Our Blog

Protect the Contents, Not Just The (Drop)Box

added: 10.17.2014, by Hiro Kataoka

When packaging fragile goods for shipping, it’s advisable to protect the contents with protective wrap. The box itself may be a fine and sturdy container, but once you leave it with the delivery service there’s no guarantee that what’s inside will arrive at its destination undamaged.

That same advice applies to cloud storage and sharing services like Box and Dropbox. In today’s mobile and collaborative work environments the ability to save and distribute files for colleagues and partners is beyond convenient; it can be a productivity accelerant. Some would say that such services are essential today given that the modern workforce is growing more and more distributed and less and less homogenous. A company can be a small, nimble startups launching on virtual infrastructure and teams that are not employees so much as an amalgam of freelancers pouring sweat-equity into a common goal; or large companies working with a combination of employees, partners, contractors and consultants—all sharing ideas and effort from anywhere on the planet.

But using storage and sharing applications like Box and Dropbox it is important to remember that, as with shipping valuable items, data that is saved and shared in these cloud service is not in itself secure.

Recent revelations of leaked Dropbox account username/password combinations made available on the digital black market sent another clear message that valuable information that is shared online, even using otherwise secure services, does not make the data itself secure.

This is why we’ve been saying from the beginning: it’s not enough to try and limit access to servers and services, the files themselves must be secured. Protect the contents, not just the (Drop)Box! With HoGo, for example, protected files cannot be viewed or shared even if they are accessed without permission.