Dropbox acquires Boxcryptor. What will happen to all those files that have been encrypted?

[riccardo1981]

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

[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.

[Steveme]

Let me summarize the situation and suggest possible solutions:

• Dropbox decided to stop Boxcrypter service before having a solution. I.e. no seamless transfer of service.

• That puts its own developers under unnecessary pressure and increases risk releasing something not proper. Or wait very long.

• Dropbox clearly communicated that encryption will only be available to Dropbox business models. Also there is no anticipated price.

• Price is not clear but it is likely to be non-competitively high, looking at the already high-priced business solutions

I see ex-Boxcrypter customers faced with two options:

1. Wait for an indefinite time until Dropbox Business encryption is available. An interim solution is not available. And the pricing is unclear and a risk having to wait foe something too expensive.

2. Chose another provider. Just to name a few with end-to-end encryptions available: nordlocker, ionos hidrive, icloud, onedrive etc

Obviously, Dropbox has deliberately decided to not provide a seamless and uninterrupted solution for Boxcrypter customers. That means that customers have to spend an extra effort now for an interim solution. Since we need to spend the effort now anyway. I suggest to invest the effort to finding another permanent solution.

For me that means choosing solution #2. Might not be perfect yet, but without healthy competition (which also need support and feedback to progress) we are poised to having something like this happening again. I.e. I will spend my extra time supporting other companies that are really eager to listen to customers.

[Martin R.19]

@Steveme Beautiful, precise analysis. And I assume by end-to-end encryption you mean client-side (zero-knowledge) encryption. However, OneDrive does not yet offer this, as Microsoft keeps the private keys on its server. I found my peace with the minimal and affordable German cloud service Filen.io.

[Steveme]

@Martin R.19 Thanks for the clarification. Indeed, I should have rather written "zero-knowledge" encryption. End-to-End encryption is necessary but not sufficient.

Great advice on Filen.io.  Expanding the list: swiss company: pcloud. Zero-knowledge can be purchased as an add-on. Also, there is cryptomator (German) without an own cloud.

[Martin R.19]

@StevemeThe extra charges for encryption alone made pCloud incompetitive for me. And another reason why I did not choose this service is the fact that they still have not implemented Apple's API requirements. They are working on it, but sooner or later it will mean similar and significant changes as with Dropbox. It's about moving the Cloud folder to ~/Library/CloudStorage. Cryptomator would have been a nice replacement, but since you cannot disable filename encryption, it was never an option for me.
As mentioned in previous posts, I spent weeks doing research and looking for possible alternatives after it was announced that BC would be discontinued. I guess I tested everything only to end up with Filen. For my 800 GB of media files that don't require zero-knowledge encryption and that I need "online only", I use Onedrive and I'm happy with that service as well. After all, I pay less now than I used to for DB and BC. The changes also forced/motivated me to finally use Filevault on my Macs to make sure everything stays encrypted locally as well. This new structure is very convenient to work with, because you are never directly confronted with the encryption, as was the case with Boxcryptor. Everything happens on-the-fly in the background, and you will even notice a better performance of your machines without the DB/BC couple installed and running. Using Spotlight search more effectively is just one of the benefits.

[JohnH1]

Re: "Boxcryptor is going to be an offering to paid business users".  That is sad.  I guess it is time to signup for iCloud and get the Advanced Data Protection for iCloud.

[bookbean1]

I am a novice user compared to what I am seeing posted here.  I have been a BC user for many years and was sad to see that it is on the way out.  I managed to decrypt all of my files and I have been considering alternatives.  I just signed up for AxCrypt and I am finding it difficult to work with, at best.   When I linked my DB account, practically nothing is showing up except for a few folders from many years ago.  Has anyone else experienced this?

[Martin R.19]

@bookbean1 I don't know AxCrypt, but on their website it says under "Download"... "Other cloud drives like iCloud, DropBox, OneDrive and others will be supported in upcoming versions...". So this is still not a solution for a local Dropbox at the moment. What gets encrypted when and where, and whether it is local zero-knowledge encryption, I could not see on the fly. The question might also be why you prefer to use the combination of AxCrypt and Dropbox.

[Martin R.19]

no idea why I made my last reply the other day in German language first. Sorry for that. Probably the website was automatically translated and mislead me. I could finally edit the post on my Mac and corrected it.

[Eethan]

Has anyone found a good solution yet?  I have just over a week to decrypt my data and find a new solution.  At this point I am more than happy to move away from Dropbox if another company provides what they have failed to.  I am looking into pCloud and filen.io, although after emailing pCloud for some details they asked me to email again in English, which is exactly the language my email was in... So, no help there!  Filen.io looks great, but I haven't found much about them online.  Anyone else desperately scrambling too?  (Thanks again, Dropbox)