How to make a crypted copy of my data?

[Achille]

I used to copy my data in a very simple way:

tar -cf /home/$user.tar /home/$user
gzip /home/$user.tar

I would like to do the same, but so that my data will be crypted, because I don't want that anybody can read them.

How to proceed? Thank you for your help.

[nephros]

One possibility:
instead of
gzip /home/$user.tar
use
gpg -c --cipher-algo blowfish --compress-algo gzip $user.tar

read man gpg on what ciphers and compression schemes are available, and of course how to un-encrypt it again.

Also remember that gpg asks for a "passphrase" rather than a password, so you can use e.g. a long sentance or a haiku ... instead password if you like.
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Please put [SOLVED] in your topic if you are a moron.

[Achille]

Thank you for your answer.

Finally, I have discovered bcrypt and it works perfectly for me. It suffices to run

bcrypt /home/$user.tar.gz

to crypt my data.