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Forum Discussion
Dropbox acquires Boxcryptor. What will happen to all those files that have been encrypted?
Hi
As most will know, dropbox has purchased boxcryptor. At this point my question is, what will happen to all those files that have been encrypted with boxcryptor ? Should they all be decrypted an...
riccardo1981 wrote:
At this point my question is, what will happen to all those files that have been encrypted with boxcryptor ?
Since this is such a new development, such answers are likely not available yet, beyond what has been stated by the Boxcryptor founders (emphasis mine).
What does this mean for our users and customers?
First of all: All our existing users and customers will remain with the German Secomba GmbH with the same shareholders as during the past 10 years. No contracts, customer data or keys will migrate to Dropbox, all data will remain in our German data centers.
While we’ve sold several key technology assets to Dropbox, we will continue to service our existing users and customers pursuant to the terms of their existing contracts. However, as of today, we will not allow the creation of new accounts or purchases of any new licenses.
If you’re an existing customer, you can keep using Boxcryptor as you do today, and we’ll be in touch with more details as we join forces with Dropbox. If you’re new here and would like to stay up to date on Dropbox’s progress, join the Dropbox mailing list.
You will also find the most important FAQs regarding the next steps below.
Good morning,
When will we be able to encrypt data in Dropbox with Boxcryptor?
Megan
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffMy question is it possible to encrypt data directly in Dropbox with Boxcryptor. So currently there is still no certain date..
What Dropbox is really saying by reposting a 4-month-old statement is that the leading cloud provider does not currently offer zero-knowledge encryption and that they don't know when it will happen. They acquired Boxcryptor, and for some unknown reason managed to shut down the official Boxcryptor service immediately, instead of leaving everything as it was until they successfully implemented Boxcryptor into Dropbox.
Martin R.19 That's because - like virtually everything that's done by Dropbox - it's act first, think later. They spend more time thinking up idiotic ideas that make them "newsworthy" or (in their own minds alone) "cool" and then they do it. The product management team at Dropbox must be staffed by either high school dropouts or those who went to universities that managed to convince them that they're smarter than the rest of us. What I know with certainty is that none of them have ever worked in a real business that had to manage real business data.
Well, according to the Boxcryptor press release, that product will be part of Dropbox for business users. At the moment, the least expensive Business plan is $20/month. I already have a paid Dropbox plan at something less than that, and will pay the difference to get Boxcryptor functionality back.
I haven't run the numbers, but, as a paid Boxcryptor user, I could "credit" the discontinued Boxcryptor cost towards a Dropbox Business plan.
Or, as others have pointed out, you could download your Boxcryptor keys and run the now-unsupported program locally, but someday a new Mac OS release will break it (like TrueCrypt years ago).
HRS2403I agree with what you wrote. I was using Boxcryptor for free because I got enough devices with affiliate links. My Dropbox plan was $9.99/month (2TB). Even if soon available at Dropbox Business, I would not be willing to pay an additional ten dollars a month or even more just for the encryption. Simply because I meanwhile found a cheaper solution. There was no compelling reason for me to stay with Dropbox at any cost.
I decided to try using Boxcryptor with a Local Account. The idea was to somehow insulate myself against Boxcryptor shutting down, making my encrypted files useless.
I put a sample encrypted file on my desktop, with the downloaded Key file. I signed into Boxcryptor and selected Local Account. Now, I still needed my old Boxcryptor account password to unlock the Key file. No problem (as long as you have that password written down).
Then I was able to open the encrypted file.
But, just to test completely offline use of Boxcryptor, I turned off wi-fi and signed out of Boxcryptor.
Then, I tried to sign back into Boxcryptor while offline, but it won't work.
So, I'm not at all sure I can simply run Boxcrytor locally without access to their online-stored credentials, which situation would presumably lock me out once my current license expires in a couple of months.
Maybe somehow has figured this out...
It does not clarify anything. Only that Boxcryptor shareholders cashed in. Never mind the users..
