[gentoo-user] Re: [OT crypto] How to encrypt a directory without root?

[Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>]

Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> writes:

> On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 22:12:29 -0600, Harry Putnam wrote:
>
>> I have an encfs encrpted partition on my home machine.. However I want
>> a back up offsite.   
>> 
>> The encrypted partition would be mounted, the contents tarred/gzipped,
>> mcrypt'ed on home machine then scp'ed to the remote for offsite
>> storage once a week or so, overwriting each time.
>
> Why not just tar up the underlying encfs partition? The data is already
> encrypted, what's the point of decrypting it to encrypt it again? That
> way you don't need to rely on any encryption software on the remote
> computer.

I wanted the option of decrypting on the remote if need be... that is
if my home machine is not accessible for whatever reason.

For example, if I wanted a forgotten password laying in a text file
but encfs encrypted and on the remote.  When for one or another reason
I cannot get it from the home machine.

In your scenario, I'd need access to both home machine and remote at
the same time to first get the blob of encrypted data off the remote
and then to decrypt it on home.

Or am I missing some easy solution?

I've been having a troublesome freeze up on the home machine and not
making much progress in debugging it.

Of course the remedy is to fix whatever is causing it but for now,
when it happens the machine cannot be accessed from keyboard, or by
ssh.  It requires a full (hard) reboot to get it going again.

If I happen to be away from home when that happened, I'd want access
to a backup on the remote... but it would need to be decrypted to
be of any use.