueCrypt to encrypt one users home folder...

    I'm still not sure if TrueCrypt is safe to use. Is it?
    Debian 11 "Bullseye"
    HP Envy 2021 laptop
    Linux user since 1999.

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