How to Install EncFS to encrypt the data on Ubuntu 16.04

To Encrypt data with EncFS

Create encrypt and decrypt directories in home directory.

root@linuxhelp1:~# mkdir -p /encrypt
root@linuxhelp1:~# mkdir -p /decrypt

Here, decrypted directory acts as mount point for the encrypted directory. Now run the below command to mount the encrypt directory in decrypt.

root@linuxhelp1:~# encfs /encrypt /decrypt
Creating new encrypted volume.
Please choose from one of the following options:
 enter " x"  for expert configuration mode,
 enter " p"  for pre-configured paranoia mode,
 anything else, or an empty line will select standard mode.
?>  

Paranoia configuration selected.

Configuration finished.  The filesystem to be created has
the following properties:
Filesystem cipher: " ssl/aes" , version 3:0:2
Filename encoding: " nameio/block" , version 4:0:2
Key Size: 256 bits
Block Size: 1024 bytes, including 8 byte MAC header
Each file contains 8 byte header with unique IV data.
Filenames encoded using IV chaining mode.
File data IV is chained to filename IV.
File holes passed through to ciphertext.

-------------------------- WARNING --------------------------
The external initialization-vector chaining option has been
enabled.  This option disables the use of hard links on the
filesystem. Without hard links, some programs may not work.
The programs ' mutt'  and ' procmail'  are known to fail.  For
more information, please see the encfs mailing list.
If you would like to choose another configuration setting,
please press CTRL-C now to abort and start over.

Now you will need to enter a password for your filesystem.
You will need to remember this password, as there is absolutely
no recovery mechanism.  However, the password can be changed
later using encfsctl.

New Encfs Password: 
Verify Encfs Password:

Note down the entered password to recover your encrypted data. Next, to know the EncFS volume use below command.

root@linuxhelp1:~# mount
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=484428k,nr_inodes=121107,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,size=100740k,mode=755)
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
.
.
.
tmpfs on /run/user/1000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=100740k,mode=700,uid=1000,gid=1000)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000)
/dev/sr0 on /media/user1/Ubuntu 16.04 LTS amd64 type iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,mode=0400,dmode=0500,uhelper=udisks2)
encfs on /decrypt type fuse.encfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0)

Use below command to view the available space in disc.

root@linuxhelp1:~#df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            474M     0  474M   0% /dev
tmpfs            99M  6.3M   93M   7% /run
/dev/sda1        19G  5.2G   13G  30% /
tmpfs           492M  212K  492M   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           492M     0  492M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            99M   72K   99M   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sr0        1.4G  1.4G     0 100% /media/user1/Ubuntu 16.04 LTS amd64
encfs            19G  5.2G   13G  30% /decrypt

Here move the data into the decrypt directory to save it in the form of encrypt.

root@linuxhelp1:~# cd /decrypt/
root@linuxhelp1:/decrypt# echo " hello"  >  file1
root@linuxhelp1:/decrypt# echo " hello file2"  >  file2
root@linuxhelp1:/decrypt# ln -s file2 files

To view the above changes, use following command.

root@linuxhelp1:/decrypt# ls -l
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  6 Aug  4 17:39 file1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12 Aug  4 17:39 file2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  5 Aug  4 17:40 files ->  file2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Aug  4 17:39 hello

Run the below command to display the encrypt directory. The datas will be in the encrypted form.

root@linuxhelp1:/decrypt# cd /encrypt/
root@linuxhelp1:/encrypt# ls -l
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Aug  4 17:39 ArMSNsZ9AtrlxVyYi6KrhKEy
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28 Aug  4 17:39 D0AaqjjuuukS0V,T,IOL3iry
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22 Aug  4 17:39 r2JMzOQlOHc9g4Q5cWUw2-WQ
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Aug  4 17:40 xqqeMPlbQqss0MPSsJWSqE6A ->  D0AaqjjuuukS0V,T,IOL3iry

Now unmount the encrypted volume using below command.

root@linuxhelp1:/encrypt# cd
root@linuxhelp1:~# fusermount -u /decrypt/

Run the below command to view the unmounted directory.

root@linuxhelp1:~# mount
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=484428k,nr_inodes=121107,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
.
.
.
tmpfs on /run/user/1000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=100740k,mode=700,uid=1000,gid=1000)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000)
/dev/sr0 on /media/user1/Ubuntu 16.04 LTS amd64 type iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,mode=0400,dmode=0500,uhelper=udisks2)

root@linuxhelp1:~# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            474M     0  474M   0% /dev
tmpfs            99M  6.3M   93M   7% /run
/dev/sda1        19G  5.2G   13G  30% /
tmpfs           492M  212K  492M   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           492M     0  492M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            99M   72K   99M   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sr0        1.4G  1.4G     0 100% /media/user1/Ubuntu 16.04 LTS amd64

root@linuxhelp1:~# encfs /encrypt /decrypt/
EncFS Password:

root@linuxhelp1:~# encfsctl passwd /encrypt/
Enter current Encfs password
EncFS Password: 
Enter new Encfs password
New Encfs Password: 
Verify Encfs Password: 
Volume Key successfully updated.