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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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As a paying Dropbox Plus user, I hope there can be a user tier short of "Business" (now $45/month for the minimum of three users), that includes Boxcryptor. Perhaps incorporate Boxcryptor in what is now "Professional?"
Thanks for your response, apfund.
While it is good news to hear that it is at least being discussed, most of us here are losing our encryption service before any alternative is being offered, leaving us scrambling for another solution. Mine ends in May, and Dropbox unfortunately hasn't provided a solution to the problem they ultimately created. I do hope to keep using Dropbox, but I need this encryption-type, and this has really inconvenienced myself and a lot of users. I would have hoped this matter would be treated with a little more urgency.
apfundDropbox Product Manager
I completely understand your frustration and the inconvenience this has caused for you and other users.
While I don't have an immediate solution to offer, I'll pass on your feedback to my team. But I can assure you, that they are aware of the urgency and are already working on this topic. Thank you!
I'm getting tired of these lame excuses. I'm going to move to a zero-knowledge platform.
- As much as I love Dropbox because it works so well across devices, the company has endlessly proven their priority is to grow revenue over the greater good of its community. — See the eight year battle for “Ignore folder (without selective sync)”.
Dropbox is highly likely making new revenue by eliminating BoxCryptor, the #1 provider of user privacy. The question is — Who or What is the source of that revenue that benefits most from eliminating zero-knowledge encryption? The acquisition cost needs to be offset somehow.
DropBox’s non-action and deflective responses indicate community rants will have zero impact.
The **ONLY** solution is a 3rd party provider of zero-knowledge encryption, like BoxCryptor.
— This thread should be used to share leads on new providers filling the BoxCryptor void.
As for me, I stopped using encryption which is terribly uncomfortable with (insecure) online storage due to the growing number of bad actors out there. Well, I asked the BC team last year if they were going to offer something new and similar after Boxcryptor was discontinued. I even asked if it was possible to get the rights to create a clone. All I got were automated messages. We may never know what made BC adapt the poor communication behavior of Dropbox and why they ruined their "baby" after so many years. Will we ever know what motivated BC to leave all the customers out in the cold instead of leaving everything as it was and just coming up with the new product and strategy when it was ready and fully functional? Normally Germans don't do things like that. Maybe Andrea can finally give us some reasons. Anyway, I'm now happily working with Filen, which is also a German startup and reminds me of how it all started with BC more than a decade ago. It replaced my DB and BC and provides zero knowledge encryption. No more two applications needed. As usual, every disaster leads to something new and better in the end...
We have a subscription to Boxcrypter. We understand that Boxcrypter will be ADDED by Dropbox to Business. What about paid NON-Business users? Once our subscription to Boxcrypter comes to an end, We NEED encryption that is available on our MACs, iPads and IPhones.
- apfund
The current status is, that the first version of our native end-to-end encryption implementation will be offered to our business customers.
I will certainly share your comments and suggestions with our team, and we appreciate your feedback.
Additionally, I understand the importance of clear communication and messaging, and I will take this feedback into consideration as well, as we continue to refine our approach. Thank you again for your valuable input.
apfund Respectfully, this not a status report as it lacks 1) Progress, 2) Features, and most importantly 3) the Delivery Date. Users have no clue what to do which fuels confusion or potential anger which is exceedingly damaging to the Dropbox Brand and forever alienates brand ambassadors.
Any exec leadership with the most basic understanding of brand development, Marketing 101, intro-to, or even a kindergartener understands being evasive or dishonest makes people not trust or like them.Clearly this is a choice by someone whose's role might deserve a performance review by leadership with some emotional intelligence. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, is a master of empathy for all stakeholders, even when things are difficult or confidential.— It might be better to develop an honest answer that helps users in the interim to protect their information AND feel good using the Dropbox platform. These kinds of responses are inauthentic and counter productive.- apfund
Sebastian, I completely got your point and also understand your frustration.
I assure you that my team here at Dropbox is working diligently on the native integration of end-to-end encryption.
My previous posts might not include all the information you want regarding timeline and status, but I will only be able to share a more accurate timeline with you once we get closer to a release date.
I'm sorry if our past communication or decisions did not meet your expectations, but is there anything I can do now to assist you in the interim?
As mentioned above, I am collecting your feedback here and sharing it with our team to ensure that your voice is heard.
But if there is anything else, please let me know and I'll do my best to help.
