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submitted 2 weeks ago by monovergent@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

I was recently intrigued to learn that only half of the respondents to a survey said that they used disk encryption. Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows have been increasingly using encryption by default. On the other hand, while most Linux installers I've encountered include the option to encrypt, it is not selected by default.

Whether it's a test bench, beater laptop, NAS, or daily driver, I encrypt for peace of mind. Whatever I end up doing on my machines, I can be pretty confident my data won't end up in the wrong hands if the drive is stolen or lost and can be erased by simply overwriting the LUKS header. Recovering from an unbootable state or copying files out from an encrypted boot drive only takes a couple more commands compared to an unencrypted setup.

But that's just me and I'm curious to hear what other reasons to encrypt or not to encrypt are out there.

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[-] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Absolutely. LUKS full disk encryption. Comes as an opt-in checkbox on Ubuntu, for example.

And I too cannot understand why this is not opt-out rather than opt-in. Apparently we've decided that only normies on corporate spyware OSs need security, and we don't.

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[-] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

I encrypt my laptop and desktops and I think it’s worth it. I regret encrypting my servers because they need passwords to turn on.

[-] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

I encrypt my laptop and desktops and I think it’s worth it. I regret encrypting my servers because they need passwords to turn on. I couldn’t figure out how to handle it when away.

[-] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

With initramfs and dropbear you can make the password prompt accessible over ssh, so you can enter the password from anywhere.

Edit: For debian it is something like

  • install dropbear
  • configure dropbear for initramfs
  • generate key pair
  • generate initramfs
  • You are done.
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[-] ilickfrogs@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I encrypt my desktop and laptop but not my servers. On desktop, that excludes drives that aren't my OS/boot drive.

[-] potentiallynotfelix@lemmy.fish 2 points 2 weeks ago

Mostly I don't, but I want to start to. I only have one laptop encrypted and of course I keep my phones encrypted.

[-] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yes because it is one click

If I delete my drive, it is rubbish

It doesnt impact my performance much

[-] Laitinlok@lemmy.laitinlok.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yes because my distro also have encrypted /boot included

[-] obsolete@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

No. I prefer the quickest way to share my data between different computers and operating systems on my home network. I will also mention that my network is not accessible over the internet.

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[-] Zorsith 2 points 2 weeks ago

Of course, I'm paranoid and don't trust the US government. Or any government really. "First they came for _____" and all that; Id rather just tell them to pound sand immediately instead of get caught with my pants down.

Only encrypt the home partition, for the root partition it just unnecessarily slows down the system.

Also, I think, there could be different approaches instead of encryption. AFAIK, android doesn't use encryption underneath, but uses a semi-closed bootloader (which means, if you install a different OS, all user data gets wiped). I'm currently investigating the feasibility of such an approach in the long term.

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[-] yozul@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

For my laptop, yeah. I rarely actually use it though. For my desktop not so much. I really don't keep that much personal information on it to begin with, and if someone breaks into my house they could probably get more by stealing the desk my computer is sitting on then by stealing the computer. It just feels like a silly thing to waste my time with.

[-] CsXGF8uzUAOh6fqV@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I don't, I didn't do it back then and I ended up using this system for much longer than I thought I would(4+ years). I want to do it next time but I don't feel like reinstalling just for that.

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[-] borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

I don’t have FDE (BitLocker) enabled on my Windows 11 gaming PC. It sits in my house and has nothing on it but video games and video game related shit. I don’t even have my password manager installed for logging in to Steam, GoG or whatever other launcher. I manually type passwords in from the vault on my phone if the app doesn’t support QR code login like discord. Also I paid for this ridiculous m.2 nvme drive, I’m not going to just give up iops bc i want my game install files encrypted.

I don’t use FDE on my NAS. Again it doesn’t leave my house. I probably should I guess, bc there is some stuff on there that would cause me to have industry certs revoked if they leaked, but idk I don’t. Everything irreplaceable is backed up off site, but the down time it would take to rebuild my pirated media libraries from scratch vs just swapping disks and rebuilding has me leery.

I have FDE enabled on both my MacBooks. They leave the house with me, it seems to make sense.

I don’t use FDE on Linux VMs I create on the MacBooks, the disk is already encrypted.

My iphone doesn’t have the option to not use FDE I don’t think.

I use encrypted rsync backups to store NAS stuff in the cloud. I use a PGP key on my yubikey to further encrypt specific files on my MacBooks as required beyond the general FDE.

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

No need as none of them are networked

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[-] ebd6a8c9051028dc1607@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

yes. if you live in a country without democracy. it is the only way to protect yourself and your data from nsa agent kicking your door.

[-] merthyr1831@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

I don't but admittedly I don't do much stuff on my laptop that's super secure. it's mainly for gaming and the odd programming project.

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this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2025
163 points (100.0% liked)

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