How to make your Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive private - Manila Bulletin

How to make your Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive private - Manila Bulletin
4 reasons why Tresorit is the best cloud storage service - Tech Advisor
From performance that is built for adventure to top-level defense grade security, the awesome Samsung Galaxy A Series offers more than you can ask for. - Khaleej Times

Posted: 26 Jul 2020 06:18 PM PDT

Written by Prof. Rom Feria

For most users, cloud storage is provided by either Google or Microsoft, or both. Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive are familiar with educators and students due to their their institutions' subscriptions. In addition, you get free storage from either companies, when you sign up for their free Gmail or Office 365 accounts. Whilst both companies secure your data, your data are not guaranteed to be private — yes, the data is encrypted at rest, but the encryption used are managed by them, not you. What does this mean? Well, they can always decrypt it, right? It is always a good idea to control and manage your encryption, and not providing these companies access to the keys/passwords.

I know of two (2) ways of keeping your data private using open source software, whilst hosting it on Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. One is cryptomator <"https://cryptomator.org">. This, in my opinion, is the easiest route to encrypting data on your cloud storage. It supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. The desktop versions of the software are free (but if you want dark mode, you need to donate a minimum of US$15). The iOS and Android versions are not free, however, with the iOS version going for PhP249 and the Android at PhP289. To create your encrypted vault on Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, you will need to have their respective applications, at least on the desktop, installed and configured. Since I refuse to install any of these two applications, I did not continue with Cryptomator. I did not consider paying for the mobile version, too, so I did not test it.

Instead of Cryptomator, I opted for rclone. I wrote about rclone before, but this time, I will expound further on how I have it configured. I have installed rclone on my Raspberry Pi 4 at home (which also serves as my Pi-hole, file server, and WireGuard VPN server).

Using "rclone config", I have created a connection between my Raspberry Pi (RPi) and my Google Drive, and named it gdrive. This specific connection is not encrypted. It simply allows me to access everything stored on my Google Drive. However, this is not what I want — I want an encrypted storage. So invoking "rclone config" again, I created an encrypted subdirectory off of gdrive (it will ask you for a password, and another optional password — I used both), and called it gdsecret. Now, every subdirectory created on gdsecret will be obfuscated, and any file stored in it will be encrypted.

Using gdsecret, storing and retrieving files, requires that you always use the rclone application. Whilst this should not be a big deal, I decided that to allow scripts and applications access, and to be able to access it from my iPhone and iPad Pro, I need to get my favorite SFTP iOS/iPadOS application, ShellFish (PhP449 in-app purchase), to support it (unfortunately, baking in rclone into the ShellFish application is not on the developer's radar at this point). So to do this, I created a mount point "/mnt/gdsecret" on my RPi, and issued the "rclone mount" command on gdsecret to make the encrypted remote drive appear as a usual remote storage. Now, when I use the iOS/iPadOS Files app with ShellFish, gdsecret appears just like an ordinary drive, but with the added encryption support. Files retrieved are automatically decrypted, too. The same goes for scripts and applications that I run on the RPi. Nice, eh?

On the desktop, you can simply use Samba to mount "/mnt/gdsecret", but this requires that you configure Samba on the server, e.g., RPi, which I decided not to do, since I'd rather use SFTP.

Whilst I can easily connect to the RPi from outside of my home network, thanks to WireGuard, I decided to create a US$5/mo instance on Linode to serve as an alternative WireGuard VPN server for me, and also as another rclone node, with the same configuration as my home RPi. So now I have two points of entry to my encrypted Google Drive storage.

Using rclone now allows me to take advantage of the free Google Drive space, whilst keeping everything encrypted and away from Google's eyes. I can do the same for Microsoft OneDrive, too, but that at the moment, I don't have any compelling reason to do it.

4 reasons why Tresorit is the best cloud storage service - Tech Advisor

Posted: 27 Jul 2020 01:00 AM PDT

Who would have thought 15 years ago that everyone would be storing files online rather than on the hard drives in their laptops and PCs? But cloud storage is prevalent, and it is mighty convenient, both for individuals but especially for small businesses which have neither the expertise nor budget to set up their own server and software.

The ability to access and share documents among your team no matter what device they're on or whether they're working in the office or remotely is why cloud storage has become so popular.

But what if you work with sensitive information? Do you trust your cloud storage provider to keep your documents safe from prying eyes? Do you even know where your files are stored and whose jurisdiction they fall under?

If you can't answer yes to both of these questions, or you haven't yet decided which service to use, then here's some good news. Tresorit puts security and privacy front and centre of its cloud storage service.

1. End-to-end encryption

It does this by encrypting each and every file before it leaves your device, and only decrypting a file when it arrives back on an authorised device.

That means that no-one can see what's in your documents - not even Tresorit itself. Only people who you give access to can view them, which is the kind of reassurance that other cloud storage services simply cannot offer.

Plus, Tresorit keeps multiple copies of files so there's always a backup and offers two-factor authentication which stops anyone with stolen credentials from logging into a Tresorit account.

2. Pick where your data is stored

Tresorit gives you full control over your data, even allowing you to choose where it is stored. You can choose from countries including the UK, Ireland, Eastern and Western USA, France, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Brazil.

So, if you work with confidential data that needs to be protected according to local laws such as GDPR, CCPA or HIPAA, Tresorit makes it possible.

3. Secure collaboration

Forget insecure email attachments. When you need to share a sensitive file with a client, they can access encrypted documents using just their web browser and they can also send files securely to you in the same way. They don't need to have a Tresorit account or even download any software or browser add-ons.

Better still, access logs allow you to see exactly when a shared link has been opened, by whom (via email address). For even tighter control, you can even limit the number of times a link can be clicked as well as specifying when the link will expire.

4. Features galore

It's not all security, security, security. Tresorit also offers all the features you'd want. It keeps multiple versions of files so you can go back to an earlier one, protects them from accidental deletion and even ransomware.

You can pick certain files that need to remain accessible offline and you can back up your phone's camera roll if you like, too.

You can choose to have local copies of synced files, store nothing locally at all or pick and choose which files and folders to sync. It's entirely up to you.

When sharing files with colleagues you can decide if they're allowed to print them, copy them, share them and edit them.

If someone loses their phone or laptop which contains sensitive files, you can remotely wipe them, and you can set Tresorit to delete all local copies of files when the user signs out of their account. Ok, those are more security features, but the point is that you have full control over your data.

Apps are available for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and Linux – and all offer the same level of security. If someone finds themselves without the app, a web browser is all that's required to access your account and files.

Try Tresorit for free!

Tresorit offers various subscriptions and as much – or as little – storage as you need. The service costs from £8 per user per month and they each get 1TB of storage.

You can see how it works right now by signing up for a free 14-day trial of Tresorit Business.

From performance that is built for adventure to top-level defense grade security, the awesome Samsung Galaxy A Series offers more than you can ask for. - Khaleej Times

Posted: 27 Jul 2020 05:09 AM PDT

Bask in the experience of the latest, most personal Android ecosystem yet: Android 10, now supported by the awesome Samsung Galaxy A Series smartphones.

The latest operating system in the Android universe, Android 10 has officially released and has been rolled out to the Samsung Galaxy A Series phones. They say real innovation should be accessible to everyone. Recognizing this need, Samsung has come up with their impressive Galaxy A Series smartphone lineup - now supporting the all-new Android 10. The new and unique Android 10 is nothing like its predecessors. Its latest range of diverse smart features will transform your Samsung Galaxy A smartphone into a piece of modern technology. Together, Samsung and Android also promise top-level data protection with Galaxy's defense-grade security and Android's Google Play Protect.

Your phone is always secure with Samsung Knox

Nowadays, all our information is stored on our smartphone. From credit card pins to account passwords, to our private, confidential data such as our address or health details, our smartphone knows everything. Concerned about your passwords getting hacked or a confidential file getting stolen from your phone?

Well, say goodbye to all your security troubles with the superior data protection offered on all Samsung devices, including the Galaxy A Series smartphones. Thanks to Samsung Knox - a defense-grade mobile security platform, your apps and data will always stay safe and protected.

[embedded content]

Samsung Knox is built from the hardware chip up to isolate, encrypt, and secure your data. Besides, with regular software and security updates, you can now enjoy the latest Android 10 and Galaxy features worry-free.

Your payments are protected with Samsung Pay

Nowadays, we use our phones for making payments for online shopping, for transferring funds, for making investments and for everything. Thanks to Samsung Pay, Samsung's secure and easy to use mobile payment service, your transactions will always remain protected and risk-free. Even while making payments, your card information will be stored in an encrypted format in a completely separate and secure data vault.

Now enjoy risk-free downloads

Finding fake or harmful apps that contain malware has become a common occurrence. With Samsung Knox, you can now enjoy risk-free downloads. Its protective feature brings the best of defense-grade security to your device and works 24/7 to keep your Samsung phone and your data safe. How does it do this? Samsung devices are always running in a hardware-backed trusted environment. They're designed to block any attempts at tampering, from boot-up, runtime, and even when powered off.

Get the most out of your Galaxy phone with pre-installed apps

Enjoy the convenience of having the latest, most useful, and highly recommended applications pre-installed on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy A Series phones now come with several pre-installed apps that cater to your everyday needs. From Gmail to Google Maps to Google Play, you can now choose from a wide collection of practical applications that will make your life easy and also keep you entertained.

Final Word

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy A Series plus Android experience is feature-rich and unparalleled. While the Samsung A Series phones come with their own awesome features such as next-level camera experience with a revolutionary biometric authentication, cinematic viewing experience, and superfast charging. The icing on the cake is the newest Android 10 update. When the best of Samsung meets the best of Android, you get nothing less than an innovative and powerful smartphone experience.

Search This Blog

Android Full Encryption