Windows 2000 security

[random]

NT4 has an Encrypted filesystem (NTFS), but when
microsoft installed service pack 6, gave it a new interface,
and put it in a new fancy box for twice the price as
"Windows 2000" the encrypted filesystem seems to be
gone. Windows 2000 appears to have nothing stoping
other people from reading your HD, unlike NT4. I can start
into Linux, mount the partition that windows is on, and
procede to access every file on the whole harddisk (no
mater what the permissions were under windows). I can
access everyones "My Documents" folders, and anything
else i feel like browsing. This means that the filesystem
cant be Encrypted, and the permissions in windows
2000's so called "security" dont work (just like the rest of
windows). Is there any way to make its "security" work,
and also to encrypt the filesystem?

 

[Gavan]

Hi,

Windows 2k does provide EFS - this can be set at file or
folder level.

Right mouse click on file / folder > Properties
General tab > Advanced
Check "Encrypt contents to secure data"
Dont forget to choose the relevant propergation option

(NOTE here is where you can set compression as well)

EFS is transparent, meaning that when the user opens a
file encrypted be him/her it will decrypt, and when they
have finnished it will encrypt.

This will stop someone booting up a PC with a custom O/S
(linux in your example) and reading the file.

For more information checkout:

Knowledge base 222054 and 223316 (the latter is more in-
depth)

Hope this helps

On a side note - the permissions of a file system are only
effective if the operating system adhears to them and not
allow someone without the permission to access the data.

So if I were to have an OS that didnt care about
permissions - but could read Ext2 and Ext3, then I could
happily mount a linux drive and read all the files.
Encryption doesnt stop me reading the files - it just
makes the contense usless to me.