Encryption

There are a number of services for sending files to someone else that are both free and secure. This post provides an overview. What is End-to-End Encrypted File Sending? File sending services work similarly to file synchronization & sharing services, except there is no synchronization part. You navigate to the service’s website, select the files you want to send, and they’re encrypted on your machine while being uploaded. You get a link to be shared with the files’ recipient. The service stores the files for a certain time, typically seven days. That is how long the link remains valid. It is important to note that end-to-end encrypted sending services cannot decipher your data, for them it’s just meaningless bits.

This is a list of simple things that will protect you from nearly all the real-world IT security issues affecting individuals and SOHO users. 1. Install All the Updates What Should You Do? Enable automatic updates wherever possible Don’t use obsolete software versions Why Is It Important? Older software versions often have known security issues for which exploits are readily available. This means that even script kiddies can easily attack large numbers of users.

This post is a collection of my notes about my search for secure collaboration and communication tools for smaller organizations, specifically vast limits. I will update it from time to time.

Note-taking is one of those topics that appear to have been solved long ago, yet offer plenty of opportunity for new contestants. There are multiple reasons for that, but for me the number one is encryption. The major players, Microsoft OneNote, Evernote, and Google Keep, store your thoughts and ideas in plain text on any synchronized device as well as their cloud servers. In the age of hacks, leaks, and exploits it does not take much to conjure up scenarios where those thoughts become public knowledge all of a sudden.

As the Box IPO shows enterprise cloud file synchronization & sharing (EFSS) is a hot topic. Yet the hottest vendors do not “get” security. Kryha-Chiffriermaschine, Kryha-Encryption Device by Ryan Somma under CCWhat is Cloud EFSS? Everybody knows what a file server is. It stores any kind of document an organization needs to work with. As such its importance is similar to email. A file server’s main characteristics are:

2019-10-01: with the 2019 September update KB4516045 BitLocker uses software instead of hardware encryption by default. Likely reason: the security of software encryption can be controlled by Microsoft. Hardware encryption in the drive may be buggy.

Generally I am not the type to recommend re-implementing functionality present in some API. But with the Windows function CopyFile(Ex) there may be no alternative, because of the less than sub-optimal way Windows copies EFS-encrypted files:

In case you have (un?)wittingly been juggling around with multiple EFS certificates like me, you may feel a strong urge to clean up the mess. Which mess? It can happen quite easily that different files are encrypted with different keys. In addition to that, directories that are marked for encryption have EFS certificates associated with them, and there is no UI to manipulate that. In order to straighten this out, once the proper certificate is in place each file and directory needs to be “touched” in order to update their encryption keys.

How can you mess up a simple OS upgrade by using encryption? Simple. Here is what happened to me when I upgraded my Windows 7 beta system to the RC version.