My BetterBankStatement application parses my bank statements and produces summaries of what I’ve spent my money on. I’ve also started storing my documents online on Dropbox, which keeps my files synchronized on my home computer and at work. Not wanting my personal information to fall into the wrong hands I decided to encrypt the folders containing my bank statements.

EncFS & Cryptkeeper

EncFS runs in user space and does not require any special permissions - nothing needs to be run as root. You specify a folder to be encrypted and a mount point and EncFS will handle the rest. EncFS encrypts files individually. This has the advantage of using less disc space and can be used for automated backups. Examining the encrypted folder will give a list of files with the name and contents encrypted.

TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is cross platform encryption software with builds available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. TrueCrypt provides two methods of encryption:

  • Entire partitions or storage devices, for example a USB flash drive
  • Virtual encrypted disks. Large flat files which can be mounted on the folder

TrueCrypt is not available in the Ubuntu repositories. You have to download the installer from the TrueCrypt website.

I’ve chosen to use EncFS and CryptFS because I needed to store my encrypted files on my Dropbox.

EncFS also has a handy front-end called cryptkeeper.

Using Cryptkeeper

From the shell prompt type the following command:

sudo aptitude install cryptkeeper

You should now find Cryptkeeper in Applications -> System Tools -> Cryptkeeper

A Cryptkeeper icon should then appear in the notifications area of your panel. Clicking on this icon will make a drop-down menu appear.

Select “New encrypted folder” and find a folder which you would like to encrypt.

Click the “Forward” button and then enter a password. Your encrypted folder should now appear in your file manager.

This folder will now in the Cryptkeeper menu. This allows you to easily find the folder when you wish to mount it again. Un-checking the menu item will unmount the folder.

References