News and tutorials about computer, server hardware, and operating systems that is used by Information Technology (IT) professionals and data centers ( rss feed ).
We can easily add a key file to LUKS disk encryption on Linux when running the cryptsetup command. A key file is used as the passphrase to unlock an encrypted volume. The passphrase allows Linux users to open encrypted disks utilizing a keyboard or over an ssh-based session. There are different types of key files we can add and enable LUKS disk encryption on Linux as per our needs:
Passphrase keyfile – It is a key file holding a simple passphrase.
Random text keyfile – This is a key file comprising a block of random characters which is much more resistant to dictionary attacks than a simple passphrase-based key file.
Binary keyfile – We can defile an image, video, or any other static binary file as key file for LUKS. It makes it harder to identify as a key file. It would look like a regular image file or video clip to the attacker instead of a random text keyfile.
Let us see how to enable LUKS disk encryption with a key file. [continue reading…]
Last year, the Raspberry Foundation also released a brand new version of the Raspberry PI PC (personal computer), and it is directly built into a small-sized keyboard. Now there is more good news for hackers and hardware developers. They just announced their first microcontroller-based product named Raspberry Pi Pico. This small device is priced at only US $4. Unbelievable price. Let us find out about Raspberry Pi Pico hardware specs and software support. [continue reading…]
We use the df command to show how much disk space is free on mounted file systems in Linux, macOS, and Unix-like systems. We also have the du command to estimate file space usage. We now have another fancy and fantastic looking tool called duf to display statistics on free disk space in Unix, Linux, macOS, *BSD, Android, and Windows written in Golang. [continue reading…]
On Linux, we encrypt our partitions and entire disk using Linux Unified Key Setup-on-disk-format (LUKS) for security and privacy reasons. We unlock LUKS protected disk by providing a passphrase at boot time. You need to be in front of your computer or use a remote console to open the encrypted disk under Linux at boot time. However, if your system is in the basement, remote datacenter/office, or upstairs office, you won’t able to unlock and boot your Linux box. We can use the Dropbear SSH server for LUKS encrypted Debian or Ubuntu or any other Linux distro via SSH to solve this problem. Let us see how to unlock LUKS using Dropbear SSH keys in Linux at boot time. [continue reading…]
The last ten years in the computer and IT security world are crippled with so many vulnerabilities. We saw massive cloud computing adoption and end-users using mobile devices with high speed 4G LTE networks. A threat actor may have exploited such weakness in modern computers and networks. Let us look into top vulnerabilities and the attack surface in this decade (2010-2020) that affected Linux/Unix, macOS, IT, cloud-computing, and computers in general. [continue reading…]
We use encryption to protect mobile devices. For instance, I always use LUKS disk encryption to protect all files stored on my SSD. Dm-crypt (Cryptsetup and LUKS) open-source disk encryption is transparent disk encryption and a great way to keep your data secure. However, changing passphrase is a bit of a challenge for new Linux users and developers. This step-by-step guide explains how to find LUKS slots assigned to you and change your passphrase on a Debian/Ubuntu, CentOS/RHEL, OpenSUSE/SUSE other Linux distros. [continue reading…]
A video card is a special circuit board that controls what is displayed on a computer monitor. It is also called a graphics processing unit (GPU), which calculates 3D images and graphics for Linux gaming and other usages. Let us see the top 7 Linux GPU monitoring and diagnostic command-line tools to solve issues. [continue reading…]
The Raspberry Foundation released a brand new version of the Raspberry PI PC (personal computer), and it is directly built into a small-sized keyboard. The Raspberry Pi 4 model was released in June 2019, and the 8GiB version recently. Let us see Raspberry Pi 400 technical specification and other details. [continue reading…]
So how do you stream audio from your Apple iOS or Google Android phone to your laptop speaker? Let us see how to set up a Bluetooth speaker to stream audio from your Android / iOS mobile phone to your Linux based laptop or desktop that got better audio speakers. [continue reading…]
There is a new kid in town for resource monitoring on Linux called bashtop. As the name suggests, the entire tool coded in the bash script itself that displays usage and stats for CPU, RAD, HDD/SSD, network, and other resources. Let us see how to install and use bashtop, which is an awesome Linux resource monitor. You don’t need a Linux desktop to install it. You can also install this app on macOS/FreeBSD provided that you meet software requirements. [continue reading…]
