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Other Projects
==============
There are several open-source file encryption solutions for Linux available. In contrast
to disk-encryption software that operate on whole disks (TrueCrypt, dm-crypt etc), file
encryption operates on individual files that can be backed up or synchronised easily.
This page compares:
* [gocryptfs](https://nuetzlich.net/gocryptfs/) (this project), aspiring successor of EncFS
* [EncFS](https://github.com/vgough/encfs), mature with known security issues
* [eCryptFS](http://ecryptfs.org/), integrated into the Linux kernel
* [Cryptomator](https://cryptomator.org/), strong cross-platform support through Java and WebDAV
* [securefs](https://github.com/netheril96/securefs), a new C++ project that implementes directories as user-space B+ trees
If you spot an error or want to see a project added, please
[file a ticket](https://github.com/rfjakob/gocryptfs-website)!
Overview
--------
| | gocryptfs | encfs | ecryptfs | cryptomator | securefs |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| First release | 2015 [1] | 2003 [2] | 2006 [3] | 2014 [4] | 2015 [10] |
| Language | Go | C++ | C | Java | C++ |
| License | MIT | LGPL/GPL [5] | GPL | MIT | MIT |
| Development hotspot | Austria | USA | UK (Canonical Ltd) | Germany | China |
| Lifecycle | Active development | Maintainance | Active development [9] | Active development | Active development |
| File interface | FUSE | FUSE | in-kernel filesystem | WebDAV | FUSE |
| Platforms | Linux, third-party Windows port [11], OSX in progress [7] | Linux, OSX, third-party Windows port | Linux only | Linux, OSX, Windows | Linux, OSX |
| User interface | Command line only | Command line; third-party graphical | Integrated in login process | Graphical only; Command line planned [8] | Command line only |
| Lines of Code {1} | 3,442 | 9,320 | 7,662 {2} | 9,921 | 4,704 {3} |
References:
[[1]](https://github.com/rfjakob/gocryptfs/releases/tag/v0.1)
[[2]](https://github.com/vgough/encfs/blob/master/ChangeLog#L1442)
[[3]](https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=237fead619984cc48818fe12ee0ceada3f55b012)
[[4]](https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/releases/tag/v0.1.0)
[[5]](https://github.com/vgough/encfs/blob/master/COPYING)
[[6]](https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/tree/master/LICENSES)
[[7]](https://github.com/rfjakob/gocryptfs/issues/15)
[[8]](https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/issues/43)
[[9]](https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/fs/ecryptfs)
[[10]](https://github.com/netheril96/securefs/releases/tag/v0.10)
[[11]](https://github.com/bailey27/cppcryptfs)
Notes:
{1} All computed using `cloc`
{2} Counting only `fs/ecryptfs/`
{3} The securefs `source/` directory contains embedded libraries. The count is produced using
`cloc btree_dir.h commands.h exceptions.h file_table.h files.h logger.h operations.h streams.h utils.h xattr_compat.h btree_dir.cpp commands.cpp file_table.cpp files.cpp logger.cpp operations.cpp streams.cpp utils.cpp`
and contains the files actually comprising securefs as [stated by the author](https://github.com/netheril96/securefs/issues/2#issuecomment-170349572).
General Security
----------------
| | gocryptfs | encfs default | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs | cryptomator | securefs |
| ----------------------- | --------- | ------------- | -------------- | ------------------------------------ | ----------- | -------- |
| Documentation available | Yes [1] | Yes [2] | Yes [2] | No [4] | Yes [3] | Yes [5] |
| Password hashing | scrypt | PBKDF2 | PBKDF2 | (none, implemented in external tool) | scrypt | PBKDF2 |
References:
[[1]](security.md)
[[2]](https://github.com/vgough/encfs/blob/master/DESIGN.md)
[[3]](https://cryptomator.org/#security)
[[4]](http://ecryptfs.org/documentation.html) actually, there is a lot of ecryptfs documentation, but none of
it seems to describe the used crypto.
[[5]](https://github.com/netheril96/securefs/blob/master/docs/design.md)
File Contents
-------------
| | gocryptfs | encfs default | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs | cryptomator | securefs |
| --------------------- | --------- | ----------------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------- | -------- |
| Encryption | GCM | CBC; last block CFB [1] | CBC; last block CFB [1] | CBC | CTR with random IV [2] | GCM |
| Integrity | GCM | none | HMAC | none | HMAC | GCM |
| File size obfuscation | no | no | no | yes (4 KB increments) | yes (random padding) | no |
References:
[[1]](https://github.com/vgough/encfs/issues/9)
[[2]](https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/issues/128#issuecomment-168942517)
File Names
----------
| | gocryptfs | encfs default | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs | cryptomator | securefs |
| ------------------------ | --------------------- | -------------------- | -------------------- | -------- | ----------- | --------------- |
| Encryption | EME [4] | CBC | CBC | CBC | SIV | GCM (B+ dir DB) |
| Prefix leak | no (EME) | no (HMAC used as IV) | no (HMAC used as IV) | yes [2] | no (SIV) | no (GCM) |
| Identical names leak | no (per-directory IV) | no (path chaining) | no (path chaining) | yes [1] | yes [3] | no (GCM) |
| Maximum name length [5] | 255 {2} | 176 | 176 | 144 | 1026 | 255 |
| Directory flattening {1} | no | no | no | no | yes | yes |
References:
[[1]](https://gist.github.com/rfjakob/a04364c55b3ee231078d)
[[2]](https://gist.github.com/rfjakob/61a17bf3c7eb9932d791)
[[3]](https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/issues/128)
[[4]](https://github.com/rfjakob/eme)
[[5]](https://gist.github.com/rfjakob/c70344e2e7a1d765af1f)
Notes:
{1} Is the directory tree flattened in the encrypted storage? This
obfuscates the directory structure but can cause problems when
synchronising via Dropbox and similar.
{2} 255 since gocryptfs v0.9, 176 in v0.8 and earlier
Performance
-----------
All tests are run on tmpfs rule out any influence of the hard disk.
The CPU is an Intel Pentium G630 with 2 x 2.7GHz that does NOT have AES instructions.
| | gocryptfs | encfs default | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs | cryptomator | securefs |
| ------------------------ | --------- | ------------- | -------------- | --------- | ------------- | -------- |
| Streaming write | 103 MiB/s | 104 MiB/s | 56 MiB/s | 130 MiB/s | 55 MiB/s | 60 MiB/s |
| Extract linux-3.0.tar.gz | 22 s | 20 s | 23 s | 8.4 s | 468 s {1} {2} | 25 s |
| ls -lR linux-3.0 | 1.7 s | 2.8 s | 2.8 s | 0.5 s | 127 s {3} | 4.2 s |
| Delete linux-3.0 | 4.3 s | 3.9 s | 4.1 s | 0.5 s | 376 s {3} | 5.3 s |
Repeating (a subset of) the tests on an Samsung 840 EVO SSD shows that ecryptfs falls behind in metadata reads
because its complex file headers causes extra disk accesses {4}.
| | gocryptfs | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs |
| ------------------------ | --------- | -------------- | --------- |
| Streaming write | 65 MiB/s | 50 MiB/s | 116 MiB/s |
| Extract linux-3.0.tar.gz | 26 s | 24 s | 8.7 s |
| ls -lR linux-3.0 | 2.5 s | 3.2 s | 8.6 s |
| Delete linux-3.0 | 5.3 s | 4.7 s | 8.8 s |
Notes:
{1} All file acesses to cryptomator go through the WebDAV protocol, which is less performance-oriented than FUSE.
However, an optimized WebDAV client may be able to significantly speed up small-file workloads.
{2} Tested with the dave cli WebDAV client, which gave better speed than gvfs (Gnome built-in) and davfs2
{3} Tested with gvfs in the `/run/user/.../gvfs/dav:...` mount
{4} Caches are cleared between each test using `echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches`
Disk Space Efficiency
---------------------
(all file sizes in bytes)
| | gocryptfs | encfs default | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs | cryptomator {1} | securefs {2} |
| -------------------- | --------- | ------------- | -------------- | --------- | ------------------------- | ------------ |
| Empty file | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,192 | 104 - 4,231 | 112 |
| 1 byte file | 51 | 9 | 17 | 12,288 | 104 - 4,231 | 161 |
| 1,000,000 bytes file | 1,007,858 | 1,000,008 | 1,007,888 | 1,011,712 | 1,001,096 - 1,101,192 [1] | 1,011,872 |
Notes:
{1} cryptomator adds a random padding which is why the resulting size is non-deterministic.
{2} securefs stores data and crypto metadata (nonces + GHASH) in separate files. The sum of both is shown here.
References:
[[1]](https://github.com/cryptomator/cryptomator/issues/128#issuecomment-169056079)
Filesystem Features
-------------------
Note: To keep the work of maintaining this table under control, I have only tested gocryptfs,
encfs and ecryptfs. Please file a pull request if you can test the other projects!
The backing filesystem is assumed to be ext4.
| | ext4 | gocryptfs | encfs default | encfs paranoia | ecryptfs |
| -------------------- | ---- | --------- | ------------- | -------------- | -------- |
| hard links | yes | yes | yes | no | yes |
| fallocate | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| fallocate KEEP_SIZE | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| fallocate PUNCH_HOLE | yes | no | no | no | no |
|
