Afternoon, If security an issue, plus a little more space 5GB if look on site. SpiderOak could be your answer, similar to Dropbox. But more secure taking a little more time to wrap head around.
Yes works on iPad or iPhone. Zero-Knowledge data backup, sync, access, storage and share from any device | SpiderOak.com Cheers! `RobD… On 14Apr2012, at 10:01 pm, cm wrote: > Hi Glenn, > > You are quite right that nothing is 100% secure. Any system has a level of > insecurity and different persons have differing levels of insecurity that > they will tolerate. Dropbox falls below my level of tolerance for technical > reasons that I will outline below and for corporate related reasons also. I > use it for less secure items that I wish to sync between my Mac and mobile > devices but have things organized so that I am not locked in. You are also > right that if you encrypt a file then it is relatively safe regardless of > where it is place so using 1Password to encrypt sensitive data before putting > it on Dropbox is a good practice. > > So before getting onto technical issues lets look at some other issues you > raised. Quite right a Mac can be physically compromised. Thats is why any > important information you have should be encrypted. There are many > applications to do this and the less I disclose about my own personal setup > the better. Although I do not use 1Password for this purpose it does serve to > encrypt data. By all means you should be prepared for the contingency that > you Mac is stolen and remember that Time Machine backups and offsite backups > contain all your data as well so encrypt the sensitive parts. > > Duplicating your data on Dropbox cannot, by definition, make it more safe > from attack. You could use Dropbox as a backup for a limited portion of your > data if you choose but that is not the function of the service. It is > designed to sync your data between your computers or to share data with your > friends. I do not make a practice of reading the fine print of user > agreements but no doubt somewhere in the terms of service you will find that > Dropbox is not responsible if they lose your data and can probably cut off > your access to your data if it become uneconomical to maintain it. There are > many historical precedents for this. > > Whatever the terms of service, Facebook and Google have demonstrated that > these can be changed at will. If users are locked in the will complain for a > short while and eventually put up with the decreased level of privacy. > > Finally on the non technical side, one should not rely on Dropbox publicity > to judge the security of their service. Due to continued insistence from > security experts they finally corrected their marketing literature and > removed the section that said not even Dropbox staff could access your data. > > I have gone on longer than I planned on the above and I have to get back to > other things, but I will briefly say that although Dropbox data is indeed > encrypted with AES 256, the keys to the encryption are maintained by by > Dropbox itself not by users. Every time you access or share your data with > someone else these keys are accesses. An attack on the server could then use > the same mechanism to decrypt the data. > > There was an incident in > Here is an Economist article describing the security scheme used by Dropbox > > http://www.economist.com/comment/965335 > > Also here is an article describing an incident in June of last year where > Dropbox passwords were accidentally turned off for four hours > > http://www.tomsguide.com/us/dropbox-Arash-Ferdowski-cloud-storage-code-update-login,news-11576.html > > > Cheers, > Carlo > > > > On 14/04/2012, at 13:42 , Glenn Nicholas wrote: > >> Carlo, >> >> My personal take on security and Dropbox. >> >> ... I think Dropbox IS a secure place to store your information. The fact >> that it automates backup (while automatically encrypting your backup) means >> it is a lot more secure than other forms of backup. And automated backups >> of important data is really, really useful. >> >> 1. For very important data (such as username/password details for your >> online banking), you can store your passwords using 1Password, and sync via >> Dropbox. 1Password encrypts your data before it goes of your computer, so >> even if someone did get hold of your 1Password data file, if you've used a >> good password it is still going to be very secure - Dropbox could not >> unencrypt it even it they wanted to. They do say that even if they are >> asked to pass data over to law enforcement, they will remove their >> encryption, but they cannot remove the encryption on your 1Password file >> (and they say the don't try to remove any of your encryption anyway). >> >> This article explains more about 1Password encryption: >> http://help.agilebits.com/1Password3/cloud_storage_security.html >> >> 2. For most other scenarios, Dropbox still provides very secure data >> storage. All your data is encrypted by Dropbox (AES-256 bit encryption). So >> even if someone hacked Amazon S3 and was able to get your data files, with >> a good password, AES 256 is *very* hard to unencrypt (nobody can say >> impossible, but this standard is good enough for the US government and >> banks). >> The Dropbox privacy policy makes clear they can remove the Dropbox >> encryption in certain situations (see their Privacy Policy), but they make >> clear this is for rare events. >> >> Data is usually at a lot more risk on a Mac than on Dropbox. A Mac can be >> physically picked up and taken from your home or office, disks removed, >> logins circumvented - if your data is unencrypted, it isn't going to be >> hardif someone wants to get at your data. if it is stored unencrypted. If >> it is stored in encrypted form, them Dropbox makes it doubly secure. >> >> Nobody can guarantee 100% security once data is in electronic form. But >> with 1Password and/or Dropbox, I think you have very easy to use tools that >> give you good backup and very good security indeed. >> >> Glenn Nicholas >> >> >> On 12 April 2012 21:35, cm <cm200...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Blitto, >>> >>> Ronni and Neil have answered the bulk of your questions so I will just tie >>> up a few loose ends. >>> >>> Firstly Dropbox is free or paid cloud storage service that allows >>> automatic syncing with multiple computers (Mac or Windows) and syncing with >>> multiple mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads. So yes it is completely >>> suited to the task you mentioned. It also allows the sharing of selected >>> files with other users -- the feature that you have been using to date. >>> >>> I was a bit reticent to use Dropbox for reasons I'll give but have >>> succumbed to using it because it provides features that are not yet part of >>> iCloud. My first reservation was that the documents are stored on a server >>> and are thus vulnerable to being stolen if the server is compromised, or >>> (less likely) if Dropbox changes its policy and decides to reap my private >>> data. The other reservation I had was that the default install on a Mac is >>> quite invasive and adds tentacles to Finder and runs a background sync >>> process. >>> >>> I mitigate the privacy issue by not putting critical data in Dropbox. So I >>> would avoid storing in Dropbox any data that could lead to identity theft >>> such as passwords or bank accounts. For my other concern it turns out that >>> one can reverse many of the OS changes done by the default Dropbox install. >>> >>> You can, as you guessed, leave your files where they currently are. For >>> any data directory that I wish to have Dropbox sync with its server I place >>> a symbolic link in the Dropbox directory linked back to my data directory. >>> This can be done in the Termnal as follows. >>> (Note: I have also moved my Dropbox directory to a more convenient >>> location using Dropbox preferences, but it is your choice if you wish to do >>> that.) >>> >>> If the directory you want to share is /Users/blitto/mydata and your >>> Dropbox folder is at /Users/blitto/Dropbox you could use the following >>> Terminal commands to create the symlink. >>> >>> $ cd /Users/blitto/Dropbox >>> $ ln -s /Users/blitto/mydata >>> >>> The second command, "ln" will do the link and the switch -s tells the link >>> command to make a symbolic or soft link rather than a hard link. Once you >>> have done this the folder "mydata" will be synced to the Dropbox server and >>> available for sharing. >>> >>> If you have any other questions please post back. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Carlo >>> >>> >>> On 12/04/2012, at 9:37 , rb...@iinet.net.au wrote: >>> >>>> Hi WAMUGersTrying to get my head around Dropbox. >>>> I use it to share files with people or to send the school magazine to >>>> the printer etc.BUT i am thinking maybe i can use it to sync stuff >>>> between my macs.Particularly my School Macbook Pro running Snow >>>> Leopard and my personal MacBook Air running Lion.There are a couple of >>>> files i might like to use on both these computers eg Word and Excel >>>> files (like bank balances, password reminders, timelogs in excel, >>>> maybe articles i am writing etc)These days i try to remember to swap >>>> them back form the laptop with the newer version to the computer with >>>> the older version etc. >>>> So - does it seem I can use Dropbox to do this?BUT - does that mean >>>> they can no longer reside where they currently do eg MacHD, Users, >>>> Blitto, Documents, Rod Personal folder???Do i have to shift them >>>> to MacHD, Users, Blitto, Dropbox if i want them to sync >>>> between laptops?????So IF that is true I suppose I could create >>>> aliases for these documents back in the original places they used to >>>> live and point the alises at the Dropbox folder???? >>>> Please - Am I on the right track here??? >>>> Another question: if i load the dropbox ap on my iphone - will ALL the >>>> stuff somehow sync to the phone as well??? But there isnt enough >>>> room.Or does the phone ap just look for the stuff on the website??? >>>> Finally - is the Dropbox site secure enough to be putting my personal >>>> files on? >>>> Yes - have looked over the dropbox tutorials and help a bit this >>>> morning >>>> Many thanks >>>> blitto >>>> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >>>> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >>>> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >>>> Settings & Unsubscribe - < >>> http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> >>> >>> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >>> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >>> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >>> Settings & Unsubscribe - < >>> http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> >>> >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >> Settings & Unsubscribe - >> <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
