How secure is Dropbox

Apreciar

A better option would be to use a Dropbox alternative that has encryption built in to the process. Your files are not stored in an unencrypted state on the 3rd party servers (as opposed to Dropbox where their staff could read your files if they wanted to).

E.g. - http://www.wuala.com/en/learn/technology 5GB for free.


Is this available for use on the ipad also.

buglawton

esuhl wrote: »

First you create a single TrueCrypt file on the Dropbox drive. Then, you mount it (with TrueCrypt) and it appears mounted with it's own drive letter. Once the "drive" is mounted, you can add/remove files and they're encrypted/decrypted on the fly.

So if you haver replicas of this folder on several devices, e.g. on iPad, on another computer somewhere (which is the whole point of Dropbox), this will work?

And if you update just one small file, the entire 'drive' must be re-uploaded to Dropbox and re-synched on other machines, I guess?

Currently I only Dropbox for trivial files for due to exactly the same concern as OP

Mr_Thrifty

I can't understand why Dropbox won't implement encryption.

Personally, I'm not going to rely on their "assurances" that they look after my data. I want to be CERTAIN that my data is secure. They've mucked up with security in the past (bigtime) and I don't trust them enough to know they won't do it again. And besides, how do I know THEY don't mis-use my data? I haven't got the foggiest idea who works there! They say that they have "policies" and that their staff "never look at your data" but that sounds to me like the IT equivalent of leaving all your doors and windows unlocked with a sign outside the house saying "please do not burgle". The only option that would give me the assurance I need is proper encryption, so that they couldn't access my data even if they wanted to.

They say they use encryption, but it's only for the file transfer. What I want is encryption when it's stored on their servers.

Until a proper encryption facility is in place (one that doesn't require me fiddling around with Truecrypt containers and the like), I just can't see this as being a viable service for anything other than storing the most trivial junk that I don't care about.

Dropbox seems to me to be an absolutely fantastic service that is rendered completely useless because it lacks such an important yet basic feature.

Stompa

mr_fishbulb wrote: »

The problem with that is the whole container file has to be uploaded/downloaded each time one file is changed.

Not necessarily:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/28/en

though I've not tried it myself.

Linbox

http://www.boxcryptor.com/ is available and seems to work well.

S0litaire

Why use Dropbox??

Check out SpiderOak.com (2Gb free)

Though it's mainly a Secure Cloud Backup program it can do a DropBox Like service. everything is encrypted on your machine BEFORE reaching the cloud servers.

you can share a folder and give someone else access to only that folder via a link.

You can also sync folders between machines as well..

buglawton

Stompa wrote: »

Not necessarily:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/28/en

though I've not tried it myself.

The Help says:

For our advanced users

While not officially supported, some users have reported success mounting truecrypt volumes in their Dropbox. Truecrypt allows you to create your own private volume complete with your own private keys.

This just means you can try it, it will still incur the overhead of having to upload the whole volume for a small file change, and won't be iThing or Android compatible then.

Were Dropbox to upgrade to include encryption, it'd become pro grad and no doubt want to charge a premium.

Stompa

buglawton wrote: »

This just means you can try it, it will still incur the overhead of having to upload the whole volume for a small file change...

Users appear to be saying that only the changed part of the volume gets uploaded, for example:

http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=57893#post-420237

which, if true, would be very useful.

buglawton

Technically not possible, as Truecrypt needs to mount/unmount entire drives full of files totally under it's own encrypted control. No other software can tinker with the contents except for the device that the drive has been mounted on (e.g. your laptop).

boxst

Are you trying to Sync across multiple devices or just back-up?

Mozy ( http://www.mozy.com ) is very good for back-up and encrypts your files.

You can also try SyncPlicity ( http://www.syncplicity.com ) that syncs across devices with encryption.

Both are owned by a leading storage company.