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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).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Do you encrypt your drives and why or why not? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by monovergent@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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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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[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I used to, but it's proven to be a pain more often than a blessing. I'm also of the opinion that if a bad actor capable of navigating the linux file system and getting my information from it has physical access to my disk, it's game over anyway.

[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm also of the opinion that if a bad actor capable of navigating the linux file system and getting my information from it has physical access to my disk, it's game over anyway.

I am sorry but that is BS. Encryption is not easy to break like in some Movies.

If you are referring to that a bad actor breaks in and modifies your hardware with for example a keylogger/sniffer or something then that is something disk encryption does not really defend against.

[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

That's more what I mean. They won't break the encryption, but at that point with physical access to my home/ computer/ servers, I have bigger problems.

There's very little stored locally that could be worse than a situation where someone has physical access to my machine.