this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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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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[–] data1701d@startrek.website 2 points 1 week ago

I don't do it for my desktop because 1) I highly doubt my desktop would get stolen. 2) I installed Linux before I was aware of encryption, and don't have any desire to do a reinstall on my desktop at this time.

For my laptop, yes, I do (with exception of the boot partition), since it would be trivial to steal and this is a more recent install. I use clevis to auto-unlock the drive by getting keys from the TPM. I need to better protect myself against evil maids, though - luckily according to the Arch Wiki Clevis supports PCR registers.

[–] Laitinlok@lemmy.laitinlok.com 2 points 1 week ago

Yes because my distro also have encrypted /boot included

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

[–] borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week 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.

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago

Yes because it is one click

If I delete my drive, it is rubbish

It doesnt impact my performance much

[–] CsXGF8uzUAOh6fqV@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

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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[–] ilickfrogs@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

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

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No need as none of them are networked

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Do you physically crush and grind your drives once they are end-of-life?

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[–] NewOldGuard@hexbear.net 1 points 1 week ago

Yes absolutely, it is the building block of my security posture. I encrypt because I don’t want thieves to have access to my personal data, nor do I want law enforcement or the state to have access if they were to raid my house. I’m politically active and a dissident so I find it vital to keep my data secure and private, but frankly everybody should be doing it for their own protection and peace of mind

[–] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah all my drives are encrypted with LUKS mostly because of home burglaries (bad area and whatnot). I still keep backups regardless on drives that are also encrypted

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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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[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

All my important files are on a NAS, so if someone steals my laptop, there's nothing of value there without being able to log in and mount the remote file systems

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