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In an Ubuntu system we can change the login password easily if we forget and we do not need the old password. But this might also cause some problems if you have very important data and you want to be away (and lock the screen). Every one can have access to your data by changing the password. Is there any solution for this problem?

Also if other people know your Linux machine IP, again they can change your password and copy your data. It does not matter if you change the permission because as long as they know the password, they have access to your data. How can I solve these two problems?

seanlano
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user7249622
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    In the first case, if somebody has physical access to your computer, no amount of protection is going to prevent access to the data. Only encrypting your full hard disk provides some security. As for the second case: " if other people know your Linux machine IP, again they can change your password and copy your data." This is not true. – Jos May 07 '17 at 21:46
  • they have physical access – user7249622 May 07 '17 at 21:55
  • what if I change the IP? – user7249622 May 07 '17 at 21:59

2 Answers2

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The password you elect for the Ubuntu system does not encrypt your data.

As others have mentioned, if someone has physical access to your hardware then they will be able to get to all your files - they could remove the hard drive from your machine and copy from it, or they could even boot a Live CD similar to how you would have installed Ubuntu and get to your files that way.

If you want to have a chance of protecting your files on the disk, you must use some kind of encryption. Thankfully, Ubuntu has very good support for LUKS - since 2012, there's even an option for full-disk encryption from within the installer! It makes it very easy to configure encryption. You just have to choose this option when installing:

enter image description here

(Image source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/11/privacy-ubuntu-1210-full-disk-encryption)

After doing so, you will need a password to boot the computer. This is different to your login password. If you need to change your disk password, see here.

seanlano
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if "they have physical access"; then IP is totally unimportant.

You have misconceptions about what an IP is apparently. Every website you communicate with knows your IP.

If you want to secure your data from people with access to your machine, put all your data on an encrypted filesystem on a separate partition. Veracrypt is the best if you will go to the trouble to STFM. That's "S" for "study", not merely "R".

Lew Rockwell Fan
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    A few minor edits to seem a bit less dismissive of the questioner might help this answer's score. Nobody is born knowing this stuff. – user535733 May 08 '17 at 02:06