Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex brings an interesting new security feature to both desktop and server users: the Encrypted ~/Private Directory.

Setup Your Encrypted Private Directory

 $ sudo apt-get install ecryptfs-utils
 $ ecryptfs-setup-private

Use Your Encrypted Private Directory

Log out of your current session, and log back in. You should now have a new mount point at ~/Private.

All content of any files or folders you write in ~/Private will be encrypted when written to the disk, in the hidden directory ~/.Private.

Storing your keys, email and other dot directory in ~/Private

It can be a good idea to move the content of your .evolution/, .ssh/ and .gpg/ in ~/Private and replacing them with a symlink. Make sure to have quit any applications that make use of them before moving the directories.

Caveats

• Filenames and directory names will not be encrypted (264977).

• NFS mounting of /home will not mount ~/Private due to a bug in the Kernel
• Data is not kept private to privileged users while the user is logged in