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UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

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Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#11
post #4

IPFS already has a storage and data layer as well as integrity and other properties. I wonder if it would be a good backend for this filesystem.

You'd have to find someone to permanently pin the data (nobody will be interested in random encrypted databoxes without being paid for it). And at that point you're just loosing performance compared to S3 or WebDAV.

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#13

mtgx - you are dead. I haven't looked at native OpenZFS encryption... The method I used for a while was having a Veracrypt volume locally of all my files, and zfs-sending it to a remote location. It is a large file, several gigabytes. However, any updates made locally would get synced remotely at a block level vs. a file level, so the whole encrypted file didn't need synced. Much better than rsync, for example. I did…

> I also wonder if it is named UtahFS because of the NSA facility near Salt Lake City.

Yeah I wondered this too. They don't say why they chose that wording. Maybe it's a subtle nod to that datacenter

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#15

mtgx - you are dead. I haven't looked at native OpenZFS encryption... The method I used for a while was having a Veracrypt volume locally of all my files, and zfs-sending it to a remote location. It is a large file, several gigabytes. However, any updates made locally would get synced remotely at a block level vs. a file level, so the whole encrypted file didn't need synced. Much better than rsync, for example. I did…

I'm not sure what the karma threshold is, but you might be able to open the dead comment and click vouch to make it replyable. I went ahead and did that since it seems to be a good comment. I don't know why so many of their recent comments are dead. Some I can understand, but others...

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#16
post #11
post #4

IPFS already has a storage and data layer as well as integrity and other properties. I wonder if it would be a good backend for this filesystem.

You'd have to find someone to permanently pin the data (nobody will be interested in random encrypted databoxes without being paid for it). And at that point you're just loosing performance compared to S3 or WebDAV.

Yes you can pay to have someone pin it--there are pinning services--but you can also just replicate it among your own nodes. It would be comparable to Dropbox plus encryption.

Another thought less well explored would be to swap space with friends such that you hold each others pins but you can't read your friends' encrypted blocks. This is kind of the premise behind filecoin, which lets you buy space (ie if you want someone to hold your blocks) and sell space (ie, mining is equal to holding someone's blocks).

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#17
They should use Peergos [1], which satisfies all their requirements. It's built on top of ipfs, encrypts metadata as well as data, and hides file sizes and directory structure too. A directory is indistinguishable from a small file. We can also use S3 compatible object storage, including allowing direct reads and writes from the browser. Disclaimer: I'm the founder.

1. https://github.com/peergos/peergos

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#18
post #5

Dropbox and Google could easily encrypt the files locally with your own key prior to uploading them to their servers. But of course they won't do that, because then how else will they mine your data? Also, you probably shouldn't trust them even if they did offer this anyway.

Also (and more charitably), I'm pretty sure at least Dropbox deduplicates files between customers.

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#19
post #16
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have to find someone to permanently pin the data (nobody will be interested in random encrypted databoxes without being paid for it). And at that point you're just loosing performance compared to S3 or WebDAV.

Yes you can pay to have someone pin it--there are pinning services--but you can also just replicate it among your own nodes. It would be comparable to Dropbox plus encryption. Another thought less well explored would be to swap space with friends such that you hold each others pins but you can't read your friends' encrypted blocks. This is kind of the premise behind filecoin, which lets you buy space (ie if you want…

I would point out that IPFS provides no encryption out of the box, you're just layering this below something that encrypts that could equally well work on Dropbox. Filecoin atleast has a integrated payment structure but modern storage providers are pretty damn cheap (I pay ~10$ for 3TB of data including ingress/egress) When I last checked by filecoin they could only barely compete with AWS storage options (which quickly get very expensive)

Re: UtahFS: Encrypted File Storage

#20
post #5

Dropbox and Google could easily encrypt the files locally with your own key prior to uploading them to their servers. But of course they won't do that, because then how else will they mine your data? Also, you probably shouldn't trust them even if they did offer this anyway.

Also (and more charitably), I'm pretty sure at least Dropbox deduplicates files between customers.

Which allows them to charge many people for “storage space” that they aren’t actually using.
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