[Bug 1773457] Re: Full-system encryption needs to be supported out-of-the-box including /boot and should not delete other installed systems

[Paddy Landau]

This doesn't look like it'll ever be done. Based on past experience, I
don't think that Canonical takes encryption seriously.

So, I've thrown in the towel. Since buying a new computer, I haven't
used dual-boot. Instead, I installed Ubuntu using its full-disk LUKS
encryption. I run Windows in a VM (VirtualBox) inside Ubuntu, so that
LUKS also protects it.

It's a good solution provided that your hardware is powerful enough. If
your hardware isn't up to it, you don't have much choice.

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Title:
  Full-system encryption needs to be supported out-of-the-box including
  /boot and should not delete other installed systems

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  In today's world, especially with the likes of the EU's GDPR and the
  many security fails, Ubuntu installer needs to support full-system
  encryption out of the box.

  This means encrypting not only /home but also both root and /boot. The
  only parts of the system that wouldn't be encrypted are the EFI
  partition and the initial Grub bootloader, for obvious reasons.

  It should also not delete other installed systems unless explicitly
  requested.

  On top of this, the previous method of encrypting data (ecryptfs) is
  now considered buggy, and full-disk encryption is recommended as an
  alternative. Unfortunately, the current implementation of full-disk
  encryption wipes any existing OS such as Windows, making the
  implementation unusable for most users.

  Now, using LUKS and LVM, it is already possible to have full-disk
  encryption (strictly, full-partition encryption because it leaves any
  existing OS alone), while encrypting /boot. Reference:

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ManualFullSystemEncryption

  ... but with one major limitation: Grub is incorrectly changed after
  an update affecting the kernel or Grub, so that a manual Grub update
  is required each time this happens (this is fully covered in the
  linked instructions).

  If the incorrect Grub change is fixed, it should be (relatively)
  simple to support full-system encryption in the installer.

  Further information (2018-08-17):

  The NCSC recommends, "Use LUKS/dm-crypt to provide full volume encryption."
  References:
  • https://blog.ubuntu.com/2018/07/30/national-cyber-security-centre-publish-ubuntu-18-04-lts-security-guide
  • https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/eud-security-guidance-ubuntu-1804-lts

  **EDIT**
  Refer to comment #47 for an alternative version.

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