[norcimo5]

To encrypt: tar cz foo | openssl aes-256-cbc -salt -out foo.enc

To decrypt: openssl aes-256-cbc -d -in foo.enc | tar xz

(foo can be a file or directory)

[snakeanus]

This does not contain a MAC though, does it? Also why CBC? Why not CTR/GCM instead? And why AES256 instead of Chacha20-Poly1305 or some other modern AEAD?

[norcimo5]

What are the advantages of GCM over CBC? And whats wrong with AES256?

[snakeanus]

- GCM unlike CBC is an AEAD mode (has a MAC build-in)

- CBC needs padding, which when misused can lead to padding oracle attacks

- GCM allows for parallel encryption

> And whats wrong with AES256?

There are more modern, faster and better ciphers that are designed to not be vulnerable against many side-channel attacks that AES is difficult to protect against.

[kaoD]

GCM has an integrity check built in, which is very useful in crypto.

https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/2310/what-is-the-...

https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/14747/gcm-vs-ctrh...

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/33569/why-do-yo...