mainstoreBackup - Support: sr #108718, Feature request: data encryption

 
 

sr #108718: Feature request: data encryption

Submitter:  Vianney Stroebel <viybel>
Submitted:  Wed 07 Jan 2015 03:40:48 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  None Priority:  5 - Normal
Severity:  1 - Wish Status:  None
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  None
Open/Closed:  Open Operating System:  None
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Fri 09 Jan 2015 01:59:10 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Thanks for the encryption tip.

This workaround seems obvious now that you mentioned it but since I didn't find this idea myself when I was looking for a solution, I think it might be useful to mention it in the documentation. Encryption of the content of the files is better than no encryption at all, and it apparently is the only option on remote backup with storeBackup when your data is not already encrypted.

As data encryption of backups is paramount for many people, it even might be a good idea to dedicate a small chapter to it in the documentation, listing what is possible and what isn't.

As for the 'patriot act' argument, I don't know if you're implying that all commercial backup services are either giving away their customers' data to government agencies or have their servers hacked without noticing it, but both hypotheses seem very unlikely to me. Most of them have other companies as customers, and if information was leaked to the public (as it often does) that they were being that dishonnest or incompetent, they would face multiple huge lawsuits and possibly jail on top of bankruptcy. They don't all have as powerful PR leverage as Google and their whole business relay on keeping data private, contrary to Facebook for example, which business model is to sell it.

Vianney Stroebel <viybel>
Thu 08 Jan 2015 11:06:08 AM UTC, comment #2: 

You can encrypt the files by using options compress (and uncompress) to your favorite encryption script(s). You also have to set eg. comprRule to 1 and checkBlocksCompr (and friends) to yes so each file is 'compressed' (= encrypted).
But this does not encrypt the file and directory names.

To encrypt backups, I'm using dm-crypt and luks which is fast and well integrated into Linux. Those backups are mostly replicas on external hard disks (or memory sticks).

I don't use a remote server in the Internet.

> A reputable commercial backup service is probably much more
> secure that a server I would manage myself, and my guess is
> companies in the backup business would be reluctant to sell
> their customers data to government agencies because if one of
> them did and it was leaked by a whistleblower, the company
> would instantaneously lose all of its customers and go
> bankrupt.


I think this is a good joke ;-) .
Do you know about the 'patriot act'? Do you think things like this does not exist in a lot of countries?

I have to do a little bit with security at the moment, and hey, you must be careful if you want to trust a little in you own environment :-( .


Heinz-Josef Claes <hjclaes>
Group administrator
Wed 07 Jan 2015 03:51:39 PM UTC, comment #1: 

I wrote "an online server is very easy to compromise", that is for a government agency or a medium-skilled hacker.

A reputable commercial backup service is probably much more secure that a server I would manage myself, and my guess is companies in the backup business would be reluctant to sell their customers data to government agencies because if one of them did and it was leaked by a whistleblower, the company would instantaneously lose all of its customers and go bankrupt.

Vianney Stroebel <viybel>
Wed 07 Jan 2015 03:40:48 PM UTC, original submission:  

Is data encryption in the roadmap?

If not, is there a way to encrypt the data before sending it to the server AND retain all storeBackup's features?

The only way I could think of is to backup an encfs (or otherwise encrypted) version of my files. But since I don't want my files encrypted in my computer for performance and practical reasons, that would require a local copy of all my files in an encrypted version, which I don't have the disk space for.

Without this feature, I am reluctant to use storeBackup to store my personal data in a remote server, even though there are very cheap ones nowadays (OVH offers 1 TB and 4 GB RAM servers for 10€/month ). Since an online server is very easy to compromise, I don't see it as more secure than a commercial backup service if my data is not encrypted.


Vianney Stroebel <viybel>

 

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