Post: #1

I'm currently weighing up using some form of disk encryption. Specifically adding a sensitive data volume to my cloud storage folder.

The cloud storage already contains everything I don't want to lose in case of hardware loss or failure. This reflects my primary concern: keeping the data. I would much rather the data exists and is accessible to anyone (even though that is highly undesirable), than it be lost.

However if I can safely add an encrypted section to the cloud storage, that would satisfy both my need to keep the data reliably alive but also to keep it accessible only to me.

I'm looking at VeraCrypt ( https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/ ) as a possible solution. It allows you to make a 'container file'. This file can be mounted by the software into an encrypted volume (e.g. V:\ ), on demand. Whenever you mount it, it asks you for the password which it uses to decrypt files from the volume on-the-fly. The access remains until you turn off your computer or unmount the volume.

The goal would then be to move all sensitive data, including things like the browser password cache, into that encrypted volume / container file.

My primary concern though is the container file somehow becoming corrupted, resulting in me losing the data. I currently don't have the ability to make an unencrypted backup which is kept private through the 'put in an unmarked box in the corner of a shed' method.

Does anyone have experience with this, do this, or know about the reliability of it?

Poll is included to get a picture of how common this is at the moment.

Cheers

Post: #2

I used to heavily encrypt my hard drives(I am talking like three levels deep), but mostly that was for my laptops and mobile devices. Now that my main PC is a custom built desktop, I don't really feel the need to. If somebody were to break in, they'd have to get passed my Windows 8.1 password, why go through the trouble of anything else?

But I do advocate it for laptop use, namely if you are carrying sensitive information on it.

Post: #3

I didn't vote in the poll because while I don't encrypt my data I understand that I really ought to.

Linux makes it more of a pain in the ass. For now I dump everything important onto a very small flash drive and keep it in a very safe place.

Post: #4

Speaking of encryption,

Anyway we could get this forum in a stealth mode layout?

Post: #5

(01-01-2017 02:33 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  My primary concern though is the container file somehow becoming corrupted, resulting in me losing the data. I currently don't have the ability to make an unencrypted backup which is kept private through the 'put in an unmarked box in the corner of a shed' method.

Does anyone have experience with this, do this, or know about the reliability of it?

I have been using full disc encryption for some years now and have had no problems.

For backups in a pinch you can for example open a google drive account or a dropbox account and tell it to back up the directory where you keep all of your sensitive data.

Both of these have programs which run in the background and automatically do the backups.

It's just common sense to do so. Full disc encryption is standard on modern smartphones and there is no reason to play the dinosaur with your personal computer.

Post: #6

Depends upon who you are trying to keep your data from, it's a fruitless exercise for the most part. Unsubstantiated rumors the FBI/NSA/CIA can break the last Truecrpyt release drives some of that.

If you are trying to keep it safe from corporate espionage or other foreign actors, then even stuff like Bitlocker is good enough. Trusting to the cloud is a fool's errand. I personally think the Chinese govt. could probably get past it, but unless you are directly in competition with them on something, it's not worth the hassle for that.

Not all data is worth protecting anyway. Do you classify your own data? What is Top Secret for you and who are you protecting it from? Is your actual identity more important than the data that makes it up? Do you have consumer credit protection and is that better than protecting a bunch of invoice and bank information on your laptop?

If you were doing stuff serious enough to get killed, arrested, tortured, or financially fleeced over, you would likely be using a combination of liveCDs and offline storage. People cannot hack what they cannot reach.

The first rule of security is that Physical Security is always number 1. How easy is it to get to your data in the first place? Do you have physical locks, mantraps, fences, dogs, guns, or alarm systems backing up your property?

Post: #7

The latest audits of the TrueCrypt 7.1a source code, which is the same code from which VeraCrypt was forked, revealed no backdoor in the code and no way of allowing any attacker, including the FBI and the NSA, to decrypt the drives without knowing the password.

I encrypt everything. No exceptions. All my USB drives are LUKS encrypted, my Linux partitions are LUKS encrypted, and my Windows machines use VeraCrypt (which now supports UEFI mode). No data is left in plaintext in my e-mail servers. I do not use DropBox or any similar service. I have my own servers for that. I do not use Facebook, and I only chat with Whatsapp and Signal, which offer encryption.

The reason is very simple. While some data may seem trivial for you, it can be valuable to an attacker. Let's say you have pictures from your latest party, and there's a shirtless picture of you with a bottle of vodka. Nothing incriminating. But if you start a career where reputation and looks matter, then someone could take this picture out of context and bite you if they post it publicly. You can have tax reports, customer data, etc. If someone finds your laptop and peeks through your navigation history, they know that you use RVF and they will do anything to destroy your reputation. Pictures of expensive cruises / trips / etc. can ring bells to the wrong people if your lifestyle is off with what you claim it to be.

I have naked girl pictures, porn, financial stuff, and other stuff that I want to keep to myself. It's not about "hiding stuff", it's about knowing that you are 100% sure that only you can access your private data and that there's no chance of someone using it against you. I got a laptop stolen once during a trip. I had customer data which I fill tax reports for - and thanks God that it was encrypted, otherwise I was it for a lawsuit from them.

tl;dr: ALWAYS encrypt your stuff.

Post: #8

Yes.

Not only hard drives but any and everything. Chat, password storage, internet connection, the works.

I've never had a problem with encryption making my data irretrievable. Because even if it did I have backups (and you need backups whether you have encrypted data or not).

RE Veracrypt: Just encrypt the whole drive and backup the volume header elsewhere on a USB stick or cloud storage. That's all you need to decrypt the data.

(01-01-2017 08:55 AM)Leonard D Neubache Wrote:  I didn't vote in the poll because while I don't encrypt my data I understand that I really ought to.

Linux makes it more of a pain in the ass. For now I dump everything important onto a very small flash drive and keep it in a very safe place.

Check out LUKS.

Post: #9

OK thanks for replies. Regarding whole disk, how would that work with my cloud storage folder? It syncs automatically, so would the files it syncs to the cloud end up encrypted or plaintext on their server?

Post: #10

^ Plaintext. For your cloud storage you can use an encrypted file container.

Post: #11

Using a cloud storage for sensitive material? Never ever IMO - anyone can access it at any time. If you're worried about hardware failures, then make a couple of copies, it should be fine. And if you're that worried, keep them in seperate locations.
As for the encryption, I'm skeptical : encrypted files draw too much attention, you can get unwanted questions (if you're worried about someone close to you) or if it's a national agency, they will focus quickly on it.
I'm personally more of a fan of the "getting lost in the crowd", maybe using a software disguised as something trivial to hide the sensitive folder (with a password). Maybe one could even make a false encrypted file/folder to throw bait...

Post: #12

With Veracrypt you can make encrypted file containers with any file extension e.g. it can be a MP3 file which doesn't actually play and instead opens up as a virtual folder with your password. Very difficult to detect programmatically that it's not a real file that's just been corrupted. So even this is sufficient to hide encrypted files.

If you use steganographic encryption software you can further hide encrypted data in viewable pictures and video.

Post: #13

I only encrypt sensitive files or directories with axcrypt, otherwise most of my harddrive is unencrypted.

Post: #14

I use a combination of high tech and low tech systems to keep my data safe.

I have several online storage backups to store various type of information.
The type of service usually denotes the type data stored.
For example, i used to keep unencrypted data on a service like Dropbox but once i read that the gov't have backdoors into the service. At which point i removed everything.
Then i began to encrypt data 2 different ways and then post them to the online storage services.
One of the encryption keys is stored digitally on a ubs stick. close to me. In the case of needing to leave in a hurry i can access it without going back to my house for whatever reason. I keep a duplicate copy of this in another city i frequent just in case.
The 2nd key is embedded in a series of digital family photos. Each photo contains only a portion of the encryption key as to not draw suspicion for the file size being large than expected for quality of the digital photo.
There are redundancy and fail safes in case one or more of these services is shut down by the governments.
One of the best practices for storing sensitive information is to never regularly visit these sites from your home. Anyone tracking your browser data will see where you're going and set up a trap to get the login information. I never visit ANY of these places from my home internet connection.

This method is only viable for information that never changes. The process i would have to go through to update the data would take about 14hrs.

The low tech offline storage is easier in my opinion.
I go with hiding in plain sight.
Some place that's semi difficult for random people to wander across.
Some place that will be visited regularly by city works doing maintenance.

I've been keeping my eye on Kim dot com's new service he's starting this year. He was the founder of megaupload and then he also founded "Mega" before he distanced himself from them as well. They got hacked late last year even though they denied any confidential data breaches I still would shy away from using them for sensitive data.

edit for formatting.

Post: #15

Before starting a separate thread, I thought I would bump this sort of related thread.

I am looking for affordable online storage. I don't need a regular backup service. Just something that would hold 5TB - 10TB and not delete it. I have read that some online places will delete stuff if they don't see the external HDD, etc.

I just want to drag and drop files and know they are backed up.

Amazon does this right? I think it is called AWS.

Any other good services? That are as cheap as amazon? I think it is like 50 bucks a year.

Thanks.

Post: #16

5TB to 10 TB of data?
I've heard decently good things about HubiC.
https://hubic.com/en/offers/
I would stay far away from any company that stores their backups in china, they have been known to look at your data and copy it.