Setting Up An Encrypted File System With Yast - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 - INSTALLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 08-05-2008 Installation Manual

mounted and the contents are made available to the user. Refer to
"Using Encrypted Home Directories"
Encrypting Single ASCII Text Files
If you only have a small number of ASCII text files that hold sensitive or confiden-
tial data, you can encrypt them individually and protect them with a password using
the vi editor. Refer to
(page 870) for more information.
WARNING: Encrypted Media Offers Limited Protection
The methods described in this chapter offer only limited protection. You cannot
protect your running system from being compromised. After the encrypted
medium is successfully mounted, everybody with appropriate permissions has
access to it. However, encrypted media are useful in case of loss or theft of
your computer or to prevent unauthorized individuals from reading your con-
fidential data.
47.1 Setting Up an Encrypted File
Use YaST to encrypt partitions or parts of your file system during installation or in an
already installed system. However, encrypting a partition in an already installed system
is more difficult, because you have to resize and change existing partitions. In such
cases, it may be more convenient to create an encrypted file of a defined size in which
to store other files or parts of your file system. To encrypt an entire partition, dedicate
a partition for encryption in the partition layout. The standard partitioning proposal as
suggested by YaST, does not include an encrypted partition, by default. Add it manually
in the partitioning dialog.
866 Installation and Administration
Section 47.3, "Using vi to Encrypt Single ASCII Text Files"
System with YaST
(page 869) for more information.
Section 47.2,