[dm-devel] [RFC] dm-thin: Random block placement strategy?

[Joe Thornber]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 02:49:51PM -0700, Alex Elsayed wrote:
> This may be insufficiently useful to justify implementing, but I thought it 
> was an interesting concept.
> 
> One of the current issues with dm-crypt and discard is that enabling it can 
> leak information about the filesystem and usage patterns of the disk[1].
> 
> If a dm-thin device with a random block placement strategy is layered on top 
> of dm-crypt however, this could solve some of the issues involved and 
> partially mitigate others.
> 
> Such a random block placement strategy would heavily disguise any layout 
> patterns that could be used to identify the filesystem, most likely to the 
> point of being completely unrecognizable.

A couple of things spring to mind.

- If you're using a spindle device this will destroy performance,
  unless you use large block size (which I suspect you don't want
  to do because you're trying to disguise access patterns).

- How expensive will acquiring a cryptographically secure random
  destination be?