How to shred a file on Linux leaving no remnants

Sometimes we have files on our hard disks that we would like to remove for good. If you have set up full disk encryption when you installed Linux on your computer, you will have an encrypted hard disk which is pretty much useless to anyone without the password that only you know. However, sometimes, to … Continue reading How to shred a file on Linux leaving no remnants →

How to encrypt swap partition on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

If you installed Ubuntu 14.04 afresh, and selected home folder encryption, you will also get an encrypted swap partition. However, when the computer boots, you get the following error message: the disk drive for /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 is not ready yet or not present. Note that you need to have a proper data backup and make sure … Continue reading How to encrypt swap partition on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS →

Use encdroid on android to encrypt and decrypt encfs folders in dropbox

Now that we created our encfs folder and synchronised it with Dropbox, it can be retrieved and used on any Android phone or device using encdroid. Head over to Google Play and install encdroid on your Android device. Start up encdroid. Select Import Volume from the Options menu and choose Dropbox. You will need to … Continue reading Use encdroid on android to encrypt and decrypt encfs folders in dropbox →

Mount EncFS encrypted folder

To mount EncFS encrypted folder, enter: $ encfs ~/encrypted-folder ~/decrypted-folder<enter> This commands mounts the encrypted-folder and decrypts it's contents and data into the decrypted-folder. Any data you add into the decrypted folder will be encrypted as it is added into the encrypted folder. Once you are done with working with your data, you can unmount … Continue reading Mount EncFS encrypted folder →

Unmount EncFS decrypted folder

To unmount EncFS decrypted folder, enter: $ fusermount -u ~/decrypted-folder <enter> This commands unmounts the decrypted-folder and leaves you only with the encrypted-folder containing encrypted data in it.

How to encrypt a folder using EncFS in Linux

You can encrypt a single local folder on your computer using EncFS. EncFS will encrypt your data as you create it. Therefore, it requires 2 folders - one to hold the encrypted data and one to hold the decrypted data. This method can be used on a Ubuntu or Fedora desktop to synchronize only encrypted … Continue reading How to encrypt a folder using EncFS in Linux →

How to check if swap is encrypted in Ubuntu

Start up a terminal window and then enter the commands as shown in italics below. The following command will tell you if your swap is encrypted in Ubuntu 12.04. $ swapon --summary <enter> Filename Type Size Used Priority /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 partition 3904508 0 -1 Above indicates swap is encrypted. If it returned nothing except the heading, … Continue reading How to check if swap is encrypted in Ubuntu →