In this day and age, there are many users who depend on cloud services; the staff at Tech Heavy being some of them and with these services brings the need for tools to secure files and folders along with all the classified information which is being synced. Out of all of the cloud based sync services, Dropbox is the most well-known for so many reasons (we even listed it on our 5 Must Have PC/Mac Applications list). BoxCryptor is an application which comes with Dropbox support, allowing user to sync and encrypt files on the fly with the RC4 algorithm.
BoxCryptor doesn’t confine you to use only the Drobbox folder; you can specify any location where data is to be encrypted. Encryption and decryption takes place in real-time without prompting you for your passphrase each time to perform the operation (+1 to that!!)
It is important to know that the BoxCryptor encrypted data is managed from a virtual hard disk which is linked with Dropbox folder. All you must doe is copy the files into its drive to encrypt and sync data with Dropbox folder. Simply, launch the application and enter your password, then under the ‘Source Directory’ section, select either the ‘Dropbox folder or any other local folder. Once you have done this you can specify the drive letter for BoxCryptor virtual hard disk then click on ‘OK’ to create an encrypted virtual hard disk linked with the Dropbox folder.
You will be able to see the new drive listed in Windows Explorer after it has been created. Now copy the data to the drive to encrypt and sync with Dropbox folder. The screenshot provided below shows the encrypted data in Dropbox folder.
This program is able to encrypt the data on-the-fly, meaning that when data is moved to its drive, it will immediately encrypt and store it in the selected Dropbox folder.
If you’re a Dropbox user and looking for quick way to make your data secure, we reckon giving it a shot. As of now the only encryption available is by RC4, but the developer has stated he will soon replace it with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption.
BoxCryptor is currently free and works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Download it now!
This sounds fairly interesting. But I was wondering if you wanted to transfer the file onto eg a friends computer, would they be able to read the file even if I downloaded dropbox onto that computer?
The best part of Dropbox is you can have shared folders for friends or family so you can drop stuff into their folder and they can access it instantly, but no they do not have to have dropbox installed in order to access the file you are sending them, they view/download the file from the dropbox.com user panel if they don’t feel like installing dropbox. Also, if you are sharing a file with a friend and this is a one time deal you can place it in your Public folder and share it from there.