The encryption and key management solution provider WinMagic said that it has recently delivered the first known enterprise-class managed full drive encryption solution for Linux. The new capability will help the company to assist enterprises struggling with managing encryption of their Linux-based devices.
Linux users are commonly the most technical users in an organization and rely on the platform for its flexibility and robustness to deliver an enterprise’s workloads. This includes a reliance on Linux’s built-in tools — dm-crypt, crypt setup, and Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) — to encrypt their devices and manage their encryption keys. While Linux’s encryption toolkit is the best at encrypting Linux-based devices, the operating system can further benefit from the encryption management solutions provided by Independent Software Vendors (ISV), like WinMagic, to manage and unify encryption efforts across an enterprise.
From encryption set-up to IT Admin turnover and password resets, managing Linux’ basic tools independently pull resources away from more important tasks. WinMagic’s SecureDoc full disk encryption helps enterprises lock down their Linux-based devices and provide greater control than ever before, said the company.
SecureDoc separates encryption into two components – encryption and key management – because the expertise to deliver these two components is quite different. In the case of Linux, SecureDoc works seamlessly with the native encryption, layering on top of dm-crypt to better manage device encryption.
As covered in a recent blog discussing the benefits of full disk encryption for Linux, Garry McCracken, vice president technology, CISSP at WinMagic, describes how SecureDoc takes Linux encryption management to the next level, permitting online conversion which allows admins and users to log-in and work on the machine while encryption occurs, and removes the need to clear the disk and re-install the operating system before commencing encryption – saving enterprises valuable time and money.
Compliance isn’t easy, or at least it hasn’t been. For enterprises facing potentially crippling penalties for a compliance failure, a seamless and integrated key management solution for Linux- and Windows-based laptops, desktops, or servers is essential.
With WinMagic’s SecureDoc, operation, management and recovery of the devices are all possible within a single console. For auditors, each device’s encryption status is tracked to ensure its data is in a protected state, and is viewable in a single pane of glass – giving business leaders the certainty they need to pass a compliance audit. SecureDoc also enables pre-boot network-based authentication as an additional security measure to ensure data on drives is never left unprotected during boot-up. In the event of theft, loss, unauthorized access or decryption attempts by power users, with the assistance of WinMagic’s intelligent key management, the drive can be quickly crypto-erased, mitigating any damage.
“Interestingly, the development of this full disk encryption for Linux laptops/desktops came after our launch of our cloud solution for Linux servers two years ago,” said Thi Nguyen-Huu, CEO of WinMagic.
“Originally an endpoint vendor, we traditionally ported our products to the cloud, but this time it is different. To our knowledge, the enterprise-class software-based encryption solution for Linux on top of dm-crypt is unique in the industry,” he added.
