The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is about to launch Google Drive for real this time. Sources are not disclosed, and information other than the name of the cloud based hosting service are not offered in the article.

It is likely that Google Drive will offer free basic storage options and upgrades for users and teams that require more than the basic amount of storage. The pricing structure has not been revealed yet, but it seems possible that Google could simply add Drive o the list of services that you can already purchase additional storage for.

When you compare those prices to Dropbox’s tiered structure, you will notice that they are a lot cheaper. Google Drive users had to pay $5 per year for 20 Gigabytes of extra space, while the cheapest storage increase on Dropbox would set them back $99 per year for 50 Gigabytes.

Then again, it is not only about storage space but also about functionality and accessibility.

Techcrunch back in September of 2011 mentioned that Google Drive would come with a synchronization software to sync data between desktop computers and mobile devices. If that is the case, and if support goes beyond Windows and Android, then it could force Dropbox to adjust their pricing structure to stay competitive.

It is not clear yet if Google will encrypt data stored on their servers.

Drive ultimately would allow users to access data on the Internet and on all supported devices.

It is likely that Google will make the service available under http://drive.google.com/. The page is currently returning a 404 not found error which indicates that it has already been created by Google (if you open a bogus subdomain you get a different error).

Dropbox is currently running a promotion that extends the available storage space for users who use the service’s photo import feature.

Storage space is increased in 500 Megabyte chunks by a maximum of 4.5 Gigabytes. For this to work, it is necessary to run the new Dropbox 1.3.12 client. This client is experimental and only linked at the Dropbox forum and not on the main site.

It is not clear if users will keep the additional storage space forever, or if it is only available in the beta period.

During this beta period, we are also offering additional free space to test automatic uploading of photos and videos. For every 500MB of photos and videos automatically uploaded, you’ll receive another 500MB space bonus, up to 4.5GB total.

It is however likely that users will receive the space upgrade permanently.

To receive the update, users need to upload photos via the new photo import feature. If you do not have that many photos on your camera, you could simply shoot a lot of photos, connect your camera to Dropbox to get the additional 4.5 Gigabytes of online storage space.

Some users have reported that the feature is not available on their computer, even after installing the latest experimental Dropbox client. It is not clear why it is not there at this point, but there seems to be no option available to force it to appear. Dropbox also notes that photo import is currently not working under Linux or Apple Macintosh 10.4 systems.

The photo import feature relies on Autoplay, which needs to be enabled. This is done under Start Menu > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > AutoPlay in Windows 7.

Check out the forum post and let me know if you were able to get the import option to work on your computer. (thanks Caschy)

If it works on your computer, you could use it to get an extra 4.5 Gigabyte of Dropbox storage. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Bitcasa is a new file hosting service that is similar to Dropbox in many regards. Bitcasa just like Dropbox is application driven, which means that users need to install the Bitcasa client on their system to use the service. The client is currently available for Apple Macintosh OSX systems and Microsoft Windows (as an alpha), with a Linux version currently in development.

The client synchronizes data across all devices that have the Bitcasa software installed. Data gets encrypted before it is uploaded to the cloud to make sure that it is protected from unauthorized access. The developers state that they cannot access user data for any reason.

A core difference to Dropbox is that Bitcasa offers its users unlimited storage. It is not really clear how this will pan out in the long run, or if paid accounts will be introduced at a later time to make the service profitable. For now, users can upload, download and share as many files as they want.

Sharing is completely free as well, and the service highlights that friends and family can start accessing files “instantly without waiting for the entire files to download”. It seems though that recipients need to install the Bitcasa client and create and account as well for this.

Bitcasa has no web interface for users at this point. It is not clear if the developers will integrate one at a later time.

Bitcasa Beta Invites

Users can sign up for the beta queue on the Bitcasa homepage. If you do not want to wait, you can use the following link to sign up for an account directly. The link has been posted by Motou Xiao on Google+.

Just enter your email address and open the confirmation link once you receive the Bitcasa confirmation message. You can then download the software and create an account from within.

Closing Words

We cannot post screenshots of the application or signup process at this time as you have to agree to a NDA during signup. All information have been taken from public sources. We will post an update in the future.

Setting up Dropbox Automator could not be easier. All you need to do is to authorize the service to access your files. This is done on the Dropbox website and will automatically log you in on the Dropbox Automator website.

You can then start creating tasks by selecting one of your Dropbox folders and one of the available actions. Only existing folders can be selected on the Automator website, new folders need to be created on the Dropbox website or on a PC connected to Dropbox.

Four groups of actions are available:

• Documents: Convert to pdf, summarize, translate, pdf to text, upload to Google Docs, upload to Slideshare, sign pdf (electronic signature)
• Pictures: Upload to Facebook, upload to Flickr, downscale, rotate image, write text on image, photo effect, stamp a logo on the image, stamp a map on the image, stamp a dislike on the image
• Any file: E-mail, zip file, save it to another Dropbox folder, rename, upload to ftp server, encrypt, decrypt
• Send Info: Tweet, Set Facebook status

Some actions require you to enter parameters, for instance ftp login information, selection of a photo effect or an email address that should receive the notifications.

Some actions use programming function names instead of better readable and explanatory names. This can be confusing at first, considering that action.pics.writeOnImage.text is not as self-explanatory as Text to Write.

Processing time depends largely on the selected tasks and the server load. The original files are moved to the processed folder where they are kept, the processed files to a results folder. It can take quite some time before the process completes.

Multiple actions can be configured for a folder. You could for instance translate a document and convert it to pdf, or resize a picture before it is uploaded to Flickr.

Dropbox Automator is a useful tool for Dropbox users who are currently processing files manually before they put them into their Dropbox storage. The developers need to work a bit on the descriptions displayed to the user. A progress indicator would also be useful. (via Lifehacker)

VideoDropper is a free add-on for Dropbox that can be used to save YouTube videos into Dropbox. This can be useful under certain circumstances, for instance if you cannot view YouTube videos at your current location or are not allowed to do so. Many users email YouTube video urls that they cannot view right away to one of their email accounts to view them later on another computer.

VideoDropper offers an alternative to that. The program offers two core benefits: It is easy to use, and since videos are stored in the Dropbox account, they will also be synchronized automatically with all connected devices once they come online the next time.

YouTube users who often get the dreaded “video not available in your country” message benefit from the service as well, as it can be used to bypass those restrictions.

First thing that you need to do is to connect VideoDropper with your Dropbox account. Just visit the web page and click on the Login with your Dropbox link to connect the services. You can also sign up for a new Dropbox account if you do not have one or want to use a secondary account for the videos.

You can then start to paste YouTube urls into the form so that they are automatically downloaded to the connected Dropbox account. Videos can be downloaded in their original format, or optimized for iPhone or iPod Touch devices.

All videos are added to a queue before they are downloaded. It can take a few minutes before they start to appear in the Dropbox.

Users who do not want to paste YouTube video urls can alternatively use a bookmarklet in the browser to make the process convenient. All videos are saved into the root Dropbox folder. This could become a issue for users who download dozens of videos from YouTube regularly.

VideoDropper offers an interesting service for Dropbox users who want to download YouTube videos or use Dropbox as a way to store videos that they cannot watch right away.

This may have happened by accident, for instance by plugging in a SD card or connecting a smartphone full of photos, by discovering the new “Enable Dropbox Camera import” option in the settings, or by reading the what’s new section in the forum detailing the new feature.

The forum post provides information about the photo uploader. The importer is currently only available for Windows users and Mac users who do not run Os X 10.4 or lower.

Mac OS X 10.5 users may notice that some devices register as read only. While it is still possible to import photos from such devices, it is not possible to make device settings persistent at this point in time. Windows users on the other hand need to make sure that autoplay is enabled on their computer to use the feature. If it is disabled, the automatic importing won’t function.

There is also some device specific advice. Apple iPhone owners for instance can only import if the phone is unlocked and the passcode has been entered. Android users should use the connect as disk drive feature and not a synchronization feature offered by the phone’s manufacturer.

It is interesting to note that the feature is enabled by default if the operating system meets the requirements. Dropbox users who do not want to use the photo import feature can disable it in the preferences under the general tab.

The feature is currently only implemented in the latest experimental version of the Dropbox client which may explain why it has been automatically activated. Some forum users have criticized Dropbox for adding unnecessary features to the program. What’s your take on the addition?

Dropbox users who would like to try the new version with photo import can download it from the official Dropbox web forum. (via Caschy)

You probably know that Dropbox keeps track of all file changes automatically, with options to restore a previous version of the file. While looking at that I noticed that it is possible to restore deleted files as well. I first thought about writing an article about that as it is a pretty interesting feature. Especially so for users who have accidentally deleted files, and users who want to make sure that deleted files cannot be recovered. A recoverable copy on the Dropbox server is the last thing those users would want.

While I was investigating the issue I noticed that Dropbox subtracts the file size of deleted files from the available ratio. This basically means that you get additional upload space even though the files are still stored on Dropbox. Remember, deleted files do not get deleted right away.

The Dropbox FAQ states that deleted files and old file versions get saved for 30 days by the service before they are removed.

I also tested if if is possible to restore deleted files to get beyond the allowed quota of an account. Turned out that this is actually possible as well. Here is how it is done in detail.

Go to the Dropbox website and log into your account there. Switch over to Files to see all your files currently stored on Dropbox. Activate the show deleted files button to display deleted files and folders in the file listing. These are highlighted in grey, and the size says deleted instead of the real file size.

The idea is this. You upload files as usually to Dropbox. Once you come near the quote you start deleting files. Don’t worry, the files are still there. Your quote drops again and you can upload more files to Dropbox. I’m not sure if there is a limit or if you could theoretically go on forever. You can later on restore deleted files which can move you over your Dropbox quote.

You basically have two options to go upload more files to Dropbox than your quote allows.

• Delete files temporarily to reduce the storage quota
• Recover the files again at a later time to store files over the quota

Please note that deleted files won’t be synchronized, and that no new file versions will be saved by Dropbox. Have other Dropbox tips to share? Let me know in the comments.

A far better solution is available for users of Dropbox. Dropbox, for those who do not know, is a file hosting and synchronization service. It allows users to synchronize files between multiple devices and the cloud. Dropbox users can access their files on the Dropbox website, and that access is what we will be using to send torrents to uTorrent from remote computer systems.

You need to configure Dropbox and uTorrent first before you can use the new functionality. Download and install Dropbox first. I suggest you create a torrent directory in the root Dropbox folder. This is the location where you will save the torrents into.

Open uTorrent afterwards and click on Options > Preferences. Switch to the Directories listing and locate the Automatically load .torrents from setting. Activate the option and select Dropbox’s torrent directory as the source folder.

This basically tells uTorrent to load all torrent files that are put into that folder automatically.

You can from that moment on log into Dropbox’s web interface from any computer system to save torrents into that folder. Dropbox will synchronize the torrent files with the home computer when it is online. If the PC is online right away downloads start immediately, if it is turned off, downloads will start once the computer is turned on and uTorrent is started.

You can naturally use the method with other file synchronization services that offer cloud based storage space. Dropbox is just one of the popular options.

Windows 7 users can add folders to existing libraries, so that their contents are displayed in the selected library, or add new libraries for custom data collections.

Creating a library for the local Dropbox folder is actually not a complicated matter. Dropbox is a popular file synchronization and cloud hosting service that creates a root Dropbox folder on the system on installation. All contents of the folder are automatically synchronized with cloud hosting space.

Here is a quick guide that explains how to create a Windows 7 library for Dropbpx. Open Windows Explorer and click on Libraries in the left sidebar. Locate New Library at the top and click on it. Name the new library Dropbox and hit enter to save the name.

Right-click on the newly created library and select Properties from the context menu. This opens a window where you can add folders to the library.

Click on the include a folder button in the interface and browse to your Dropbox storage folder on your system. The folder is by default added to C:\Users\username\Documents\My Dropbox

Select My Dropbox and click include folder to include the folder in the library. It should now appear under library locations in the properties window.

Depending on the type of files in your Dropbox folder, you may want to change the type of files the folder is optimized for. If you only host documents you could for instance select to optimize the folder for documents.

A click on the ok button saves the new configuration. Whenever you click on your Dropbox library now, you should see all of your Dropbox files listed in Windows Explorer.

Adding often used folders as libraries, or to existing libraries, can speed up the workflow. An alternativ would be to add the Dropbox folder to the favorites instead which would also display it prominently in Windows Explorer’s sidebar. (via)

When you look at the services that Dropbox offers, you will notice that they offer free and professional accounts. Part of the cloud hosting providers popularity stems from that fact. But free alone is usually not good enough when it comes to hosting documents or files online. Other factors play important roles as well, among them security and reliability.

Generally speaking, security ensures that your data is safe and cannot be copied or deleted by third parties. Reliability on the other hand means availability of data and the service in general.

We have seen new cloud hosting players come into business who promised Gigabytes of free space only to vanish soon thereafter. As far as Dropbox is concerned, it all checks out.

Dropbox uses modern encryption methods to both transfer and store your data.

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption
• Dropbox website and client software have been hardened against attacks from hackers
• Public files are only viewable by people who have a link to the file(s). Public folders are not browsable or searchable

Dropbox uses Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) for storage, which has a robust security policy of its own.

Dropbox launched their product in September 2008, and has since then shown significant growth. Today, the service has more than 45 million registered users who save one million files every five minutes.

New users who register an account can either select the free option which gives them 2 Gigabytes of free storage space, or one of the paid options which provide them with either 50 or 100 Gigabytes of space for $9.99 or $19.99 per month. Custom plans are available for teams and organizations.

Free users can increase their storage space by referring friends to the service. Both parties will receive 250 Megabytes of extra space up to a limit of 8 Gigabytes (Students receive 500 Megabytes for every referral).

They can afterwards download the Dropbox client software to their system. the client software is made available for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, Linux and mobile operating systems. The client creates a Dropbox folder on the system which acts as the root folder. All files that you copy in here will be synchronized with the online storage automatically, provided that you have enough space left for the operation.

Even better, Dropbox transfers the files automatically whenever they change. If you are working on a document in your Dropbox folder you will be able to access revisions of the file from the Dropbox online panel.

Files can also be accessed on the Dropbox website directly. This means that access is available even if you are working on a computer where Dropbox is not installed on (say Internet Cafe, public computer).

The files that you add or modify online are automatically synced with your devices.

Lets take a look at some usage scenarios:

• You are often on the road and need to access specific documents regularly. While you could carry around an USB device for that or even a laptop, you later need to make sure that the document is synced with your desktop computer and other devices where it is needed.
• You need to backup important data, e.g. spreadsheets, financial documents or your passwords managers encrypted database. Storing data online makes sure it is still available even if your computer is stolen or your house burns down.
• You need to share documents or files with select users. While you could use file hosting sites for this or email, you probably want to use a more secure option without storage restraints. You can also share entire folders with other users, which is excellent for project work.

Top 5 Tips

• You can use keyboard shortcuts to perform actions more quickly while browsing the files on the Dropbox website. You may need to enable keyboard shortcuts first in the online client. Click on Account > Account Settings and enable “Enable file browser keyboard shortcuts” to do so.
• You can limit the upload and download speed of file synchronizations in the client software.
• Check out My Computers under Account to see a list of computers that have recently connected to your Dropbox. You can unlink computers right here as well in case you want to remove a devices authorization.
• Version Control is a great feature. Free users get 30 days of version history. This can be used to preview and restore file snapshots.
• Use third party software like Dropbox Folder Sync or Boxcryptor to customize your experience even more.

Take a look at the following video for a short introduction if you have never heard about Dropbox before and want a quick overview of the service.

Dropbox Video

Verdict

Dropbox is a versatile file synchronization and online storage provider. Clients are available for all major operating systems, and website access ensures that files are always in reach.

Two Gigabytes of free space may not seem like a lot, but it depends in the end on the individual user.

Giveaway

If you need more space and cannot find users to refer to, you can take part in the giveaway to get 2 Gigabytes of extra Dropbox space. We have ten promo codes that you can use to get that extra space assigned to your Dropbox account.

To take part, leave a comment and let me know if you use a cloud storage provider currently. Good luck everyone. If you have not signed up yet, you can do it here with my referral code which gets you 250 Megabyte extra storage.

Even worse; Changing the Dropbox account password did not stop the synchronization on the third party PC. The only option available was to end the session in the Dropbox user interface on the official service website.

Dropbox today has released an updated version of their software client that puts an end to this security loophole. The changelog notes that Dropbox version 1.2.48 ships with security enhancements that prevent attackers from stealing a computer’s account credentials just by copying the configuration files to another computer.

That’s a big step forward in terms of security and protection of accounts. Dropbox furthermore switched to a new encrypted database format to “prevent unauthorized access to local Dropbox client databases”.

The new version ships with Mac OS Lion integration and several smaller fixes that have not been explicitly mentioned in the forum post announcing the new version.

Dropbox 1.2.48 is already available for download on the official Dropbox website. Dropbox users and interested new users can head over there to download the client for their operating system. The new version can be installed over the old version.

Please note that the Dropbox client offers no update checker or automatic update installer. All users need to download and install the new version manually to benefit from the new version’s improvements.

Dropbox users who want to host important files on Dropbox should consider encrypting the files for extra protection. This can be done with specialized software like Boxcryptor or encryption software like True Crypt. (via)

Update: The Dropbox team informed me via email that their software has an automatic update feature and that all users of the service would be automatically updated to the latest version in the coming days.

If it is an important file you may want to tweak your Dropbox settings to see if it changes the download speed to the better. Dropbox is by default set to unlimited download rates. If you are experiencing download rates in the 5KB/sec to 20KB/s range and have a Internet connection capable of handling a multiple of that, then you may want to try the following configuration change to see if it changes your Dropbox download speed.

Open the Dropbox configuration. You do that with a right-click on the Dropbox icon in the system tray and the selection of Preferences from the context menu.

Switch to the Bandwidth tab there. Dropbox lists the settings for the download and upload rate in the menu. The download rate is by default set to “Don’t limit”, the upload rate to “Limit automatically”.

The trick here now, as reported by the Italian blog Computer Acquisti is to configure a custom download rate instead.

The author of the original article suggests to enter a rate that’s between 50% to 75% of the Internet connection’s bandwidth. Users with a high download rate, say 20 Mbit or more can alternatively add fix values, e.g. 1000 kB/s

Users who report less than optimal upload speeds may do the same for the Dropbox upload rate to speed up uploads to Dropbox this way.

You can also try and switch the proxy settings from Auto-detect to No proxy (if you do not use one) under Proxies.

Please note that Dropbox won’t necessarily use all of the bandwidth assigned to the download tasks. Users may see an increase over the initial lower download rate however. You may also want to consider throttling your upload speed rate in the case that it gets maxed out constantly when transferring files to the Dropbox server. This may have an influence on the download rate.

Dropbox recommends doing a speed test to an east coast server in the US to simulate download and upload speed to their servers.

Are you using Dropbox? If so, what is your downloading and uploading experience?

The portable freeware Dropout for the Windows operating system is a search tool that has been designed for exactly this purpose. All you basically need to do is to place the program executable in a directory, for instance the root of the USB drive or your Dropbox folder, to have a sophisticated search application at hand when it is needed.

Dropout displays a search form right on the startup screen. You can use it to find files in the particular directory structure or switch to the more advanced search under the advanced tab.

Dropout indexes all files that are stored in its root directory structure and saves the search information in a folder that it creates in root. The program indexes the contents of some text based file types like txt, pdf or doc so that content matching results are displayed as well in the results list.

The searching itself usually takes less than a second after the initial indexing. The search supports the query parser syntax of Apache Lucene which includes boolean operators, wildcards and grouping options. Search examples provided by the developer on the program homepage include:

• Tests NOT NUnit – Finds all instances of the work Tests but NOT with NUnit
• Scripts AND Tests – Requires the words Scripts AND Tests
• Dev* – Words starting with dev, i.e. Development, Develop, Devious, etc
• type:doc AND Tests: Searches for the word Tests only in *.doc files
• modified:201109* – All files created from September 2011
• modified:[201105 TO 201106]: Files modified between May and June 2011

Results can be sorted by all values including name, modification date or containing folder. The search tool furthermore assigns a score to each hit and makes those scores sortable as well.

A double-click on a file opens it in the default viewer for its file type. A right-click displays a context menu with an option to open the containing folder in Windows Explorer.

The advanced search form offers to search contents, file names, types and filter the results by a start and end modification date.

Windows users can download Dropout from the project homepage over at Codeplex. The program requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0. It is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Alternative search tools are Everything or Locate.

Many Dropbox users have expressed concern over the policy change on the Dropbox website and on other Internet sites. Neowin, never shy to put a finder into a wound, even claimed that Dropbox could legally sell all files of their users to third parties.

The policy was updated again yesterday, it now reads:

We sometimes need your permission to do what you ask us to do with your stuff (for example, hosting, making public, or sharing your files). By submitting your stuff to the Services, you grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service.This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services. You must ensure you have the rights you need to grant us that permission.

The bold part as been added by Dropbox to clarify the policy.

Another aspect that has not been mentioned by sites like Neowin is the fact that the wording is more or less an industry standard. When you look at Google’s terms of service you read under 11.1 for instance:

You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

Facebook’s Terms of Service state:

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (“IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

I’m no lawyer and cannot really say if those rights are necessary or if they could be cut down and simplified further. Users who are openly against the terms of service can either encrypt their files before they are uploaded and synced, or leave the service.

What’s your take on the new terms of service?

The Nul Folder

The nul folder is designed to make it easy to get rid of output. In the days of the command line interface, where everything was text on a screen, you might not want to see some (or any) information from a command. In this case, you could redirect that output to the nul folder. If you moved a file to a nul folder, then it would be deleted. With GUIs and the Trash Can / Recycle Bin, this is not as useful as it once was; it is mostly there for legacy support. That does not mean we cannot find new uses for it.

Note: In Windows, you cannot create a folder with “nul” as the name, but you can create a nul folder on Dropbox’s website.

A Linux Only Folder

The nul folder can exist on a Linux system. There is a similar feature in Linux, but it only exists in one place: /dev/null (and is a file rather than a folder). Since nul is a valid folder in this case, and it can exist on the web access, then you can use it to store files. It is impossible for the folder to show up in Windows, but Dropbox will not penalize Linux. Any files stored there will only available via Linux or the web access. It still will affect your quota, but it can save you hard drive space on Windows.

You could have nul as a top level folder and a hierarchy under it. Everything inside it would be organized but only exist in Linux. That includes subfolders and files within them.

Some Non-Linux Uses

Even if you do not use Linux, you could still use this trick for other purposes. On example is akin to a secret folder. The only way to access it would be from the website. From there, files could be copied and moved in and out of the secret folder as needed. The files would never show up on the computer. Another would be as an cloud recycle bin. Moving a file from a normal folder to a nul folder (from the web access) would delete it from the hard drive but not from Dropbox.

A Note of Caution

It is doubtful that this is an intended feature. It is more likely that this is an interoperability quirk. Dropbox has to work with multiple operating systems that work in different ways. Dropbox may alter the methods it employs or a bug may come into play unnoticed. The more information you store in a nul folder, the bigger the risk you take.

Another thing to consider is that this method may work with “con”, “aux”, “prn”, and other device files too. Those are more legacy devices that cannot be folders on a Windows computer. If you want files to be available in Windows and Linux, do not call the folder any reserved name.

(Okay, there really is a way to create these folders, but we do not recommend it.)

What About Macs?

I did not have a Macintosh computer to test this trick on. Since Macs are so similar to Linux, my guess is that you could make a Linux/Mac only folder. In other words, Windows is always the odd man out. Hopefully some of our Mac users will give this a try and let us know.

Why? It should be clear that anyone can access public data, including companies, organizations and future employees. If they find something that they do not like, you can be sure that you won’t get that job that you wanted so badly. It can also have implications on your private life, bullying in class for instance or a divorce.

Forbes is reporting today that “the Federal Trade Commission gave a stamp of approval to a background check company that screens job applicants based on their Internet photos and postings”. The company gets hired to perform background checks by crawling social media sites, networks and other public sites for user information.

But what about data that is secured by an account, like Dropbox for file hosting? Two dangers come to mind: First hacking, which has been happening a lot lately. If hackers manage to break into a site, they can do all kind of things, including accessing your information and maybe even your files.

Second bugs that lead to data being publicly accessible. The latter has actually happened yesterday. Dropbox notified their users in a blog post that an update that they applied to their service had the result that for a brief period of time (according to Dropbox, Techcrunch states four hours) account log ins without the correct password were possible. Someone else could have accessed your Dropbox account during that time, which included accessing and downloading files hosted there.

Dropbox in the meantime has emailed all users who might have been affected by this.

If you need to sync or host files online, use encryption if the files are important to you. Check out BoxCryptor, Dropbox Realtime Encryption or SecretSync, Security Layer To Protect Sensitive Files On Dropbox for software reviews that do that automatically.

Closing Words

The majority of Internet users seem to lack an understanding of privacy, considering that many post public information on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, without giving a thought to possible consequences. The information are there for a very long time, which means that employees might base a decision to hire or fire on something that you have posted on Twitter or Facebook several years ago.

Then there were news that photo galleries might be accessible on the Internet without the user’s knowledge.

If that was not already enough, there was an incident with the Open Source project Dropship which used Dropbox for file sharing purposes.

The interview with Dropbox’s co-founder and CTO Arash Ferdowsi is about Dropbox’s perspective on said issues.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your position at Dropbox

A: I’m Arash and I’m the Co-founder and CTO of Dropbox.

Dropbox has seen a big surge in users over the past year, how has the company accommodated the rapid growth?

A: It’s a combination of architecture and automation. We carefully think through how our infrastructure is architected to deliver a service that will scale to 50 million, 100 million, 500 million users. We’ve also hired an awesome group of support engineers that not only answer every support ticket that comes in (from free and paid users alike), but who are building automation and auto-suggest systems that allow users find answers to their questions on their own.

Can you tell us about the company’s infrastructure?

A: We store files (after first encrypting them) on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3). We also have database servers, web servers, and the rest of our infrastructure outside of Amazon.

Dropbox staff seems very motivated, what’s the secret of the staff’s commitment?

A: Designing a great product is a very creative job. It’s amazing to be able to exercise your creativity in a way that makes the lives of millions of people better. We’re really fortunate to have that opportunity. It’s the best job in the world.

As more and more companies get into the file hosting / synchronization market, how do you differentiate yourselves? Who do you consider your competitors?

A: What makes Dropbox special is that it just works. Every update should make Dropbox not just more powerful but also simpler. We’ve spent untold hours obsessing over every tiny detail of how Dropbox works, so you don’t have to. Software like this simplifies your life and gives you time back.

Any plans to increase the available storage in the near future?

A: We’re looking at offering larger storage options. Businesses and organizations can already purchase more storage with a Dropbox for Teams account.

When did you hear about the issue?

A: We heard about this issue when users wrote into support with the link to the security researcher’s blog post.

The issue was controversially discussed on the Internet, was that similar in internal meetings?

A: Not really. As we stated, if your computer is compromised, all your files are already exposed, not just Dropbox. That said, there were things we could do to make Dropbox more resistant to attacks from someone with access to your computer, and we immediately began working on it.

Which steps were taken to resolve the situation?

A: Our client team immediately addressed the permissions issue so that the config.db file can’t be accessed across local user accounts. We also began investigating approaches to encrypting the config.db file and making user credentials harder to steal. We released the first build to our user forums a month later.

How long will it take before 1.2 is released as stable?

A: Probably a few more weeks. Unfortunately the encrypted config.db file breaks several third-party apps so we want to give them a chance to design workarounds.

Are photos that are uploaded to the photo folder automatically public, meaning not protected by a password initially?

A: Actually, they are semi-private. The links include a random sequence of characters and then the filename, and it is possible but unlikely that someone can guess this. Of course, if links are posted on a public site that is crawled by a search engine, it is discoverable.

What can users do who no longer want their photos to be public on the Internet?

A: Simply move them out of the Photos or Public folder. By default, Dropbox doesn’t create publicly accessible URLs for files. The exceptions are those files that are placed in the Public folder and Photos folder.

Can you comment on the Dropship situation?

A: When something pops up that encourages and enables people to use Dropbox for infringing copyright content, you can imagine how that could ruin the service for everyone. Illegal file sharing has never been permitted and we take great pains to keep it off of Dropbox. We have a variety of easy-to-use sharing mechanisms (public links, shared folders, etc.) that people have been using for a long time for legitimate uses.

To clear up any confusion about Dropbox using DMCA to kill an open source project, we never issued a DMCA takedown to anyone. One user posted the source code on Dropbox and we removed it via a support banning tool. Unfortunately, the user received a bizarrely-worded email from us saying that we had received a takedown notice from ourselves (no such notice ever existed), for which we’ve since apologized.

Could you describe some ingenious uses for Dropbox, for instance how users are making use of Dropbox’s capabilities?

A: Our users write in with stories every day about how Dropbox is simplifying their lives. Astronomers are collaborating across continents by setting telescope data to save directly into their Dropboxes. Disaster response workers used Dropbox to share data and coordinate the relief effort after the Haiti earthquake.

The chance that someone may look through your files may not be that enticing to you, especially if you have uploaded sensitive information to Dropbox.

Encryption is the best option if you want to sync sensitive or confidential files with Dropbox. Encrypted files can only be accessed by authorized users who have the right key to decrypt the files.

I have demonstrated in the past how to encrypt files that you sync with Dropbox with the help of the Open Source software True Crypt (sync confidential files with Dropbox). The process was lengthy, technical and not very comfortable, especially for users who have never worked with True Crypt before.

SecretSync is a standalone software programmed in Java that offers a more comfortable file storing solution. It is basically an add-on service for Dropbox that will automatically encrypt files for you before they are synced with Dropbox.

First time users need to create an account on first run. A username and password is mandatory for the account creation. Security can be improved further by adding a passphrase to the account.

All those information need to be entered on every computer that Secret Sync is installed on, to gain access to the encrypted files on those system.

Secret Sync creates a new folder on the user system and links that folder to the Dropbox folder. All files placed inside the Secret Sync folder will be encrypted before they are moved and synced with Dropbox.

Files moved or copied into the Secret Sync folder are encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption. Files are only decrypted on the user’s computer systems, and not on Dropbox.

Anyone accessing the files directly on Dropbox only gets garbage from that point on because of the encryption that is in place online. These files can also not be opened on systems where Dropbox is installed, but Secret Sync is not.
Dropbox would sync those files normally, but since they remain encrypted it is not possible to access them on those systems.

The core advantage of using Secret Sync over a manual solution is that it is way more comfortable to use. All you need to do is install the software, create an account and you are set to go. This does not take longer than a minute at most.

It is even easier on additional systems as you only need to supply your username, password and optionally the passphrase that you have configured during the first installation of the service.

All files that you move into the Secret Sync folder on your hard drive (the one outside of the Dropbox folder) will be automatically encrypted by the application before they are synced with Dropbox.

You get nothing if you try to open the files on Dropbox directly, while they open fine on the local computer.

This method has a disadvantage though that needs to be addressed. Secret Sync can only do its magic if the program is running in the background. The Windows beta version is using roughly 30 Megabytes of RAM. You may also need to add Java to the equation as it needs to be running as well.

The program runs silently in the background with no user interface to stop or start it. If you want to close the program, you need to kill it in the Windows Task Manager. This may change considering that this release is a beta version and not the final product.

Secret Sync is only available for Windows currently, but the developers have promised that Mac and Linux versions will be offered soon on the program homepage as well.

You can download the Windows release from this page (via Lifehacker)

The issue caused quite the controversy among users, as it could only be exploited if an attacker was able to get access to the computer. And with access, come all kinds of power including the ability to snag files directly from the local computer.

Still, Dropbox addressed the issue quickly on their website and promised to deliver an update that would resolve the issue.

That update is now available in form of an experimental Dropbox 1.2 build for all supported desktop operating systems.

Users can download Dropbox 1.2 from the official Dropbox website. It needs to be noted though that experimental builds may not be as stable as release builds. Cautious users may consider waiting for the final release of Dropbox 1.2 before updating to the new version. This may take a few weeks though.

Dropbox 1.2 introduces a new encrpyted database format to “prevent unauthorized access to local Dropbox client database” in addition to the security enhancements. This is related to the security issue, as the user who discovered the vulnerability in first place did uncover it by analyzing the local Dropbox client database.

Some third party applications that rely on databases will stop working after updating Dropbox to version 1.2.

It took Dropbox less than two weeks to develop the means to protect the configuration files and databases on the local system. Good work.

What’s the result? Right, 25k of unprotected Dropbox photo galleries. You can click on any of the links to see the contents of the selected gallery or folder right in your web browser. (Please note that we are not saying that Dropbox is not doing enough to inform users about that fact)

Even better, you can combine the default search with additional parameters, e.g. wallpapers, to find themed photos on Dropbox.

Second task. Search for site:http://www.dropbox.com/s/ or site:http://dl.dropbox.com/ and let me know what you find. Right, another batch of public folders hosted on Dropbox, again with the possibility to combine the standard search phrase with custom keywords for filtered results.

I’d assume that at least some of Dropbox’s users do not know that their photos and data may be publicly accessible on the Internet. You see, the Dropbox photo folder, or more precisely its subfolders, is public by design. The Dropbox help explains:

The Photos folder automatically creates online galleries. Any image files you move or copy to your Photos folder are automatically included in an online gallery anyone can view from the Dropbox website. People can download the photos or view them as a slideshow. Because you don’t have to deal with uploaders or uploading files through a website one by one, the Photos folder is the easiest way to make your images accessible online.

If you use the Dropbox photo folder for your pictures, you make them accessible for anyone, which includes search engine bots. The only option for you is to store the photos in a different folder to block this from happening. For that, you need to create a new photo folder in your Dropbox structure and use that folder from then on to store your images. The gallery feature however is not available in that new folder which means that other Dropbox users that you share the url with will not be able to see the photos in a gallery in their web browser.

Two folders are public by default. The photo folder and the Public folder. If you copy files into either one, you make them accessible for everyone.

You can share additional folders which are then however only accessible by users that you specify during creation.

Dropbox users may want to check their public folders to make sure that the data stored inside should indeed be public. You can move the data out of the public folders if that is not the case. (via Caschy)