This is a text automatically translated from Italian. If you appreciate our work and if you like reading it in your language, consider a donation to allow us to continue doing it and improving it.
Content index
Today we will talk about a slightly more technical topic, but don't stop reading immediately. If we decided to talk about it it's because after all Cryptomator it is an application and service that is easy to use for anyone. It is a method to encrypt your files on any cloud. So it's definitely a step forward from the normal cloud but it will help anyone to really keep their files safe, too without any computer knowledge!
Key Points of Cryptomator
- By encrypting your files yourself, you will no longer need to trust anyone!
- Any cloud becomes secure thanks to Cryptomator.
- You are sure that no one will ever be able to see your files in the cloud.
- It's so easy to use, you'll regret not using it sooner.
We have always told you about the importance of zero knowledge encryption and how important it is to use one alternative to Google Drive who uses it. It means, in practice, that no one can access and/or analyze your files without your password: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and all these services that do not encrypt data once on the server can indeed potentially analyze and see your files. They can, for example, delete your account if, thanks to their analyses, they find documents that they say are illegal and/or covered by copyright. Basically if you buy a CD, put it in MP3 and upload it to your cloud to store it you are potentially putting your account at risk because it may go against their terms of use.
We respect the intellectual property of others and ask you to do the same. We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement if they comply with the law and if they are communicated to us via Copyright Policy. We reserve the right to delete or disable content that represents alleged infringement and to delete accounts that repeatedly infringe copyright.
Quote taken from Dropbox Terms and Conditions
Cryptomator and cloud privacy
On the one hand, therefore, copyright and illegal actions are protected, on the other it means that your files are not safe and which can be analyzed or viewed by someone. Think of your beautiful file with all the passwords (use a password manager, rather!) or all of yours scanned documents, your medical reports, your pay slips, The Bank statements and so on.
As an alternative to this there are secure clouds, generally those recommended by us, where it comes from all encrypted also on the server. So no one can read its contents! However, an open question always remains: confidence! Because if it is true that on paper these services say they encrypt our files we have no type of certainty that this will actually happen. And above all we have no certainty that a copy of the encryption key is not kept as they do everything. As we know the cloud is nothing more than someone else's computer so if you leave files on them you can only decide to trust these services.
We don't want to terrify anyone - it's just what happens. There is no reason to doubt the good faith of the services we suggest. However, you simply have to trust.
In the vast majority of cases this may be enough: we rely on a cloud service and we trust it. Let's check that it doesn't contain of the tracers, we trust their encryption and that's it. Self Open source, For example Cryptee it is certainly better even if on the server side there is no way to be sure that everything happens as it is said in the released code.
Cryptomator goes beyond trust
But what if we really wanted to make sure that no one looked at our files?
This is where he comes to our rescue Cryptomator. In fact, if we encrypt our files independently we don't have to trust anyone anymore! In this short guide on using Cryptomator we will see its incredible potential, its versatility and its ease of use.
Cryptomator and the clouds
Let's briefly explain what it does Cryptomator: will allow you to upload files encrypted with your key and will allow you to view them as if they were in clear text.
Cryptomator it's a project Open source 1 which can be used in many ways. It can be used via FTP with Cyberduck or Mountain Duck. It can be used on own computer or you can use it via your smartphone Android or iPhone with dedicated applications.
Let's start with the smartphone
Cryptomator works with many clouds. It works with Google Drive, with Dropbox and it also works with all clouds that also offer a service WebDAV. If you don't know what it is and are wondering who uses it WebDAV know that there are many: WebDAV URLs of Common Cloud Storage Services. Plus any cloud Nextcloud uses WebDAV therefore the possibilities are almost endless. WebDAV It basically allows you to connect to the cloud without using the default app.
If you want to use it on your smartphone then install Cryptomator, connect to your trusted cloud and create an encrypted folder. Choose a password and upload whatever you want. At this point only you and only with Cryptomator you will be able to see the contents of that folder and no one will ever know what it really contains!
Cryptomator and FTPs
Is the smartphone not for you? Are you not interested in the cloud on your mobile phone but just want to have a safe place to leave files waiting for them to be needed sooner or later? Let's think for example of gods documents, to gods video or very personal photos, private invoices or anything else that is very important and personal to you. All things that perhaps you don't want to always have at hand on your mobile phone but want to keep in the cloud somewhere for safety.
Thanks to the collaboration between Cyberduck And Cryptomator you can do all this with disarming ease. You can choose any type of online cloud or if you already have one you can also use a space FTP, for example that of a website.
Open Cyberduck and connect to your cloud. By pressing on new connection you can choose whether FTP or if WebDAV, as we saw before. You can also choose Dropbox, Google Drive And OneDrive. In short, choose the option you need and make the connection.
Press the right button and do “New encrypted safe“. Enter your password and voilà. Have you finished. Enter the folder and load everything you need. You can leave it there and you are sure that no one will ever open it!
Isn't that entirely clear? Let's take a practical example
Too many words for something that is actually very simple: so let's make a practical example!
We purchase our space on any drive. Let's assume we did it on Koofr (a alternative to Google Drive). We can use your cloud like any other but we would like to protect some data with Cryptomator.
From computer
From a computer we can open Cyberduck, press on New connection and select WebDAV (HTTPS). In the server we will put https://app.koofr.net/dav/Koofr and in user/password our credentials. Let's click on Connection and we are inside our cloud. Let's go where we want to create a secret folder, right click and press on "Create encrypted safe“. We choose a password and that's it. The only way to see that folder is to use Cryptomator and enter that password. Very important therefore: never forget that password. There is no way to recover it!
From smartphone
Exact same operation on smartphones. Open Cryptomator and selected WebDAV. Connect to https://app.koofr.net/dav/Koofr with your credentials and go find your secret folder. When it asks you for your password, enter the one you chose!
This is just an example but you can do it, as you may have guessed, with any type of cloud. We by ethical choice we do not recommend in general using OneDrive And Google Drive but only to not give money to these Big Tech. However, there is no way for them to look into your files if you use them Cryptomator!
Infinite methods of use!
As always we give you advice, tips and suggestions. It's up to you to decide how to arrange everything according to your needs. For example: do you not care if your photos are encrypted? Then maybe put them on a service like Jottacloud or similar. Are you not interested in the 99% documents but would like to encrypt only part of them? Confidently upload your files and encrypt with Cryptomator only sensitive data!
If anything about this guide and this article is unclear please contact us on our subreddit or on our Telegram group. We will try to explain it better and possibly improve the article!
• • • • • •Alternatives to Cryptomator
Cryptomator It has many eyes on it and the many different integrations such as the one we have already spoken about Cyberduck. However, as you know, we are keen to always find alternatives and offer them to you. On the our group you reported these to us alternatives to Cryptomator that we turn to you:
- PreCloud, similar to Cryptomator, allows you to encrypt files locally and then upload them to any cloud. AND Open source, there is the application for Android and for iOS.
Join communities
If you have found errors in the article you can report them by clicking here, Thank you!