Encrypting Online Storage with EncFS

Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, SugarSync, Box, iCloud and dozens of other online storage providers all make sharing content online for access from multiple devices fast and convenient. How sweet it is to take a picture or create a document on your phone or tablet and have it automatically uploaded to “the cloud”.  You no longer have to worry about the data being lost if something happens to your mobile device, right?

It’s great until your mobile device falls into the wrong hands, somebody hacks into your online account, or the online storage provider suffers a privacy breach.  Depending on the data you stored online, that sweet solution could leave a sour aftertaste.  One solution is to encrypt the data before it is stored online using EncFS, a tool that encrypts an entire folder structure, but file by file, as opposed to a single container like TrueCrypt.  Because it stores data encrypted and decrypts only when mounted using a password, the data residing on mobile devices and in the cloud is securely encrypted if lost or compromised.

EncFS is a mature, decade old solution with broad platform support, including Linux, Windows, Macintosh, iPhone/iPad, Android, and a variety of online storage platforms.  Apps that make use simple include:

• BoxCryptor – Windows, Windows RT, Linux, OS X, Android, iOS, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync, Box.net
• Cryptonite – Android
• Cryptkeeper – Linux
• MacFUSE – OS X
• OSXFUSE – OS X
• BoxProtect – iPhone, Macintosh, and Dropbox
• encfs4win – Windows, Dropbox
• Cloudfogger – Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive
• Grive – Google Drive, Linux, Android
• EncFS – good Windows and Linux tutorial

Cloud Storage is Getting Crowded – Google Drive vs. Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync, and others: a cloud sync storage face-off

Google Drive has been released over the last couple of days, so it has prompted many sites to do comparisons of the different online storage cloud providers. A very good comparison that I have found is over at theverge.com. It’s over at: http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2954960/google-drive-dropbox-skydrive-sugarsync-cloud-storage-competition

Note– if you are a Microsoft SkyDrive user, they are changing the “free” account from 25GB down to 7GB. However if you already have a SkyDrive account, you can “claim” your full 25GB by heading to your SkyDrive “Manage Storage” page (conveniently linked from the client’s menu bar icon). There is a link on that page to claim your full 25GB.

The article above basically mentions that they feel SugarSync is the overall best solution. I would agree with that, I used SugarSync for quite awhile, however one thing that I didn’t like about SugarSync, is some of the sharing capabilities of folders. To share a folder with someone, you choose the folder, click on “get share link” and you send the link out to the person you want to share it with. What you might not know/see, is the person you’ve shared the folder with cannot access your link until they sign-up for a SugarSync account themselves- something that I didn’t want the people I share links with to have to do.

Here’s an example of the above so you can see what I mean:

For the above, I made a test folder with a test file inside the folder. I then shared the folder with a link. When you click on that link however, you’ll see the above page- SugarSync wants them to signup for an account before they can get access to the files you’ve shared with them.

Personally I’ve switched over to Dropbox, as their sharing capabilities are quick, easy and I can share files or folders through links– and they don’t require the person I’m sharing the link with to signup for an account in order to access the files.