eCryptfs not functioning- Data Loss in Linux

For the Linux users the data protection becomes more important as the data can be confidential and private, not to reveal in front of others. When the storage devices fall into the wrong hands, attackers can access the data by bypassing the control mechanisms in position in the organization’s network. The cryptographic technology has been in use for past many years which have been developed by the developers of many operating systems to secure the data.

eCryptfs is such a file system which is based on this technology operable for Linux and is termed as kernel-native stacked cryptographic file system. This file system has been developed on top of the existing mounted file systems like JFS or ext3, termed as lower file system.

This file system encrypts and decrypts the files as they are written and read from the lower file system. Thus this acts a secure way of saving the data. The file system consists of two components viz. kernel module and user space code. This file system stores the cryptographic metadata at the header of each file.

For the decryption i.e. to read the data, a proper key is required which runs the decrypt calls. The file system proves to be boon as the data will not be readable until you provide the key for it. But the problem arises when this turns into bane and becomes the cause of data loss.

In hardy eCryptfs, when the page decrypt calls run, the data gets lost. The reason for the same is eCryptfs_write() which proves to be of no use and also the source of data loss.

There is no use of this call as until then eCryptfs_get_blocked_page() had already updated the page and then data gets lost due to the prior mmap writes. Thus the decrypt call becomes the reason of Linux data loss. The data lost may generate complications for the organization’s operation and in this case data recovery Linux becomes very important.

This is an understandable part that the files which you had encrypted are of peak level relevance for you and if those have got lost then the situation can be peculiar. To get the lost data again in the encrypted form, you would need some software applications which are particularly called Linux data recovery software.