Robert Fulcher wrote: > I have a client that wants to backup there server (Ubuntu). I have a backup > running for them but they want to make sure that the files are encrypted. > Will backuppc encrypt the files that are backed up? If not is there a way > to add this feature? > > Thanks
Hi! (I am a first time poster, so take my advice for what it is.) No, BackupPC doesn't encrypt files. And in my very humble opinion it would be wrong to add it to BackupPC. These things are better solved at the filesystem level, I'd say. There are two roads to take, as I see it. Which one to choose depends on your clients level of paranoia: 1) Not so high paranoia: The BackupPC data directory (/var/lib/backuppc) is in a encrypted filesystem. Suitable if the client trusts you not to loose his files and with key management et cetera. 2) High paranoia: He should make sure that the data is encrypted before it is backed up. Suitable if the client only trusts you not to loose his files. Route 1) is quite easy, since there are quite a few ways to have an encrypted filesystem. I will not go into that here. Route 2) actually has two solutions, of which only one is currently available as far as I know. 2.1) The client uses an encrypting filesystem like for example EncFS <http://www.arg0.net/encfs> on his computer(s). EncFS is a "Pass-through filesystem" which stores the files in another part of the filesystem. Example: $ encfs /tmp/crypt /tmp/data ... makes it possible to use the directory /tmp/data just as any other directory. But the files are actually stored encrypted in /tmp/crypt. So in this case the client would tell BackupPC to backup the /tmp/crypt directory. 2.2) The client uses a filesystem that acts kind of the opposite as EncFS: The files are in e.g. /tmp/data and uses a filesystem that "mirrors" /tmp/data to another directory like e.g. /tmp/crypt. When something is read from /tmp/crypt, the actual reading takes place in /tmp/data, but before the data is returned by the filesystem to the reader, the filesystem encrypts the data. The Debian developer Tollef Fog Heen is working on such a filesystem, according to his blog: <http://err.no/personal/blog/tech/2008-01-09-22-27_scramblefs_ctr_mode_and_choosing_a_nonce> Best regards /Martin Leben ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ BackupPC-users mailing list [email protected] List: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki: http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
