Other names | Disk encryption software |
---|---|
Operating system | macOS |
License | Proprietary |
- Into The Crypt Mac Os X
- Into The Crypt Mac Os Catalina
- Into The Crypt Mac Os Download
- Into The Crypt Mac Os 11
In the Finder on your Mac, open a window, then Control-click the item you want to encrypt in the sidebar. Choose Encrypt item name from the shortcut menu. Create a password for the disk and click Encrypt Disk. Important: Be sure to record and keep this password in a safe place. Mac OS X LLVM/gcc based crypt fuction is borked junk, hardwired to only use DES, a proven breakable hash, worse than MD5. (Call it with the salt string as $6$, and you will get back a 13 char DES hash. Versions and key features. FileVault was introduced with Mac OS X Panther (10.3), and could only be applied to a user's home directory, not the startup volume. The operating system uses an encrypted sparse disk image (a large single file) to present a volume for the home directory. Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard use more modern sparse bundle disk images which spread the data over 8.
FileVault is a disk encryption program in Mac OS X 10.3 (2003) and later. It performs on-the-fly encryption with volumes on Mac computers.
Versions and key features[edit]
FileVault was introduced with Mac OS X Panther (10.3),[1] and could only be applied to a user's home directory, not the startup volume. The operating system uses an encrypted sparse disk image (a large single file) to present a volume for the home directory. https://bestcfile895.weebly.com/red-baron-flight-sim-mac-os.html. Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard use more modern sparse bundle disk images[2] which spread the data over 8 MB files (called bands) within a bundle. Apple refers to this original iteration of FileVault as legacy FileVault.[3] Fapic mac os.
Mac OS X Lion (2011) and newer offer FileVault 2,[3] which is a significant redesign. This encrypts the entire OS X startup volume and typically includes the home directory, abandoning the disk image approach. For this approach to disk encryption, authorised users' information is loaded from a separate non-encrypted boot volume[4] (partition/slice type Apple_Boot).
FileVault[edit]
The original version of FileVault was added in Mac OS X Panther to encrypt a user's home directory.
Master passwords and recovery keys[edit]
When FileVault is enabled the system invites the user to create a master password for the computer. If a user password is forgotten, the master password or recovery key may be used to decrypt the files instead.
Migration[edit]
Migration of FileVault home directories is subject to two limitations:[5]
- there must be no prior migration to the target computer
- the target must have no existing user accounts.
If Migration Assistant has already been used or if there are user accounts on the target:
- before migration, FileVault must be disabled at the source.
If transferring FileVault data from a previous Mac that uses 10.4 using the built-in utility to move data to a new machine, the data continues to be stored in the old sparse image format, and the user must turn FileVault off and then on again to re-encrypt in the new sparse bundle format.
Manual encryption[edit]
Instead of using FileVault to encrypt a user's home directory, using Disk Utility a user can create an encrypted disk image themselves and store any subset of their home directory in there (for example, ~/Documents/private). This encrypted image behaves similar to a FileVault encrypted home directory, but is under the user's maintenance.
Into The Crypt Mac Os X
Encrypting only a part of a user's home directory might be problematic when applications need access to the encrypted files, which will not be available until the user mounts the encrypted image. This can be mitigated to a certain extent by making symbolic links for these specific files.
Limitations and issues[edit]
Backups[edit]
- These limitations apply to versions of Mac OS X prior to v10.7 only.
Without Mac OS X Server, Time Machine will back up a FileVault home directory only while the user is logged out. In such cases, Time Machine is limited to backing up the home directory in its entirety. Using Mac OS X Server as a Time Machine destination, backups of FileVault home directories occur while users are logged in.
Because FileVault restricts the ways in which other users' processes can access the user's content, some third party backup solutions can back up the contents of a user's FileVault home directory only if other parts of the computer (including other users' home directories) are excluded.[6][7]
Issues[edit]
Several shortcomings were identified in Legacy FileVault. Its security can be broken by cracking either 1024-bit RSA or 3DES-EDE.
Legacy FileVault used the CBC mode of operation (see disk encryption theory); FileVault 2 uses stronger XTS-AESW mode. Another issue is storage of keys in the macOS 'safe sleep' mode.[8] A study published in 2008 found data remanence in dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), with data retention of seconds to minutes at room temperature and much longer times when memory chips were cooled to low temperature. The study authors were able to use a cold boot attack to recover cryptographic keys for several popular disk encryption systems, including FileVault, by taking advantage of redundancy in the way keys are stored after they have been expanded for efficient use, such as in key scheduling. The authors recommend that computers be powered down, rather than be left in a 'sleep' state, when not in physical control by the owner.[9]
Early versions of FileVault automatically stored the user's passphrase in the system keychain, requiring the user to notice and manually disable this security hole.
In 2006, following a talk at the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress titled Unlocking FileVault: An Analysis of Apple's Encrypted Disk Storage System, Jacob Appelbaum & Ralf-Philipp Weinmann released VileFault which decrypts encrypted Mac OS X disk image files.[10] Hunt for vengeance mac os.
A free space wipe using Disk Utility left a large portion of previously deleted file remnants intact. Similarly, FileVault compact operations only wiped small parts of previously deleted data.[11]
FileVault 2[edit]
Security[edit]
FileVault uses the user's login password as the encryption pass phrase. It uses the XTS-AES mode of AES with 128 bit blocks and a 256 bit key to encrypt the disk, as recommended by NIST.[12][13] Only unlock-enabled users can start or unlock the drive. Once unlocked, other users may also use the computer until it is shut down.[3]
Performance[edit]
The I/O performance penalty for using FileVault 2 was found to be in the order of around 3% when using CPUs with the AES instruction set, such as the Intel Core i, and OS X 10.10.3.[14] Performance deterioration will be larger for CPUs without this instruction set, such as older Core CPUs.
Into The Crypt Mac Os Catalina
Master passwords and recovery keys[edit]
When FileVault 2 is enabled while the system is running, the system creates and displays a recovery key for the computer, and optionally offers the user to store the key with Apple. The 120 bit recovery key is encoded with all letters and numbers 1 through 9, and read from /dev/random, and therefore relies on the security of the PRNG used in macOS. During a cryptanalysis in 2012, this mechanism was found safe.[15]
Changing the recovery key is not possible without re-encrypting the File Vault volume.[3]
Validation[edit]
Users who use FileVault 2 in OS X 10.9 and above can validate their key correctly works after encryption by running sudo fdesetup validaterecovery in Terminal after encryption has finished. The key must be in form xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx and will return true if correct.[16]
Starting the OS with FileVault 2 without a user account[edit]
If a volume to be used for startup is erased and encrypted before clean installation of OS X 10.7.4 or 10.8:
- there is a password for the volume
- the clean system will immediately behave as if FileVault was enabled after installation
- there is no recovery key, no option to store the key with Apple (but the system will behave as if a key was created)
- when the computer is started, Disk Password will appear at the EfiLoginUI – this may be used to unlock the volume and start the system
- the running system will present the traditional login window.
Apple describes this type of approach as Disk Password—based DEK.[12]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Apple Previews Mac OS X 'Panther''. Apple Press Info. Apple. June 23, 2003. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ScottW (November 5, 2007). 'Live FileVault and Sparse Bundle Backups in Leopard'. macosx.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ abcdApple Inc (August 9, 2012). 'OS X: About FileVault 2'. Apple Inc. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^Apple Inc (August 17, 2012). 'Best Practices for Deploying FileVault 2'(PDF). Apple Inc. p. 40. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^'Archived - Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: Transferring data with Setup Assistant / Migration Assistant FAQ'. Apple support. Apple. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^'Using Encrypted Disks'. CrashPlan PROe support. CrashPlan PROe. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^'Using CrashPlan with FileVault'. CrashPlan support. CrashPlan. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^Jacob Appelbaum, Ralf-Philipp Weinmann (December 29, 2006). 'Unlocking FileVault: An Analysis of Apple's disk encryption'(PDF). Retrieved March 31, 2007.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^J. Alex Halderman; et al. (February 2008). 'Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on May 14, 2008.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^'Unlocking FileVault: An analysis of Apple's disk encryption system'(PDF).
- ^'File Vault's Dirty Little Secrets'.
- ^ abApple, Inc (August 17, 2012). 'Best Practices for Deploying FileVault 2'(PDF). Apple, Inc. p. 28. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^Dworkin, Morris (January 2010). 'Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: The XTS-AES Mode for Confidentiality on Storage Devices'(PDF). NIST Special Publication (800–3E).
- ^'Tech ARP - How Fast is the 512 GB PCIe X4 SSD in the 2015 MacBook Pro?'.
- ^Choudary, Omar; Felix Grobert; Joachim Metz (July 2012). 'Infiltrate the Vault: Security Analysis and Decryption of Lion Full Disk Encryption'. Retrieved January 19, 2013.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^'fdesetup(8) Mac OS X Manual Page'. Apple. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
How far would you like to go to safeguard your Mac from unauthorised access? If the answer to that question is, as far as it takes, you'd probably be interested in knowing about FileVault – a highly advanced encryption mechanism that allows you to apply an extra layer of security to your Mac HDD as well as Mac-based external USBs. Stay with us as we cover the salient features of File Vault and describe the process that you can use to protect your internal and external hard drives with this utility.
How to Encrypt Mac HDD and External USB in Mac OS X El Capitan using FileVault
Distillation tray design manual. What is FileVault?
Let's start with a brief introduction. FileVault is a full-disk encryption scheme that uses XTS-AES 128 encryption to help prevent unauthorized access to your Mac. First introduced in 2003, the scheme encrypts and decrypts Mac volumes on-the-fly. When the Mac is shut down, FileVault encrypts it and locks it with a password. To access the system, the user must key in the password to unlock and decrypt it.
To use FileVault safely, you must always remember your password correctly. You can choose to backup your password on Apple server. The backup is protected by three security questions. To access the backed up password, you'll have to answer the security questions.
The current version of FileVault is known as FileVault 2, and it is an improved version of the original or 'Legacy FileVault.' FileVault 2 cannot be used with every Mac and all drive configurations. It can only be enabled on a single drive containing OS X and Recovery partitions.
In addition to encrypting Mac hard disk drive, FileVault 2 also helps you encrypt removable drives. This allows you to protect your Time Machine backup drives. Additional advantages of the scheme include the ability to instantly wipe all encryption keys and all data from your Mac, thus making all information completely inaccessible. It is thus quite a handy utility to protect your Mac and the crucial data on it.
Though it's probably the most efficient way of making sure your data is always safe, FileVault 2 has its drawbacks, degraded performance being a major one. Applying encryption and decryption on-the-fly takes its toll on the processor and systems with older Core CPUs experience significant performance lag.
An aspect that you should take care of while using FileVault 2 is that it is transparent to anyone once the system is logged in. This means that once you've unlocked and decrypted the Mac with your password if anyone gains access to the machine all your data could very well be stolen. Hence, you must ensure that you don't leave your Mac unattended if it is unlocked. To fully lock the encrypted drive, the best way is a full shutdown of the Mac.
How to Enable FileVault on Mac HDD
You can enable FileVault encryption on your Mac hard disk drive with the following steps:
Step #1. Log in to OS X El Capitan with an administrator account.
Step #2. Go to Apple menu (top left corner) → System Preference.
Step #3. Click on Security & Privacy.
Manual encryption[edit]
Instead of using FileVault to encrypt a user's home directory, using Disk Utility a user can create an encrypted disk image themselves and store any subset of their home directory in there (for example, ~/Documents/private). This encrypted image behaves similar to a FileVault encrypted home directory, but is under the user's maintenance.
Into The Crypt Mac Os X
Encrypting only a part of a user's home directory might be problematic when applications need access to the encrypted files, which will not be available until the user mounts the encrypted image. This can be mitigated to a certain extent by making symbolic links for these specific files.
Limitations and issues[edit]
Backups[edit]
- These limitations apply to versions of Mac OS X prior to v10.7 only.
Without Mac OS X Server, Time Machine will back up a FileVault home directory only while the user is logged out. In such cases, Time Machine is limited to backing up the home directory in its entirety. Using Mac OS X Server as a Time Machine destination, backups of FileVault home directories occur while users are logged in.
Because FileVault restricts the ways in which other users' processes can access the user's content, some third party backup solutions can back up the contents of a user's FileVault home directory only if other parts of the computer (including other users' home directories) are excluded.[6][7]
Issues[edit]
Several shortcomings were identified in Legacy FileVault. Its security can be broken by cracking either 1024-bit RSA or 3DES-EDE.
Legacy FileVault used the CBC mode of operation (see disk encryption theory); FileVault 2 uses stronger XTS-AESW mode. Another issue is storage of keys in the macOS 'safe sleep' mode.[8] A study published in 2008 found data remanence in dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), with data retention of seconds to minutes at room temperature and much longer times when memory chips were cooled to low temperature. The study authors were able to use a cold boot attack to recover cryptographic keys for several popular disk encryption systems, including FileVault, by taking advantage of redundancy in the way keys are stored after they have been expanded for efficient use, such as in key scheduling. The authors recommend that computers be powered down, rather than be left in a 'sleep' state, when not in physical control by the owner.[9]
Early versions of FileVault automatically stored the user's passphrase in the system keychain, requiring the user to notice and manually disable this security hole.
In 2006, following a talk at the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress titled Unlocking FileVault: An Analysis of Apple's Encrypted Disk Storage System, Jacob Appelbaum & Ralf-Philipp Weinmann released VileFault which decrypts encrypted Mac OS X disk image files.[10] Hunt for vengeance mac os.
A free space wipe using Disk Utility left a large portion of previously deleted file remnants intact. Similarly, FileVault compact operations only wiped small parts of previously deleted data.[11]
FileVault 2[edit]
Security[edit]
FileVault uses the user's login password as the encryption pass phrase. It uses the XTS-AES mode of AES with 128 bit blocks and a 256 bit key to encrypt the disk, as recommended by NIST.[12][13] Only unlock-enabled users can start or unlock the drive. Once unlocked, other users may also use the computer until it is shut down.[3]
Performance[edit]
The I/O performance penalty for using FileVault 2 was found to be in the order of around 3% when using CPUs with the AES instruction set, such as the Intel Core i, and OS X 10.10.3.[14] Performance deterioration will be larger for CPUs without this instruction set, such as older Core CPUs.
Into The Crypt Mac Os Catalina
Master passwords and recovery keys[edit]
When FileVault 2 is enabled while the system is running, the system creates and displays a recovery key for the computer, and optionally offers the user to store the key with Apple. The 120 bit recovery key is encoded with all letters and numbers 1 through 9, and read from /dev/random, and therefore relies on the security of the PRNG used in macOS. During a cryptanalysis in 2012, this mechanism was found safe.[15]
Changing the recovery key is not possible without re-encrypting the File Vault volume.[3]
Validation[edit]
Users who use FileVault 2 in OS X 10.9 and above can validate their key correctly works after encryption by running sudo fdesetup validaterecovery in Terminal after encryption has finished. The key must be in form xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx and will return true if correct.[16]
Starting the OS with FileVault 2 without a user account[edit]
If a volume to be used for startup is erased and encrypted before clean installation of OS X 10.7.4 or 10.8:
- there is a password for the volume
- the clean system will immediately behave as if FileVault was enabled after installation
- there is no recovery key, no option to store the key with Apple (but the system will behave as if a key was created)
- when the computer is started, Disk Password will appear at the EfiLoginUI – this may be used to unlock the volume and start the system
- the running system will present the traditional login window.
Apple describes this type of approach as Disk Password—based DEK.[12]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Apple Previews Mac OS X 'Panther''. Apple Press Info. Apple. June 23, 2003. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ScottW (November 5, 2007). 'Live FileVault and Sparse Bundle Backups in Leopard'. macosx.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ abcdApple Inc (August 9, 2012). 'OS X: About FileVault 2'. Apple Inc. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^Apple Inc (August 17, 2012). 'Best Practices for Deploying FileVault 2'(PDF). Apple Inc. p. 40. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^'Archived - Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: Transferring data with Setup Assistant / Migration Assistant FAQ'. Apple support. Apple. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^'Using Encrypted Disks'. CrashPlan PROe support. CrashPlan PROe. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^'Using CrashPlan with FileVault'. CrashPlan support. CrashPlan. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^Jacob Appelbaum, Ralf-Philipp Weinmann (December 29, 2006). 'Unlocking FileVault: An Analysis of Apple's disk encryption'(PDF). Retrieved March 31, 2007.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^J. Alex Halderman; et al. (February 2008). 'Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on May 14, 2008.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^'Unlocking FileVault: An analysis of Apple's disk encryption system'(PDF).
- ^'File Vault's Dirty Little Secrets'.
- ^ abApple, Inc (August 17, 2012). 'Best Practices for Deploying FileVault 2'(PDF). Apple, Inc. p. 28. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^Dworkin, Morris (January 2010). 'Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: The XTS-AES Mode for Confidentiality on Storage Devices'(PDF). NIST Special Publication (800–3E).
- ^'Tech ARP - How Fast is the 512 GB PCIe X4 SSD in the 2015 MacBook Pro?'.
- ^Choudary, Omar; Felix Grobert; Joachim Metz (July 2012). 'Infiltrate the Vault: Security Analysis and Decryption of Lion Full Disk Encryption'. Retrieved January 19, 2013.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^'fdesetup(8) Mac OS X Manual Page'. Apple. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
How far would you like to go to safeguard your Mac from unauthorised access? If the answer to that question is, as far as it takes, you'd probably be interested in knowing about FileVault – a highly advanced encryption mechanism that allows you to apply an extra layer of security to your Mac HDD as well as Mac-based external USBs. Stay with us as we cover the salient features of File Vault and describe the process that you can use to protect your internal and external hard drives with this utility.
How to Encrypt Mac HDD and External USB in Mac OS X El Capitan using FileVault
Distillation tray design manual. What is FileVault?
Let's start with a brief introduction. FileVault is a full-disk encryption scheme that uses XTS-AES 128 encryption to help prevent unauthorized access to your Mac. First introduced in 2003, the scheme encrypts and decrypts Mac volumes on-the-fly. When the Mac is shut down, FileVault encrypts it and locks it with a password. To access the system, the user must key in the password to unlock and decrypt it.
To use FileVault safely, you must always remember your password correctly. You can choose to backup your password on Apple server. The backup is protected by three security questions. To access the backed up password, you'll have to answer the security questions.
The current version of FileVault is known as FileVault 2, and it is an improved version of the original or 'Legacy FileVault.' FileVault 2 cannot be used with every Mac and all drive configurations. It can only be enabled on a single drive containing OS X and Recovery partitions.
In addition to encrypting Mac hard disk drive, FileVault 2 also helps you encrypt removable drives. This allows you to protect your Time Machine backup drives. Additional advantages of the scheme include the ability to instantly wipe all encryption keys and all data from your Mac, thus making all information completely inaccessible. It is thus quite a handy utility to protect your Mac and the crucial data on it.
Though it's probably the most efficient way of making sure your data is always safe, FileVault 2 has its drawbacks, degraded performance being a major one. Applying encryption and decryption on-the-fly takes its toll on the processor and systems with older Core CPUs experience significant performance lag.
An aspect that you should take care of while using FileVault 2 is that it is transparent to anyone once the system is logged in. This means that once you've unlocked and decrypted the Mac with your password if anyone gains access to the machine all your data could very well be stolen. Hence, you must ensure that you don't leave your Mac unattended if it is unlocked. To fully lock the encrypted drive, the best way is a full shutdown of the Mac.
How to Enable FileVault on Mac HDD
You can enable FileVault encryption on your Mac hard disk drive with the following steps:
Step #1. Log in to OS X El Capitan with an administrator account.
Step #2. Go to Apple menu (top left corner) → System Preference.
Step #3. Click on Security & Privacy.
https://labeldatenergy.weebly.com/macbook-pro-format-external-hard-drive.html. Step #4. Select the FileVault tab and click on the padlock (bottom left corner of the pop-up.)
Step #5. Enter the administrator name and password when prompted.
Step #6. Click on the 'Turn On FileVault' button.
If more than one user has the account on your Mac, each user will need to key in their password to unlock the disk. The Mac will display a message for this when you activate FileVault. Click the 'Enable User' button and enter the user's password. All user accounts added after enabling FileVault are automatically enabled.
Note: By default, FileVault uses your account password to encrypt the drive. In case you forget it, a recovery key is generated to allow you to still unlock the drive. However, this key is displayed only once, so if and when it happens, make a note of the key and store it safely.
Once FileVault is successfully enabled, your Mac will reboot and will prompt you to login with your account credentials. You'll need to provide your password each time you wish to login once FileVault is enabled. When logged in, the encryption mechanism goes on in the background so you can continue using the Mac without any hurdles.
How to Enable FileVault on Mac external USB
Since most USB drives are formatted using the FAT file system, you won't be able to encrypt it directly. First, you'll need to reformat the external USB to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. Thereafter, you'll be able to turn on encryption on it. Once encrypted, it will be converted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) file system.
Here are the steps to encrypt external USB with FileVault:
Step #1. Open Finder and select external USB from the list of drives on the left.
Step #2. Right-click and select Encrypt & flashdrivename>
Step #3. Key-in encryption password, verify it and also provide a hint when prompted.
Note: The encryption process might take a while depending upon the size of the USB. There won't be a progress indicator so the only way to tell would be the indicator light on the USB. Don't disconnect until the light keeps flickering.
Once the drive is encrypted, you'll be prompted to enter the password you set every time you wish to access the drive.
Into The Crypt Mac Os Download
How to Break the Encryption on a USB Drive
This section explains the steps to decrypt an external USB that's encrypted with FileVault 2.
Note: Decryption formats the drive so to avoid data loss, clone the encrypted drive before decrypting it.
Step #1. Log in to OS X El Capitan with an administrator account.
Step #2. Go to Utilities → Application → Finder and launch Terminal.
Step #3. Type diskutil cs list
and press Return.
Into The Crypt Mac Os 11
Step #5. In the resultant code, copy the alphanumeric sequence adjacent to 'Logical Volume Group.'
Step #6. Type diskutil cs delete
XXXX____YYYY___ZZZZ___XYZ and press return.
How to Turn Off Encryption on Mac HDD and External Drive
To turn off encryption on the drive, follow the below-mentioned steps:
Step #1. Log in to OS X El Capitan with an administrator account.
Step #2. Go to Apple menu (top left corner) → System Preference → Security & Privacy.
Step #3. Select the FileVault tab and click on the padlock (bottom left corner of the pop-up.)
Step #4. Enter the administrator name and password when prompted.
Step #5. Click on the 'Turn Off FileVault' button.
Step #6. Restart your Mac.
To conclude
FileVault 2 is an extremely useful scheme to protect your Mac, but it can prove to be costly performance-wise. Also, there are precautions you should consider when working with it so please use it wisely or else you could end up with crucial data that's locked up in your Mac hard drive or external USB drive forever.