Start 2025 on time and up to date. Seamlessly integrate your calendars into Dropbox with these simple steps.

Forum Discussion

Mades's avatar
Mades
Explorer | Level 3
7 years ago

Encryption at the user end?

Hi,

I am just new in this forum, I found it for the first time today, the right time.

I have been using Dropbox since its beginning. However in this morning my internet dropped for more than 12 hours even though my connection is NBN, I have windows 10 64bit.

 

To my surprise I could open any file from Dropbox in plain text. What that means is, not having internet connection I was sign out from Dropbox. What that means further is that anybody having access to my computer will have full access to all my files in Dropbox. 

Under this situation let's say somebody breaks into my house and steal my computer, Then where is my protecton of my files in Dropbox? 

In fact on the 21 of February 2018 I wrote to Dropbox inquiring about that and since they haven't given the answer. 

 

I will truly appreciate on your honest comments,

Michael

Share
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    As the others have said above, your files on the Dropbox servers are encrypted.
     
    However the files on your local machine are not, like with any other folder on your computer, so a third party encryption software would be needed if you don’t want anyone to access or view your files there.
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    7 years ago
    Welcome to the forum!

    You seem to have missed the fact that Dropbox is a syncing tool. It is designed to have EVERYTHING on your local machine as well as in the cloud and on any linked devices for that exact reason.

    So, everything you put in Dropbox is in a folder on your machine called 'Dropbox' which is accessible to anybody using your device and machine.

    So, you need to secure the user account on the computer as you would have to do for the data anyway on your device.
    • Mades's avatar
      Mades
      Explorer | Level 3
      7 years ago

      Thank you Mark,

      So, would you recommend Boxcryptor as an extra security to Dropbox?

      • Mark's avatar
        Mark
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
        7 years ago
        Personally I cannot comment on it as I dont use it.

        I know lots do.

        For me I just encrypt my whole hard drive (Mac) and then have strong passwords on the user accounts so nobody else can access it.
    • Mades's avatar
      Mades
      Explorer | Level 3
      7 years ago

      Yes, This has answered my question. 

       

      Any other protection that I may need I have to do myself like implementing Boxcryptor is one solution.

       

      I am happy the way things turned out.

       

      Thanks a lot to all those who participated.

       

      I can recommend this forum.

      Michael

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        7 years ago
        As the others have said above, your files on the Dropbox servers are encrypted.
         
        However the files on your local machine are not, like with any other folder on your computer, so a third party encryption software would be needed if you don’t want anyone to access or view your files there.

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!