4

I have the following use case:

  1. There's some data from my PC I want to periodically back-up online
  2. I own some hosting, so I want to use that for the backups, don't want to pay to another backup service
  3. I want to encrypt my data locally prior to moving it to the server

I have no problem writing scripts to automate the process (say, periodically generate the backup and upload by FTP to my server), but my main question is about step 3 - the encryption: which way is recommended to encrypt my files (say, collected into a .ZIP) prior to uploading to the server?

P.S. TrueCrypt seems popular but it's not quite what I'm looking for, since I don't want the files to be constantly encrypted here on my PC.

7
  • A word of warning though-Hosting services usually do not allow personal backups to be stored there.
    – JFW
    Sep 11, 2010 at 11:09
  • 1
    @JFW: what do you mean? It's my paid hosting, do they care what I use it for, as long as it's not child porn or stuff like that? Sep 24, 2010 at 15:41
  • @Eli Usually in their Terms and Conditions, there is one part of the document where they do not allow users to host their own private files, even if it's your own paid hosting. (Unless the service is exclusively a File Hosting service and not a web hosting service.)
    – JFW
    Sep 25, 2010 at 7:03
  • @JFW: that's weird, given that all my website files are my private files in some sense. For instance, if I host my private photo album there - is it considered backup? Sep 25, 2010 at 7:27
  • If you host your private photo album and have it as part of your website, it should be fine. If you host your private photo album in a closed folder (As in blocking connections from the whole world.), then that would be considered backup.
    – JFW
    Sep 26, 2010 at 13:04

4 Answers 4

4

Actually, TrueCrypt might help you greatly here. As part of an automated process, say via batch file, you could:

  1. Mount a TrueCrypt volume using TrueCrypt's command line interface (or just do it manually).

  2. Copy the files you want to back up into the mounted volume.

  3. Unmount the volume.

  4. Upload the TrueCrypt container to the server in the manner of your choosing.

1
  • I ended up rolling my own with PyCrypto, but I accept this answer because I really like TrueCrypt and its being open-source. Jun 25, 2010 at 13:59
4

Bundle the files into <archive format of choice>, then encrypt the whole thing with GnuPG.

3
  • 2
    Also, the 7z format uses strong encryption, so if you use 7z you could skip the GPG step altogether. Jun 12, 2010 at 5:34
  • +1 for GPG. If you use symmetric encryption with a passphrase you don't need to set up public/private keys. Jun 12, 2010 at 5:43
  • Just remember to set the compression ratio of zip/rar/7zip to zero before archiving it.
    – Nifle
    Jun 12, 2010 at 7:30
2

Take a look at Cobian Backup It offers encryption, compression and supports FTP, it's also free

1
  • I've used Cobian as well, and it's pretty good. I'd advise using the encryption you get from an archive, rather than using Cobian's own encryption, on the grounds it's easier to recover from.
    – Dentrasi
    Jun 12, 2010 at 8:56
1

If you know how to write scripts, you could do something really cool with the encryption. Write it Yourself!

The famous RSA encryption scheme is time tested and very secure, and its only 5 steps of simple algebra. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA#A_worked_example

I did it in java for school but if you hate algebra it may not be for you.

1
  • 1
    While inventing a security system may be entertaining, in general if you actually want something to be secure, you should almost never roll your own. Use existing technologies because they are time-tested, peer-reviewed, and have already come across and fixed the corner cases and potential weaknesses that you haven't. Jun 25, 2010 at 16:08

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .