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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.
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...
HRS2403 it works well, I also tested it offline. But it sounds that you probably do it the wrong way testing somehow on the desktop. All you have to do is switch to local account in the BC settings, using the downloaded key when being asked for. Afterwards everything works on the fly same as before. You have your BC drive where you can see all the encrypted files without encryption while you can't open them in the Dropbox folder where they are actually located and where they show the file extension .bc. As long as the Boxcryptor app runs on future MacOS version, you can continue to use it without big restrictions compared to how it was before. Only disadvantage is that you won't be able to use the iOS app anymore and won't have access to your files on your iPhone. And of course the Mac app will no longer get patches in case that (security) bugs will be discovered. That's just one of the reasons why I changed to alternatives.
OK, thanks, I'll try again.
But once Boxcryptor has disappeared, I don't think you could ever use it on a new device, since you have to be able to log in to something that no longer exists for the MacOS app to work. Or?
- After starting over, I was in fact able to use Boxcryptor entirely off-line with a local account.
The long term problem remains however, how does one deal with a new Mac OS release breaking the product.
The only answer I can think of is to keep a back up copy of everything that’s been encrypted and keep it in cold storage.HRS2403 glad you managed to use it properly now...on a long term you should definitely look for a new solution but there is and never was a reason to panic just because Boxcryptor ended the service for unpaid plans. Interesting to see whether encrypted Boxcryptor files will be later compatible with Dropbox's new zero-knowledge encryption...
HRS2403 yes, most probably another valid point why Boxcryptor is no good solution anymore cause you don't want to face a situation when you suddenly can't decrypt your files, for what reason ever. I downloaded the last .dmg-file but I doubt that a clean installation is possible without Boxcryptor's servers being available anymore sooner or later. Too many unanswered questions. I just keep the keys and BC on my Mac for a situation when I still find an encrypted file that needs to get decrypted. Without this forum I already forgot about Boxcryptor and Dropbox. Funny how things in life change...
