confused

arail

I'm looking for some way to password protect Dropbox files. Like many people today, I work free lance at several locations and Dropbox is a godsend for file organization but I'm not the sole user at any of these computers so security is a problem.

I'm not looking for heavy security or encryption, just a simple solution to prevent someone with prying eyes looking at my stuff when I'm not around.

Question:
Do I have to download and install Boxcryptor on every computer that I use or do I install it into Dropbox on my home computer and that's it? I'd like a password solution that is tied to the folder like the password protection you can apply to a document - it requires no software and is a function of the document.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

ehab

1- Install Boxcryptor on your home machine and create an encrypted folder in your Dropbox folder.
2- Use BoxCryptor portable http://blog.boxcryptor.com/boxcryptor-for-windows-portable-and-control-u and carry that with you on a usb stick and run on every computer you use. This is having Dropbox installed on every computer you use.

The above is the simplest solution for you r question.

okolokolaka

I installed the BoxCryptor portable on my USB stick.
I tried it but I was confused that after opening the file, it is decrypted and saved somewhere in Temp folder on computers HDD.
My understanding of portable version would be that it would work similarly as standard version. But I presume due to this is portable version there are some limitations.

Nevertheless I wonder whether you could suggest me how to operate with my Boxcryptor files from USB stick. Perhaps I missed some easier and more efficient way of working from USB stick?

The normal workflow would be (documents and portable Boxcryptor on the same USB stick):
1. Open portable Boxcryptor and access my encrypted document.
2. Open/decrypt document file + make necessary changes in my document.
3. Close and encrypt the changed document.

This is important in case I have my crypted files with me in USB stick and I have to open and work with documents on someone else's computer (and I cannot install standard Boxcryptor software on this someone else's computer).

Thanks!

okolokolaka

Hi,

Can anybody suggest any idea for possible solution of working with BoxCryptor from USB stick? See my earlier post.

Thanks.

gmgroeb

Hi,

I'm pretty sure, BoxCryptor isn't the right application to achieve your requirements. The basic idea of BoxCryptor is, to have on a Device (e.g. PC) a directory / drive / ... where you store your original files to encrypt them to be pushed into the "cloud" safely. You can simulate the "cloud" with your USB-stick, but it seams to be a must, to have a drive assigned to get the files decrypt. Take an other tool - e.g. "Portable Safe from Steganos" this will meet your requirements perfectly. I'm using this in addition to BoxCryptor with DropBox for different purposes.

okolokolaka

Thanks, gmgroeb. I'll check your suggested tool.

Another option, of course, is to use TrueCrypt. It works from USB stick with encrypted files on the same USB stick without installation. However there are limitations if I do not have admin rights on PC on which I would like to work from USB stick. Then "portable" TrueCrypt doesn't work.

But it seems in one or another way there always be some downsides if encryption is used :)
Security is not always 100% convenient in usage.

Robert

Hi,

BoxCryptor Portable only stores files on the local Temp folder when double-clicking a file to open it. If you drag-and-drop a file from BoxCryptor to e.g. your USB stick, the file will be decrypted and stored on your usb stick in plaintext.

So a possible workflow could be:
1) Open BoxCryptor Portable
2) Drag-and-Drop the file from BoxCryptor Portable to your USB stick
3) Edit the new plaintext file on your USB stick
4) Drag-and-Drop the edited plaintext file from your USB stick to BoxCryptor Portable

Of course you need to make sure that the plaintext file is deleted securely from your USB stick afterwards - or you can even encrypt your whole USB stick with TrueCrypt (and have the BoxCryptor encrypted files in the encrypted TrueCrypt partition/container).

As gmgroeb pointed out, BoxCryptor is intended and optimized to be used with cloud storage providers like Dropbox or Google Drive. You can use BoxCryptor also to "only" encrypt your USB stick, but there may be other tools out there which fit better for this job (e.g. TrueCrypt or USB sticks with built-in hardware encryption).

--Robert

okolokolaka

Thanks, Robert, for your explanation.
Will consider what would be the best option for me.
Nevertheless BoxCryptor is a very nice & useful tool!!!

dax

I was hoping for the same functionality as okolokolaka. It would be great if BoxCryptor supported this.
okolokolaka you could try SecurStick (www.withopf.com/tools/securstick/). It is similar to TrueCrypt but you don't need admin rights.