Re: Encrypted File Systems

As it was written on Jul 30, thus Ricardo Oliva spake unto security-basics@...:

Ricardo:  Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 10:29:24 -0700
Ricardo:  From: Ricardo Oliva 
Ricardo:  To: security-basics@securityfocus.com
Ricardo:  Subject: Encrypted File Systems
Ricardo:
Ricardo:  Hi,
Ricardo:
Ricardo:  I am just trying to get some info on the best method available for having
Ricardo:  files encrypted on a system. This is a laptop that is going to be used
Ricardo:  outside our physical environment and I would like to make sure that info is
Ricardo:  not accessed in case of the laptop going missing, etc...
Ricardo:
Ricardo:  I understand that the Windows EFS implementation had some issues on win2k,
Ricardo:  and that the XP implementation is slightly better. Any comments on that?
Ricardo:
Ricardo:  Any solutions for win98?
Ricardo:
Ricardo:  Thanks in advance.

I highly recommend and use PGPdisk (v. 6.0.2i).

Assuming the laptop was stolen and the account (that uses EFS) is cracked, EFS will not help you as the data is still readable.

At least with PGPdisk, you must enter a password to decrypt the file which then mounts itself as a drive letter.

Then again, since you asked about Win98, EFS is not a part of that OS. EFS is only availiable on NTFS 5.0 and higher (ie: Windows 2000 and higher)

HTH

 Scott Birl                              
http://concept.temple.edu/sysadmin/
 Senior Systems Administrator            Computer Services   Temple University