Filesystem-level encryption: Difference between revisions

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{{UnreferencedMore citations needed|date=JulyOctober 20092024}}

'''Filesystem-level encryption''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=File-Level Encryption |url=https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/glossary/file-level-encryption/ |access-date=2024-10-18 |website=PCI Security Standards Council |language=en-US}}</ref> often called [['''file-based encryption''', '''FBE''', or '''file/folder encryption]]''', is a form of [[disk encryption]] where individual files or directories are [[encryption|encrypted]] by the [[file system]] itself.

This is in contrast to the [[full disk encryption]] where the entire partition or disk, in which the file system resides, is encrypted.

Types of filesystem-level encryption include:

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The advantages of filesystem-level encryption include:

* flexible file-based [[key management]], so that each file can be and usually is encrypted with a separate encryption key{{factcitation needed|date=November 2013}}

* individual management of encrypted files e.g. incremental backups of the individual changed files even in encrypted form, rather than backup of the entire encrypted volume{{clarify|how it differs from a _non-crypto_ incremental-backup, please... and the purpose (e.g. importance of backing up to another encrypted physical-disk so data remains secure but a lost token, lost disk, etc doesn't make the data irretrievable?)|date=January 2011}}

* [[access control]] can be enforced through the use of [[public-key cryptography]], and

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Unlike cryptographic file systems or [[full disk encryption]], general-purpose file systems that include filesystem-level encryption do not typically encrypt file system [[metadata]], such as the directory structure, file names, sizes or modification timestamps. This can be problematic if the metadata itself needs to be kept confidential. In other words, if files are stored with identifying file names, anyone who has access to the physical disk can know which documents are stored on the disk, although not the contents of the documents.

One exception to this is the encryption support being added to the [[ZFS]] filesystem. Filesystem metadata such as filenames, ownership, ACLs, extended attributes are all stored encrypted on disk. The ZFS metadata relating to the storage pool is stored in [[plaintext]], so it is possible to determine how many filesystems (datasets) are available in the pool, including which ones are encrypted. The content of the stored files and directories remain encrypted.

Another exception is [[CryFS]] replacement for [[EncFS]].

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==See also==

{{Portal|Cryptography}}

* [[Steganographic file system]]

* [[List of cryptographic file systems]]

* [[Disk encryption]]

* [[Disk encryption|Full disk encryption]]

* [[Encryption layer in storage stack]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{File systems}}