Privacy

This is part two of a series about encrypted file storage/archive systems. My plan is to try out duplicity, git using transparent encryption, s3-based storage systems, git-annex and encfs+sshfs as alternatives to Dropbox/Wuala/Spideroak. The conclusion will be a blog post containing a comparison a.k.a. “executive summary” of my findings. Stay tuned. Duplicity is a command-line tool similar to rsync: you give it two locations and it synchronizes the first location to the second. Duplicity adds additional features over rsync, especially interesting for me are incremental encrypted backups to remote locations. This form of storage would prevent any hoster of gaining any information about my stored data or its metadata (like filenames, etc.). ...

Last week’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) brought internet surveillance into public news: one outcome of the conference was standardization of DPI technology. This infrastructure standard will make it easier for governments to implement large-scale surveillance and/or filtering. Funny thing is that governments are already having those capabilities, they only want to standardize it. The public outrage came too late. So let’s protect you from governments at home or abroad, the RIAA, MPAA, random eavesdroppers and anyone else that want to listen in on your secrets while you’re surfing the Internet. The initial steps are easy and cheap (or free), so there’s no reason let your security down. They might not be perfect but making the government’s job more expensive seems to be a good road to take. ...

Imagine your Laptop (or Desktop Computer) being stolen. How long will it take and how much will it cost you to get back on track? Hardware will be easy: the cost for a new premium desktop is around $1000, for a new Laptop around $2000. Your data “should” be always be back-uped somewhere anyways. But this neglects a hidden cost: some thief has all your data, including all your online identities, photos, source for software projects and private notes/pictures that you do not want to be published. How much would you value your online reputation, would you change all your online account passwords and connected applications on theft? How much time and effort would this cost you – and could you do it fast enough before the attacker might utilize that data against you? ...