DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

silversurfer wrote:

You can always put an encrypted container within a Samba share on the NAS and mount that manually on your PCs. That's probably the easiest thing to do. I wouldn't bother myself with an installation of truecrypt itself on the NAS.

silversurfer:  Hope you see this post; I realize your post is from a few months back.

I am just curious, why would you not "bother" to install truecrypt (or Luks) on the NAS?  Is it complexity?  Lack of memory?  Would really like to know.  Thanks

fordem wrote:

Just wondering aloud here ...

Would truecrypt et al installed on the NAS offer "end-to-end" encryption?
Would someone with a network sniffer on the wire be able to capture the traffic and recreate the file?

Actually fordem, great question.

I believe that if the Encryption occurs on the NAS, then data going back and forth to workstations would be unencrypted Samba traffic on TCP/IP.  The Encryption/Decryption would be performed by the NAS's processor.


If, as some have proposed in some threads, you setup an encryption "block device" on the NAS leaving the work up to the client, then TCP/IP traffic would be encrypted, most processing is done by the client cpu.

Personally, I would MUCH rather the former (#1) than the latter (#2) because
1) it is a "transparent" solution to clients -- they need nothing special or installed
2) I can then have multiple machines accessing the encrypted content simultaneously (I don't think this is possible in solution #1 above, i.e., multiple simultaneous access to an open/locked block device)
3) It is a private/home network -- wired only -- so no sniffing is going to be happening, unless I am the one doing it .   But I don't know if this little box has enough horsepower (i.e., RAM and CPU) to do this with good performance.

If I have anything incorrect, please feel free to correct me on this.

(PS:  I have been doing a lot of "experimenting" with LUKS on external USB/Fireware drives being "housed" by thin clients -- my own "homebrew" NAS ... so I am REALLY interested in figuring this out on the DNS-323 for some comparisons.  I am also going to try it via eSata to an external enclosure from a thin client -- that will probably be the ultimate "tiny" NAS; but I am hoping the DNS-323 can compete).

Last edited by tester321 (2009-06-03 15:53:46)