NAS or "network-attached storage" devices have always been popular among users who want to access all their data over their home networks. There are many reasons to have a NAS, such as having a media server, replacing dependence on Google Photos, or setting up a home surveillance system.

If you've recently seen the light and gotten your own NAS device, you might want to look into encryption. Encrypting your NAS drives can add another layer of security to your data, preventing prying eyes from accessing it or making it public. However, before you start exploring encryption solutions, here are some things to consider when deciding whether it's important for you.

You should encrypt your NAS when storing sensitive data

Your credit card info matters more than your Plex library

Encryption is a way of making your data inaccessible to unauthorized parties. By using various cryptographic methods, you can scramble your data into unreadable gibberish. If someone needs to make sense of it, they would have to use the decryption key, which, ideally, wouldn't be handy.

Now, whether or not you should even consider encryption depends on what you're storing on your NAS drives. If you're running a home NAS, you're most likely storing tons of movies & TV series, backups that are important but otherwise not sensitive, and, in some cases, crucial financial info or health records. This last data bucket necessitates data encryption to avoid unpleasant situations where your sensitive data is misused, made public, or used to blackmail you.

Even if you only have years' worth of personal photos and videos on your NAS, you probably don't want someone gaining access to them, especially if they're compromising in nature. Encrypting your NAS, either using the default software provided by your NAS manufacturer or other third-party tools, will come in handy if someone gains access to your NAS drives or physically steals them.

Encrypting your NAS volumes or specific folders means that you'll need to enter your private key every time you boot up your NAS. Alternatively, you can automate the process using various methods, whereby you don't need to manually enter the decryption key each time. However, this defeats the purpose of encrypting your files in the first place, especially if you feel the odds of someone breaking into your home and stealing your shiny NAS are high.

NAS encryption is not always fool-proof

Not all encryption methods are equal

Encryption might give you peace of mind, but it isn't necessarily a 100% secure method of data protection. Many encryption solutions have the option of storing the decryption key on the encrypted drive itself, which is significantly less secure compared to storing it on a separate drive, server, or cloud. An uninformed user might select this option during the encryption process, rendering their NAS less secure than intended.

Another issue with encryption is the possibility of losing your private key and, consequently, all of your data. If you're storing your private key somewhere outside the encrypted drive, you need to ensure it's available to you but hard for others to find. If you inadvertently lose it, recovering your data is essentially impossible.

This is not to dissuade anyone. You shouldn't abandon encryption altogether if it's meaningful for your needs. But if you don't really require encryption, you should rather focus on protecting your NAS with a secure admin password and/or physically making it hard for burglars to get hold of it. Outside of businesses and government organizations dealing with tons of sensitive PHI, PII, and financial data, NAS encryption isn't mandatory for the average user, unless, of course, you store highly sensitive information on it.