this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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If the device get stolen, your drive and its files can be easily read.
Other attacks like malware or ransomware are almost the same if the drive is encrypted or not.
Disk encryption is important for laptops and phones because these devices are frequently stolen. For desktop or servers is still good idea, though.
Thanks a lot for your answer. How would you encrypt a server? Typing a password every time it boots isn't possible for me, since I would need a monitor for my headless server.
That's why it's not always an option.
Some servers have some kind remote console hardware, with their own security issues.
Your "threat model" is important too. Do you expect that server to get stolen? If it happens, is there critical data that should not leak?
Maybe you need to encrypt a directory, and not the whole drive.
My threat model isn't high. Just normal stuff everyone has, but that would be disadvantagely if someone else got them.
It's more if a precautionary measure. It doesn't have to be super safe, but better than nothing.
Is this for your home? If it is, you don't really have to worry about someone stealing your desktop. If someone breaks into your home, they're looking for quick cash and jewelry and TVs. They're not going to bother stealing your server to dig through files for something usable.
I've had quite a bad experience with police for example.
30 cops raided my home because of something trivial (I ordered a bit of non-psychoactive CBD-weed, which is, even in the most restrictive country you can imagine, ridiculous).
Of course, I got the whole experience-pack, including strip searches and confiscating all electronics.
Even though I believe them getting hold of any data wouldn't have changed much, I'm still glad I had my devices encrypted.
Just knowing they didn't see my cringy pictures of my teeny-me, where I discovered Snapchat filters, is a big relief. 😅
Yeah... that traumatized me a bit and maybe that's the reason I'm worrying.
Also, you could never know what will happen in the future. Maybe my GF will turn crazy tomorrow and use those embarrassing pictures against me. Who knows?
I believe everyone should use encryption, even if they don't have much to hide...
Oh that's a really good point. Don't trust the cops, keep everything encrypted.
Way safer in those situations.