Mailinabox: encrypted filesystem with encfs

[Korni22]

It would be nice to know that your mailboxes are safely encrypted instead of lying around in plaintext.

[JoshData]

Hi, Korni.

An encrypted filesystem is out of scope for the current phase of this project. It's too much to get into threat models that presume a level of access to the machine that an encrypted filesystem would mitigate.

I'm going to leave the issue open, though.

[martindale]

+1 on this issue. I think this definitely falls within the long-term scope, if not the short-term. Server seizures are a common concern, and doubly so if the recommended install method is on a VM that can be easily imaged or subpoena'd.

[kylemanna]

I'd consider eCryptfs over Encfs, currently use it for some data-at-rest. Being kernel space seems like a bonus to me. Comparison on Arch Wiki: Disk Encryption

[ageis]

I've long thought about the problem of protecting data at rest, like mail spools, without requiring a separate disk/partition. There's stuff like EncFS, loop-AES, VeraCrypt... Many of them fall short in different ways, or have problems related to being old or unmaintained. eCryptfs is OK, but for my money I would rather suggest dm-crypt on a loopback device.

In order for the encryption to not be totally useless, obviously you can't really have auto-mounting with the key residing on the same server. You'd have to manually enter the passphrase on every boot.

[semente]

@ageis @JoshData what about https://0xacab.org/riseuplabs/trees ?
riseup.net is deploying it now: https://riseup.net/en/about-us/press/canary-statement

Should I open a new Issue or it is not on your plans?

[kben]

As an mail storage encryption alternative. Was dovecot mail-crypt-plugin considered?