BoxCryptor for Mac 1.1 beta!

Adrian

Hi,

today we are happy to announce the first beta of BoxCryptor for Mac, version 1.1.

This new version brings big internal changes,... the new BoxCryptorFS filesystem which replaces Encfs and other cool features, like: "Editing the options of existing volumes" and "Support for Retina Macs".

We hope you like it and will be very glad to receive any feedback from you, including bug reports, crash logs, ui/usability issues and/or anything else you think might be useful to us.

Please take a few minutes to read the following information before proceeding to the download!

IMPORTANT:
- This beta version is provided to you in order to help us test and deliver a great product, it is not intended for production use. You can experience bugs/crashes/hangs and other "cool" issues.
- We strongly disapprove the usage of the beta version as your main BoxCryptor version, but if you choose to do so, please at least make back-ups of your important data.

Minimum system requirements:
* 64bit Intel Macs
* Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard
* OSXFUSE 2.5.4 (automatically installed by the BoxCryptor Installer)

Beta 1:

Whats new:
* BoxCryptorFS replaces Encfs
* Support for editing existing volumes (no filename encryption option yet)
* Support for "Retina" Macs
* Application-wide support for system standard shortcuts (CMD+C / CMD+V / CMD+W and other)
* Detect if Finder shows "Connected Servers" on desktop and disable alias creation
* Various UI and usability improvements/fixes including:
- Updated artwork
- Updated main menu
- New contextual menu in Preferences (Advanced mode), when right clicking on a volume

Known issues:
* Menubar icon may display wrong icon
* Volumes list in Preferences may not be updated when adding/removing a volume
* Failing to uncompress a file with system unarchiver app
* Issues with extended attributes

Beta 2:

Fixes:
* Extended attributes
* Damaged file warning and inability to use the files due to com.apple.quarantine extended attribute being set
* Failing to uncompress a file with system unarchiver app
* Other under-the-hood filesystem improvements (rename, xattr, listxattr,...)

Known issues:
* Menubar icon may display wrong icon
* Volumes list in Preferences may not be updated when adding/removing a volume
* MS Excel 2010 fails to save files to BC volumes

Download:
https://www.boxcryptor.com/download/BoxCryptor_v1.1.b2_Installer.dmg

Beta 3:

Fixes:
* Menubar icon may display wrong icon
* Volumes list in Preferences may not be updated when adding/removing a volume
* MS Excel 2010 fails to save files to BC volumes
* Other minor fixes

Known issues:
* Spotlight not working. "Enable Spotlight" option is disabled for now.

Download:
https://www.boxcryptor.com/download/BoxCryptor_v1.1.b3_Installer.dmg

Release Candidate 1:

Fixes:
* setattr implementation in BCFS
* Spotlight support.

Known issues:
* None!

Download:
https://www.boxcryptor.com/download/BoxCryptor_v1.1.rc1_Installer.dmg

Bug/Issue reporting:

For us to be more productive, we would like to suggest the following issues report format:

Version:
x.y (build)

Summary:
(Provide a descriptive summary of the issue)

Steps to Reproduce: 
(In numbered format, detail the exact steps taken to produce the bug)

Expected Results:
( Describe what you expected to happen when you executed the steps above)

Actual Results:
( Explain what actually occurred when steps above were executed)

Regression: 
(Describe circumstances where the problem occurs or does not occur, such as software versions (system and OSXFUSE) and/or hardware configurations, BoxCryptor folders location (cloud providers, network storage, local, etc))

Notes:
( Provide additional information, such as references to related problems, workarounds and relevant attachments)

Thank you,
Adrian.

ionos

Could you elaborate on BoxCryptorFS? What were the issues with encfs, what are the consequences of the switch? Thanks!

Robert

Hi ionos,

EncFS is really a great piece of software but it also has its drawbacks:

1) EncFS was developed for Linux. Although it also works good with Mac OS X, there are some problems like extended attributes.
2) It works also good with cloud storage, but it hasn't been designed for it and has its limitations (e.g. sharing of individual files).
3) We have ideas and also user requests for features which are required to have a really great encryption solution for cloud storage. But we can't implement them with EncFS.
4) As a company - which has to pay our salaries - it's important for us to own the copyright on the most integral part (encryption/decryption) of our product without having to publish any modifications.

In the near term there won't be any consequences by this switch. We already have our own implementations of "BoxCryptorFS" for Windows, Android and iOS. Mac OS X was the last missing part and we are very happy to have it now. In the future this switch will allow us to further improve BoxCryptor in order to fulfill the needs of our users and to make it an even greater solution to protect your data in the cloud.

Best regards,
Robert

afourney

> We already have our own implementations of "BoxCryptorFS" for Windows,
> Android and iOS. Mac OS X was the last missing part

What about support for Linux? To me, the primary advantage of BoxCryptor was that it supported EncFS ensuring that I can use it with Linux & the iPhone (I use Dropbox because of its Linux support).

ionos

Robert,

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I can certainly understand your reasoning.

EncFS was one of the reasons why I choose BoxCryptor in the first place, or rather knowing that I'll be able to decrypt the data even if I can't use BoxCryptor for whatever reason.

The author backup software Arq provides an open-source command line tool to read the backup archives, should the actual backup tool not be available any longer. Have you considered a similar approach?

Is there any documentation available on BoxCryptorFS? Design, encryption details, etc.?

Thanks!

afourney

@Robert

Agreed. I too chose BoxCryptor because of EncFS.

Since EncFS is already implemented, is it too much to hope for an EncFS-compatibility volume option? (similar to how we can elect to enable filename encryption on a per-volume basis)

Dede

May I install Beta 1.1 for Mac over 1.0.5?
Should I decrypt the BC folder, generate a new BC folder with 1.1 and put the files in it - or replaces BoxCryptorFS automatically encfs?

Adrian

Hi folks,

BoxCryptor volumes are still compatible with EncFS. The .encfs6.xml is provided with each new volume, so that you can use EncFS to work wit BC volumes. As before BCFS, we do not support all EncFS features (details: https://boxcryptor.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/565934-can-boxcryptor-mount-encrypted-volumes-created-with-encfs-). This will most probably remain valid at least until the next major version of BoxCryptor is out.

There are no publicly available docs about BoxCryptorFS. BCFS is OSXFUSE based, with AES-256 as default encryption (192b/128b optional) algorithm (still valid info: https://boxcryptor.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/565947-how-does-boxcryptor-encrypt-files-).

@Dede: When you install 1.1 Beta, it will automatically replace 1.0.5, so if you want to keep it, rename the BoxCryptor app bundle in /Applications. You don't need to do anything, all is done by BoxCryptor for you, just install and you are ready to go.

Best regards,
Adrian.

afourney

Thanks for the details Adrian.

I am relieved that EncFS and/or Linux support will remain for the near future. I really like this product, and find it to be immensely valuable in it's present form. I am now a little nervous about the next major version; but, as I said, I really like what you've done so far, so I've purchased a license, and am happy to stick around and try out new versions.

Dede

Thanks for your explanations, Adrian.

Christian1782

Has someone else problems to open and save a file with excle 2011?

Adrian

Hi Christian,

can i get more details on what problems are you having with BoxCryptor and Excel?

Best,
Adrian.

Christian1782

I open an excel file from my boxcryptor folder and try to save it, but Excel told me that it couldn't reopen the file because there is not enough memory. After that, the file is damaged. My Office is in german, this is the message:

Das Dokument wurde erfolgreich gespeichert. Das Gespeicherte Dokument kann aufgrund von fehlendem Arbeitsspeicher nicht erneut geöffnet werden. Schließen Sie das Dokument.

Adrian

Will try to test that tomorrow,
please let me know what system are you on, where is your BoxCryptor folder located and if you have problems saving other documents to that volume.

Thanks,
Adrian.

Christian1782

I'm running OSX 10.8.2. It happens only with excel, word is ok.

Dede

For the wishlist:
Automatic lock of open BoxCryptor volumes after a predefined timeout.

Christian1782

Hey Adrian, do you have tryed it with Excel?

Adrian

Hi guys.

@dede
I've added it to my "think" list, thank you.

@Christian1782
Yep, i get the same error, will do my best to fix it asap. Thanks.

Best regards,
Adrian.

Adrian

Hi,

today we are releasing the beta, which contains some important fixes, as follows:

* Extended attributes
* Damaged file warning and inability to use the files due to com.apple.quarantine extended attribute being set
* Failing to uncompress a file with system unarchiver app
* Other under-the-hood filesystem improvements (rename, xattr, listxattr,...)

Known issues:
* Menubar icon may display wrong icon
* Volumes list in Preferences may not be updated when adding/removing a volume
* MS Excel 2010 fails to save files to BC volumes

Download:
https://www.boxcryptor.com/download/BoxCryptor_v1.1.b2_Installer.dmg

Thank you,
best,
Adrian.

Dede

Known issues:
* Menubar icon may display wrong icon

Kann ich bestätigen. Zeigt unverschlüsseltes Volumen an, obwohl verschlüsselt.
OS X 10.8.2
Ursache: kein Muster erkennbar.