Encrypt your client data in 53 minutes

Thanks to Aaron's continued efforts to make us ever more security conscious, I've been encrypting client data on my laptop. This came up in conversation during erubycon (thanks EdgeCase for a fun conference with engaging evening events). A couple of people asked me to get them started on encrypting their data too.

Here are instructions. They're written for Mac users, but they'd be nearly identical for Linux and Windows users since TrueCrypt is available there too.

1. Install TrueCrypt.
2. Create a container based encrypted file. Pick FAT as the file system. I use both keyfiles and a password.
3. Erase the FAT partition and then format as HFS/ext2/[fs of choice] using Disk Utility/[partition manager of choice]. Name it client_data.
4. Mount the newly created partition.
5. Move your sensitive data to /Volumes/client_data. This is by far the slowest part of the process. While you wait, watch The Enemies of Reason (48 minutes -- everything else should take 5 minutes or less).
6. Modify TrueCrypt preferences to suit your needs. Some suggestions: leave encrypted volumes mounted when quitting TrueCrypt, set Auto-dismount volume after 30 minutes of inactivity in the partition.

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, I use a script to automatically create aliases to allow easy switching to project directories. All I had to do was switch that entry to point to /Volumes/client_data instead of the old ~/work/client_data. Now, when I want to work on client projects or contracts, I launch TrueCrypt, mount the container and open a new terminal window. All my old aliases work just like they used to.

Mac users: if you don't care about the cross-platform compatibility that TrueCrypt offers, and trust Apple to encrypt your data, you could use Disk Utility to create encrypted partitions instead. Some people insist it's more convenient (You know who you are!).