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

[chrissos]

Martin and others, I absolutely share these concerns and wanted to add my voice.  As a very loyal Dropbox and Boxcryptor user from nearly the very beginning of both companies, the way they handled this is disappointing.  I am a big fan of zero-knowledge cloud data for my personal financial and medical data not only to protect me, but to protect Dropbox as well.  I've read most of what both companies have posted these last few months and have really felt the communication was a 2 out of 5 (BTW - if Dropbox is reading this, my wife says "shame on you").  At the least, the companies should have done a better job explaining what was going on.  If you're not going to give us a usage path through the transition, tell us.  Better yet, you should have planned a path for us to take.  As I think of it, both companies should acknowledge the millions of customers that value zero-knowledge encryption and understand it is USERS LIKE US that are the very reason why you acquired the IP from Boxcryptor in the first place.  And if it's users like us, then find a way to not abandon us in the transition with little to no method for maintaining our zero-knowledge encrypted files in the cloud.   This is such a disappointment.  ...as I sit here on a Saturday morning researching zero-encryption alternatives (competitors) to Boxcryptor/Dropbox for me, my family, and my business (I run a SaaS business of my own, so I'm not foreign to these concepts personally or professionally).   

In the meantime, I do want to correct some of the previous posts.  Paying Boxcryptor customers CAN still access, save, and store files without decrypting buy downloading your personal encryption key from Boxcryptor (even now after your account is locked): 

1.  Log into Boxcryptor and go to advanced: https://www.boxcryptor.com/app/account/index/#advanced 
2. Click Export Keys and save the encryption file locally on your computer.
3. Open Boxcryptor on your local computer, click the three dots, and select Local Account
4. You'll be prompted for the Export Key you just downloaded.  Load it up, enter your BC password and you will be able to access your Boxcryptor files from within Dropbox on your local computer once the key is loaded.  You may have to reset the link between Boxcryptor and Dropbox in the Boxcryptor settings.  

Note that I don't think it is possible to access your Boxcryptor files on iOS or Android using this method.  If someone knows how to do this, please let me know.

Dropbox, how about a plan or timeline when you might bring back zero-knowledge for your joint customers before you lose a million more of us?

[Martin R.19]

@chrissosThanks for your comments. Yes, just in case this is not clear to everyone, even non-paying Boxcryptor customers can still use Boxcryptor with a local account if they downloaded their keys before January 31st. However, it was not an option for me to use an encryption tool that is no longer officially supported for my free plan. Instead, it's cheaper and more convenient to switch to a cloud service that comes with zero-knowledge encryption out of the box, and you don't have to run two applications.

[HRS2403]

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).

[Martin R.19]

@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.

[HRS2403]

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...

[Martin R.19]

@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. 

[HRS2403]

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?

[HRS2403]

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.

[Martin R.19]

@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...

[Martin R.19]

@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...