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539

optional encryption of the device

Tracked by Jolla (In progress)

asked 2013-12-26 01:26:45 +0200

ortylp gravatar image

updated 2015-05-03 14:50:13 +0200

chemist gravatar image

Option for encryption of $HOME and Android directories containing user data is needed.

Use case: I do not want to worry about my data stored on the device (including various access tokens and keys) in case I loose the phone or it gets stolen.

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Comments

see also keychain linked to TOH & link all/previous changes to TOH

AL13N ( 2013-12-26 01:45:17 +0200 )edit
6

This should be fairly easy, as Linux already has all these LUKS/dmcrypt and eCryptFS stuff done. It might however need more CPU and thus consume battery. Maybe better put it as an option users can choose it they want to.

Please add tag 'securiity'

otto ( 2013-12-26 23:34:48 +0200 )edit
25

Besides home directory ecryption, also include option to encrypt SD card contents. That would be something that not even Android supports yet. And please use some standard Linux crypto so that the SD card can be mounted and opened without the original phone.

otto ( 2013-12-26 23:36:42 +0200 )edit
3

@otto this isn't as easy as one might think, because there's a lot of catch 22's here... order of services becomes important, etc... in theory all elements are available, but i can guarantee that alot of time will be spent in order to combine it into "1 feature"

AL13N ( 2013-12-26 23:38:28 +0200 )edit
13

Looking at the locked bootloader shitstorm today, we need encryption ASAP to allow the boot loader opened again: vote, vote, vote!

We must not loose any more developers!

ortylp ( 2013-12-28 13:25:13 +0200 )edit

14 Answers

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49

answered 2013-12-26 01:34:02 +0200

Kondou gravatar image

I did spot a "jolla-devicelock-plugin-encpartition" package when rumaging through repositories, so it looks like jolla is working on something alike.

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Comments

8

yes, I got some unofficial confirmation on IRC, but it has low priority at the moment, so vote it up

ortylp ( 2013-12-26 01:41:00 +0200 )edit
41

answered 2014-01-12 18:15:14 +0200

rainisto gravatar image

Thanks for the input, we will look how to imprive the situation. Most likely some future kernel will have ecryptfs support added builtin. In a meanwhile you should enable devicelock code, as that will protect most of the use cases (not sd-card, and not people with access to hardware chip readers) against theft.

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Comments

3

Any information if this full device encryption available on next (March) update?

jaekkay ( 2014-03-07 11:02:54 +0200 )edit

modprobe ecryptfs works. So people with developer mode can play with CLI.

rainisto ( 2014-03-17 12:51:05 +0200 )edit
5

Also add the ability of precting the sd card with a password in a future update please. :)

Alex ( 2014-04-18 16:53:02 +0200 )edit

any news on this? How high (or low) on the priority list is this?

velimir ( 2014-11-07 14:44:31 +0200 )edit
2

Is the full device encryption feature part of Sailfish OS 2?

bawaji ( 2014-11-20 07:46:20 +0200 )edit
26

answered 2015-04-06 21:39:43 +0200

gabs5807 gravatar image

This is an very old feature-request. But now, with the announcement of mobile security, it is nesseccary to give this a higher priority. What help secure data/voice transfer, when the content on the mobile device is not crypted. The linux kernel used in SailfishOS supports LUKS/cryptsetup and the dmcrypt kenel modul. The standard boot mechanism with systemd also support loading the modul during boot and ask for a passphrase to unlock the device. Unlocking the root, the home and the sim card with the same passphrase should be possible and the UI to wayland grafic engine should also be possible. I hope at SailfishOS V2.0 this feature request wil be implemented.

Greetings

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15

answered 2015-10-23 03:47:23 +0200

fuckup23 gravatar image

updated 2015-10-23 03:48:48 +0200

little workaround i just tried:

  • Install cryptsetup from openrepos.net
  • plug in a sd card
  • cryptsetup -y -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 create sdcard /dev/mmcblk1
  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/sdcard
  • mkdir /home/nemo/crypto
  • mount /dev/mapper/sdcard /home/nemo/crypto
  • mv /home/nemo/Pictures /home/nemo/crypto/Pictures
  • ln - /home/nemo/crypto/Pictures /home/nemo/Pictures
  • do the same with .cache/.nemothumbs

  • add this line to /etc/fstab/:

/dev/mapper/sdcard /home/nemo/crypt ext4 defaults,noatime,user,noauto 0 0

  • unlock script:

sudo /usr/sbin/cryptsetup open /dev/mmcblk1 sdcard --type plain

mount /dev/mapper/sdcard

sudo /bin/chown nemo /home/nemo/crypt

  • lock script:

umount /home/nemo/crypt

sudo /usr/sbin/cryptsetup close sdcard

  • install sudo and edit /etc/sudoers:

nemo ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/cryptsetup close sdcard

nemo ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/cryptsetup open /dev/mmcblk1 sdcard --type plain

nemo ALL=NOPASSWD: /bin/chown nemo /home/nemo/crypt

there you are! More a hack than a solution, but this will protect your photos.


PS: this comes with absolutely no warranty, do not just copy+paste!

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Comments

1

if there was the option of activating the boot screen with a virtual keyboard, we could just mount /home to the crypt-device. Would this be so hard to implement?

fuckup23 ( 2015-11-03 23:16:11 +0200 )edit

Thank you for the tip, has anyone tried this on SailfishOS 2 maybe? How does cryptsetup know what key to use, is it stored on the disk somewhere? Also, would it be much different to use luks (and safer as well, as in easier not to overwrite your data eg.)?

omichalek ( 2016-01-17 18:16:54 +0200 )edit

Hello, all! Is it possible to put this into one complete "instruction manual" to move everything into an encrypted "box"? I have nothing against some work in the terminal, but see: a newbie would have some trouble with these instructions. To be able to learn, some explanation would be nice. For instance, the usage of the instructions means that you make up a whole new file system on the SD card. The stuff on the SD card will be lost! This should be written down in there! Furthermore: is it possible to use it on the whole "home" folder? I am not so much into linux, so I'd better ask. As far as I see, you mount the SD card into /home/crypto and link the original pictures folder to a new encrypted folder on the SD card. Is this right? Such comments would make it far more readable and understandable for any newbie. What does the line "do the same with .cache/.nemothumbs" exactly mean? until I know this, I won't start working on a running system. How would I make a backup and put it back, if parts of the system were encrypted? Would this work?

ds1979 ( 2018-01-22 11:31:40 +0200 )edit

Hi,

my Jolla phone broke a few month after I wrote this comment. It had this series defect with the battery. I never touched a Jolla again. And I never will!

For me the Nokia N9 is still the best phone ever.

But the Jolla thing was garbage in hard- and software. And it was a fraud to sell this prototype as a product. Even basic functionality wasn't working well.

Maybe they wanted to much. they had fancy GUI, android support etc. everything with bugs. Instead cronstructing just a simple and working, phone. Someone who wants to run android applications just buys an android tlephone.

I thought Jolla was bankrupt and dead. now I read on wikipedia that the last release of the OS was a few month ago ...

fuckup23 ( 2018-01-22 22:35:05 +0200 )edit

Too bad for you. :-(

Could you please still read your text and hopefully answer most of my questions? Thank you in advance! Especially "do the same with .cache/.nemothumbs" is of interest.

Well, I see your comment very differently. The Sailfish OS works - except for anything that needs the Google stuff. But I use my smartphone only as second device besides my laptop, so I am not so much affected by it. I have had a device, which has lost connection to the battery all the time. But I think that for the first device, it was not such a bad product. If I remember the iPhone 1, I would say that the Jolla was more useable and you were able to add functionality by yourself if you wanted to learn or ask. I don't want to use Android apps, but unfortunately there are some that work. I like the principle in Sailfish OS from Unix: "Do one thing and do it well". I have found many apps with minor functionality to Android apps, but they do their work well. And: I have control above my own data. I have a home folder which is analog to my linux laptop. I can install very many stuff on the command line as a user who wants to know how and what. Here might be the difference: Jolla is not a phone for the iPhone user. It is one for people who are interested in how it works and who would do some research in forums and the internet to find out, how to get something working - like the encryption. :-) If you have your old device, try to get it working. :-) I still like it better than my old iPhone or my new Nokia 5. For me, it is more usable and much faster in every day use. Cheers!

ds1979 ( 2018-01-23 08:36:23 +0200 )edit
14

answered 2014-02-08 18:29:58 +0200

Rolfa gravatar image

As an alternative, I suggest porting TrueCrypt to the Jolla phone (TrueCrypt runs very well on my N900).

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Comments

3

Truecrypt is IMHO not a good fit here as it creates containers with a fixed size. Additionally there may be license issues as the Truecrypt license allows to view the source code but prohibits changing it.

schmittlauch ( 2014-03-16 20:29:20 +0200 )edit
9

"WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues" see: http://www.truecrypt.org/

utkiek ( 2014-05-29 18:13:01 +0200 )edit
2

@utkiek "...as any written software on the planet" :-)

simosagi ( 2014-06-07 10:53:12 +0200 )edit
2

@schmittlauch@utkiek TrueCrypt should work out as intended, audit came out clean. And there are optional forks, like VeraCrypt being actively developed - it supports TrueCrypt-containers too. While dm-crypt with luks might be the best option, having support for encrypted containers made with True/VeraCrypt would be really nice to have.

tuotantoarvio ( 2015-04-23 02:12:17 +0200 )edit
2

why use a non-free unsupported software, when there is a free and supported one (dm_crypt/luks) in linux?

fuckup23 ( 2015-10-28 21:14:31 +0200 )edit
9

answered 2014-01-08 14:30:43 +0200

chemist gravatar image

updated 2014-01-16 02:25:08 +0200

I know from @Aard that this is WIP/OnToDoList. This will take a while, crypt modules will get to the kernel soon but only for testing purpose for the mean time.

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Comments

2

just repeating my comment from 26th Dec... WTF?

ortylp ( 2014-01-15 22:45:35 +0200 )edit

@ortylp Sry did not read the comments and this is a valid answer and not a comment! I talked to aard myself.

chemist ( 2014-01-16 02:23:54 +0200 )edit
7

answered 2014-12-08 23:19:35 +0200

the_mgt gravatar image

Part of the SD Card specification is the ability to lock cards with a password. Nokia phones supported that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#Card_password Of course, the card will probably only be readable with the phone that it was encrypted on. Sources on the web say, it might be compatible to identical devices.

I guess the NSA and the Bavarian Illuminati have a master key for that encryption, but at least your local police might not be able to search your sd card. It would be totally neat of course if all photos taken with the Jolla were stored on the locked card.

This was already proposed by @Alex in Apr 18 '14, but this feature of the SD cards seem to be neglected throughout tjc.

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Comments

Simply use Secrecy an Android app that encrypts image and file data, you would have to copy it into the container and delete the unprotected file.

http://m.playboi2nv.store.aptoide.com/app/market/com.doplgangr.secrecy/53/7898510/SECRECY+-+Encrypt%2FHide+Files+α#

DarkTuring ( 2016-10-28 03:25:38 +0200 )edit
7

answered 2016-08-17 22:33:46 +0200

hoschi gravatar image

updated 2016-08-17 22:36:54 +0200

For the next official device I want ask for hardware-based encryption through the memory itself.
Rational: As fast, as without encryption. Works transparently, for all operating-systems (rescue-system, adb, sailfish and so on). Laptops and most modern SSDs with ATA-Secure have shown, it works.

Please note, you don't need unlock the key for the drive during runtime (i.e. devicelock) only during power-up. During runtime the the device-lock protects your device.

Benefit for Jolla: Less code to develop, less surface to make mistakes.

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6

answered 2015-05-03 02:38:33 +0200

pisco gravatar image

"A set of patches adding encryption to the ext4 filesystem" is announced for kernel version 4.1.  󠀠󠀠It is said to be easier on the resources than other approaches.

Any chance to benefit from it?

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Comments

No, we probably will never get 4.1, at least not for the phone.

chemist ( 2015-05-03 12:37:38 +0200 )edit

@chemist please explain ...

luchmhor ( 2015-07-03 11:03:09 +0200 )edit
4

As long as Qualcomm sits on their drivers we are stuck with what we have now, and as it is very unlikely that they upgrade them even themselves there won't be a newer Kernel possible.

chemist ( 2015-07-03 14:40:07 +0200 )edit

that is disappointing

strayobject ( 2015-09-16 16:46:10 +0200 )edit
5

answered 2015-08-24 10:31:53 +0200

cray gravatar image

I find LUKS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Unified_Key_Setup) to be best for my use cases. It's pretty standard so SD card can be used in any Linux system and you can select whatever file system you want on top of LUKS.

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Asked: 2013-12-26 01:26:45 +0200

Seen: 13,297 times

Last updated: Aug 18 '16