Re: Userland encrypted filesystem that root cannot access.

[Peter T. Breuer]

"A month of sundays ago Mike A. Harris wrote:"
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, Alexander Viro wrote:
> 
> >> Are there any patches for the kernel, or userland solutions which
> >> allow a user to mount an encrypted filesystem (perhaps through
> >> loopback) which while mounted, root cannot read?  Or is this

> >Don't be silly. Hint: su lusername. God, root - what's the difference?
> 
> Hehe.  Well, yes...  That is what I assumed - that it is
> currently NOT possible.  It is something that SHOULD be possible

It is possible to make it a bit of a snooping effort. For example,
encrypt individual files FYEO with a public key, then require a
viewer application with which to read them.  The viewer needs the
private key. Root has to snoop the session to find it. 

Do it remotely and you're OK. I.e. encrypt a file (in which there
is a file system) and export it by NBD to a viewing machine, which
mounts the decrypted system. This is 100% secure. I think I can do
that ..

Peter