A deep dive into setting up full disk encryption on NetBSD

This article provides a detailed, hands-on tutorial for implementing full disk encryption on NetBSD using the kernel's Cryptographic Disk Driver (CGD) framework. The author walks through partitioning a disk with disklabels, configuring CGD with the Argon2id key derivation algorithm and Adiantum cipher, and then creating a nested filesystem within the encrypted partition using the interactive disklabel editor.

For engineers working with NetBSD or other Unix-like systems, this guide demonstrates a practical approach to securing data at rest, highlighting the flexibility of the system's tools. The process allows for verification of the correct password by checking for a valid disklabel inside the encrypted volume, while also enabling choice in filesystems like the newer Log File System (LFS) or traditional 4.2BSD. This is a valuable technical reference for anyone implementing robust, low-level storage security.