How to encrypt a file or directory in Linux?
Solution 1:
I think it would be GnuPG. The syntax for files and directories differs though.
Encryption
For files (outputs filename.gpg):
gpg -c filename
For directories:
gpg-zip -c -o file.gpg dirname
Decryption
For files (outputs filename.gpg):
gpg filename.gpg
For directories:
gpg-zip -d file.gpg
Deprecation Update
It seems gpg-zip command is deprecated in recent versions. Instead, either use gpgtar command, or compress the directory (e.g. convert it to a tarball) and then encrypt it as a file.
Edit: Corrected as @Mk12 pointed out the mistake of compression/decompression for encryption/decryption.
Solution 2:
- with openssl
openssl des3 -salt -in unencrypted-data.tar -out encrypted-data.tar.des3
Decrypt:
openssl des3 -d -salt -in encrypted-data.tar.des3 -out unencrypted-data.tar
- encrypt with AES
aescrypt -e -p password file.jpg
Decrypt:
aescrypt -d -p password file.jpg.aes
Solution 3:
This is my method using openssl and tar
Open Encrypted Directory:
openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -d -in ~/vault.tar.gz.dat | tar xz; thunar ~/vault
Lock Encrypted Directory:
tar cz vault/ | openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -out ~/vault.tar.gz.dat; rm -r ~/vault