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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 and wait for communication on how the transaction will be handled by Dropbox ?
Boxcryptor was used to encrypt files using other cloud services, will this change ?
Thank you very much
Riccardo
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.
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I'm considering migrating all my data off Dropbox based on this decision. I've been using Dropbox since it was basically a startup and using a paid account for years now.
Boxcryptor was the best solution and DB acquired them and then removed the service but provided no alternative.
They could've seamlessly integrated the product with their UI/product but now we have to rely on less reliable options including Cryptomator or others. I've been testing Cryptomator and it doesn't work nearly as well. I will say Cryptomator does seem much faster than BC though, which is nice.
I already have a Synology with a file sync so most of Dropbox's services can be replaced. We all know Dropbox is just a custom rsync with a desktop shell but DB did a great job with that shell but overtime it's becoming a bloated behemoth.
It also appears Boxcryptor was the only service with proper MFA/YubiKey integration for disk encryption, which are all best practices for security. Dropbox doesn't care about their customers or the customers they acquired from BC.
I see the mention of a road map for Q1 2024 release (which we know could be delayed). But then why was Boxcryptor disabled so quickly? Why not sunset it Q3 2024 so all of your customers to have to spend dozens of hours reconfiguring and switching services depending on their level of integration and volume of data managed. No answer... I would be more understanding if there was a legitimate explanation or other issue.
- I still can not fathom how this went down so badly. All they had to do was just keep things as-is until they could refactor BC to be Dropbox native then have a seamless cut over. Maybe there was some legal shenanigans about BC because it was a German company so subject to GDPR? I can’t for the life of me think why else you would take $65/year subscribers and terminate them. That was easy money for no work! Truly disappointing.
- I agree to both of your comments. It is more and more unforgivable that FB/BC did not leave everything as it was, before presenting a new final product. It confirms total incompetence by the responsible persons. Andrea refused to comment to this specific question in all her comments still until today. It is ridiculous that there is still no progress after months which confirms that leaving DB in time was the best decision...
apfundDropbox Product Manager
I appreciate your openness and the feedback you've shared in this discussion adamel85 .
Martin R.19 I completely understand your frustration, and while I strive to be as transparent as possible, there are certain questions I'm unable to answer.
We are diligently working on the development of a native end-to-end encryption solution, which is on track for release in Q1 2024, with early access planned for Q4 2023. If there are any further updates or developments, I'll be sure to share them with you all.
What a bunch of @#$%, I'm sorry, So much for seamless transition.
All this means is that Andrea & Robert cashed in and left the users in limbo. Shame on them (but they do not seem to care). "No comment", seems to be their line.
I received my termination message from Boxcryptor a couple of days ago. Textbook example of how not to treat your paying customers. I’ve been using Dropbox with Boxcryptor for many years as an individual, paying user. I am not willing to maintain personal documents in cloud storage without E2EE and if Dropbox offers its native feature only to Business users, I am simply going to switch to iCloud. I don’t know how many individual users like me value E2EE as a feature, but considering that business users at Dropbox represent less than 4% of their paying user base, there are a lot of folks like me that might end up switching once E2EE gains in popularity as a feature.
Back when I installed both Dropbox and Boxcryptor on my then new Windows 10 computer,
Dropbox ended up as a directory under Boxcryptor. And Boxcryptor installed itself as a separate
Drive (with letter) an the computer.
Now that my Boxcryptor is ending my subscription, I have de-crypted and moved all the files.
Including some also linking with third-party apps.
Boxcryptor is also telling me that it--the app--and its filles are going to be locked at the end sub date.
My question--Does this mean that the drive (with letter) is going to end up locked, too. Like I'll lose '
that drive (with letter)? And Dropbox that is under that drive (with letter) called "Boxcryptor"?
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi PitchCascadia , since your query seems to echo the OP here, I merged your post under this thread.
Feel free to have a look and let us know if you have any follow up questions.
- apfund
Hi PitchCascadia ,
Thanks for reaching out!
The boxcryptor drive letter is a virtual drive that gives you a plaintext view on your Dropbox files. Once you remove the boxcryptor software from your computer, the letter will be available again and you will find your regular Dropbox files within the regular Dropbox folder (not under the X: drive).
For any further questions regarding boxcryptor, please reach out directly to the boxcryptor team.
Thank you!
Thanks for making that clear.
Dropbox help is good help.
