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Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

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Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#71
post #9

I recently tried replacing Dropbox with Wuala because of privacy concerns. I failed, and in the process realized how successful Dropbox has been in creating an awesome user experience! I'm still looking for a locally encrypted Dropbox-alternative. So if any of you are making one, please speak up :) (Edit) I should specify that it was the user experience that made me give up on Wuala, and any proper Dropbox alternativ…

Syncany (http://www.syncany.org/) was supposed to be this locally-encrypted Dropbox-alternative. Unfortunately, it seems to be going nowhere slowly.

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#72
So honest question, but how is having your data stored in Switzerland (where Wuala is based) any different than having it in the US? Or is it just the promise of local encryption that makes it safer?

Some purported info about data protection for Switzerland:

http://www.dataprotection.ch/en/disclosing-personal-data.asp

> Restrictions on disclosure

The DPA does not permit the disclosure of sensitive data or personality profiles to third parties without lawful justification. The consent of the data subject can constitute a lawful justification. Breach of this prohibition is an offence if knowledge of the sensitive data has been gathered in the course of a professional activity requiring knowledge of such data and can be punished by a fine of up to CHF 10'000.--. If the fine is not paid, it can be replaced by imprisonment for up to 3 months.

And Wuala's own policy: http://www.wuala.com/en/about/privacy

> 6. Disclosure to third parties

Basically, your data is not transmitted to third parties. However, LaCie may release personal data if the law requires it to do so or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with any laws or respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant or to protect LaCie's rights and interests. Furthermore, you expressly agree that LaCie can disclose personal data to identified third parties (e.g. owners of intellectual property rights) and/or government enforcement bodies in order to enforce the General terms and conditions, particularly in case of founded indications that the laws or the rights of a user or of third parties, particularly copyrights, other industrial property rights or personal rights, have been violated , insofar as such is necessary.

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#73
post #2

Sounds cool! I've been looking for a trustable Dropbox alternative so I don't have to manually encrypt the contents all the time. I'll download and try it out real q- > Make sure Java [...] is installed. :C

I'm surprised that there isn't a "cloud encryption" software available yet. It shouldn't be a complex project to encrypt & rename -> upload // download -> decrypt & rename. You could store the original file names in the cloud in an encrypted sqlite database or something.

Here you go: https://www.boxcryptor.com/en/boxcryptor-classic

It's an offline application that runs on your computer that is transparent to your actions. You just use the drive BC mounts instead of where Dropbox tells you to use, the rest automatic.

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#74
post #26

Despite thorough researches and testing, I have never been able to find a good alternative to Dropbox in term of seamless synchronisation of my files, and accessibility across all the platforms I use. To secure my data, I just use BoxCryptor. It creates an encrypted volume within my Dropbox. It is free for non commercial use.

Have a look at BitTorrent Sync: http://labs.bittorrent.com/experiments/sync.html One advantage is that there's no third-party storage of data involved.

Thank you, will have a look.

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#75
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, just installed and then immediately uninstalled after I got the 'install java' prompt :( It's not Wuala's fault, but forcing me to put java back on my desktop is a big hurdle. It's going to take an absolutely amazing piece of software to make me deal with that horrendous bug-ridden security hole again.

I don't trust the Java sandbox to protect me while running arbitrary code. So I don't use the Java browser plugin. But I don't see how the desktop runtime is a security hole (you're running binaries you trust outside a sandbox) and I very much doubt it's any more buggy than your average Python, Ruby, Node.js, etc. runtime. Or, for that matter, your average native library.

Can you (easily) install one without the other? I know I can go around my browsers and disable the plugins after an install, but then I'm going to have to do the same thing each time there's a java security update and the runtime gets upgraded. Not to mention Oracle's crappy habits of bundling toolbars & other crud along with each security patch.

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#76
post #9

I recently tried replacing Dropbox with Wuala because of privacy concerns. I failed, and in the process realized how successful Dropbox has been in creating an awesome user experience! I'm still looking for a locally encrypted Dropbox-alternative. So if any of you are making one, please speak up :) (Edit) I should specify that it was the user experience that made me give up on Wuala, and any proper Dropbox alternativ…

I use Google Drive and Syncdocs (http://syncdocs.com). I does local AES256 encryption of any folder I want BEFORE uploading it to Google Drive

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#77
post #2

Sounds cool! I've been looking for a trustable Dropbox alternative so I don't have to manually encrypt the contents all the time. I'll download and try it out real q- > Make sure Java [...] is installed. :C

I'm surprised that there isn't a "cloud encryption" software available yet. It shouldn't be a complex project to encrypt & rename -> upload // download -> decrypt & rename. You could store the original file names in the cloud in an encrypted sqlite database or something.

Well, there's git annex.

  git annex initremote mycloudbox type=S3 encryption=my@gpg-email.com datacenter=EU
  git annex copy --to=mycloudbox myfile
  git annex whereis myfile
   whereis myfile (2 copies)
  	(...) -- here
        (...) -- mycloudbox
   ok
It also provides a nice Web UI (hosted locally) with colorful buttons, if that's your thing.

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#78

Despite thorough researches and testing, I have never been able to find a good alternative to Dropbox in term of seamless synchronisation of my files, and accessibility across all the platforms I use. To secure my data, I just use BoxCryptor. It creates an encrypted volume within my Dropbox. It is free for non commercial use.

But how big is that volume? Shouldn't then Dropbox always upload the whole volume, even if you just made one change in one file?

Re: Wuala: Secure Cloud Storage

#79
post #9

I recently tried replacing Dropbox with Wuala because of privacy concerns. I failed, and in the process realized how successful Dropbox has been in creating an awesome user experience! I'm still looking for a locally encrypted Dropbox-alternative. So if any of you are making one, please speak up :) (Edit) I should specify that it was the user experience that made me give up on Wuala, and any proper Dropbox alternativ…

If you're concerned about your personal data, and not so much about targeted attacks against you, I'd say stay with Dropbox and just use EncFS. You can do this on Linux (and presumably OS X, as well) fairly easily. On Windows, there is a single-developer port of EncFS, which from what I've heard works fairly well: http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html A quick search turns up a guide which (at first glan…

For Windows users: BoyCryptor 1.x is fully compatible with EncFS and features a GUI.
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