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Create and Mount an Encrypted Block Device Using dm-crypt

In this lab you will create an encrypted block device using `dm-crypt` and LUKS. Then you will open the encrypted device and create a filesystem on it. You are working as a System Administrator at a large financial institution and have been tasked with enabling whole-disk encryption on a portable drive. The portable drive is attached as `/dev/loop0` to the user's workstation, which is running the CentOS Linux 7.7 operating system.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Intermediate
Duration
Clock icon 15m
Last updated
Clock icon Apr 06, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Create an Encrypted Volume on the Target Device

    Create an encrypted volume on the target device:

    $ sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /loopbackfile.img

  2. Challenge

    Open the Encrypted Volume

    Open the encrypted volume:

    $ sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/loop0 encvol
$ ls /dev/mapper/ -l

  3. Challenge

    Create a Filesystem on the Encrypted Volume

    Create a filesystem on the encrypted volume:

    $ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/encvol
$ sudo mount /dev/mapper/encvol /mnt/

  4. Challenge

    Unmount the Filesystem and Close the Encrypted Volume

    Unmount the filesystem and close the encrypted volume:

    $ sudo umount /mnt/
$ sudo cryptsetup luksClose encvol

  5. Challenge

    Create a Keyfile and Add It to the Encrypted Volume

    Create a keyfile and add it to the encrypted volume:

    $ sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/root/lukskey bs=4096 count=1
$ sudo chmod 600 /root/lukskey
$ sudo cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/loop0 /root/lukskey

  6. Challenge

    Open the Encrypted Volume Using the Keyfile and Mount the Filesystem

    Open the encrypted volume using the keyfile and mount the filesystem:

    sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/loop0 encvol --key-file /root/lukskey
sudo mount /dev/mapper/encvol /mnt/
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