22 Dec 2019

Is Cryptomator a Solution in Search of a Problem?

Files stored on one of the popular cloud-based storage locations such as Google Drive, Microsoft's One Drive, or Box are encrypted. Microsoft's Windows 10 includes BitLocker and the MacOS has FileVault. So do we need a separate encryption application?

Yes, we do, and Cryptomator is a good choice because it's free, open source, and easy to use.

The popular cloud storage locations encrypt files on the wire and files at rest. Those are the terms used to describe two conditions. When files are "on the wire", they're being trantosferred from your computer to the cloud or from the cloud to your computer. The connection established uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) to make the data unreadable while it's passing over the internet. When files are "at rest", they have been written to a disk drive on the cloud server.

So it would seem that there's little need for another application that encrypts files. After all, you can use BitLocker or FileVault if you want to encrypt files on your computer. But there are some concerns.

• First, if the files aren't encrypted on your computer and you save them to Google Drive, the files are encrypted on the wire, but they're unencrypted for a moment on the cloud until they're encryupted and written to a drive.
• Second, both BitLocker and FileVault are proprietary applications. Neither Microsoft nor Apple makes the code available for review. That's one of the primary attractions of open-source applications such as Cryptomator: The code can be viewed by anyone and this means that security flaws are often found and corrected quickly.

Security flaws? Yes. All applicatons have flaws. Software is written by humans and, as any cat can explain, humans are fallible. We make mistakes. We miss things. Open-source applications benefit from having extra eyes on the code.

Cryptomator isn't the only open-source file encryption utility, but it is one of the easiest to use. In addition to Windows and the MacOS, there's a version for Linux computers and versions exist for IOS and Android mobile devices. The applications for mobile devices carry a small cost. Versions for Linux, MacOS, and Windows are provided without charge, but users have an opportunity to donate to the developer.

Windows users will need at least Windows 7 and MacOS users will need at least MacOS 10.11 (El Capitan). Android users need version 4.3 or higher of the operating system and IOS users must have at least version 10.0.

Cryptomator encrypts files locally using open-source routines instead of proprietary applications and, when files are saved to a cloud-based location, the encrypted files are encrypted a second time and sent securely to the cloud server. Then the on-the-wire encryption is removed so that the still-encrypted file can be scanned and is then encrypted for at-rest storage. The file is unencrypted only when you're actively using it on your computer.

Let's Set Up an Encrypted Location

The setup is routine and I'm demonstrating it on a Windows 10 machine. Download the file and run it. You'll probably see a warning from the Windows Defender Firewall or any other firewall you've used in its place asking for permission to communicate on the network. Allow the access.

The installation process will launch an installer for an application that's used to mount a virtual drive on the computer. Allow this to run, too. There is no need to change any of the default settings.

Cryptomator will open when the installation is complete. The column on the left will be empty and you'll need to create the first vault. I elected to place the vault on drive D and to call it "SECURE_D". This creates an encrypted directory. You can place the new directory inside an existing directory such as one that already syncs with a cloud-based service.

You'll be asked to define a password and confirm the password. Be sure to remember the password because data cannot be recovered from the encrypted location if you forget it. Then click Create Vault.

Then you can open the secure location, which can be thought of as a USB drive because it will be mounted with a new drive letter. Clicking the More Options button reveals several settings. The only one I changed is the one for Custom Drive Letter. The computer already has six physical drives with nine logical partitions. When backup USB drives are attached, they take letters K or L so I wanted to avoid having the encrypted drives take those letters. If this doesn't concern you, just leave the default settings and click Unlock Vault.

After unlocking the vault(s) on the computer, you can close the Cryptomator app and it will continue to run in the background.

This is the point at which a bit of confusion might arise. The Windows Explorer (or Q-Dir) will show the (1) location of the encrypted directory (SECURE_D on drive D). This is not where files should be stored. If you place them there, they will not be encrypted.

Instead, you need to place files on (2) the virtual drive U ("SECURE_D").

I created two encrypted virtual drives, SECURE_D (drive U) and SECURE_E (drive V). Files placed on these virtual drives will be encrypted. The physical location of the files should be backed up to cloud storage instead of backing up the unencrypted contents of the virtual drive. Fortunately Cryptomator has a two-and-half-minute video that illustrates the process.

An obvious advantage of backing up the physical location where the files are stored is that the files and the file names are both encrypted.

How It's Monetized

The desktop application is free (donations encouraged) and there's a small fee for the mobile versions, but that's not enough to keep development going. The company offers customizable solutions for enterprises including a Cryptomator Server that guards against ransomware, viruses, data theft, and other risks.

If you download and use Cryptomator, donations are welcome.

 Cryptomator makes encryption as easy as possible

Several encryption applications exist, but some of them are difficult to use. The developers seem to have taken Einstein's “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler” seriously. Anyone who wants to delve deeper into how it works can visit the online documentation, but just watching the brief video will be sufficient for most users.
Additional details are available on the Cryptomator website.

Short Circuits

Big Changes for Yahoo Groups

The last of the big, old online proprietary systems is eliminating all public groups and converting the groups to email. Last month Yahoo advised those who operate groups that big changes were coming, changes that Yahoo says better align with user habits. Yahoo Groups will continue to exist, but Yahoo says it is making changes "to ultimately serve you better."

Often companies that announce actions being taken "for the user's benefit | safety | convenience" are actually taking those actions for the benefit | safety | convenience of the company. Whether that is the case here remains to be seen. In the early days of online services, predating the general availability of the internet, CompuServe was king.

Fifty years ago, CompuServe was founded in Columbus. It was called Compu-Serv Network back then and the organization was the primary online service during the 1980s and continued to be a strong player until the mid-1990s. At one time users paid $10 per hour, which tended to reduce trolling and flame wars. By 1992, the hourly rate had dropped to about $2 per hour. CompuServe's online chat system and message forums covered a huge array of topics and offered a library of software that could be downloaded. In 1997 AOL acquired CompuServe and in 2015 Verizon acquired AOL. Two years later, Verizon also acquired Yahoo. (You knew I'd eventually get back to Yahoo, didn't you?)

Before fully picking up the Yahoo thread, consider this: CompuServe had 3 million users in 1995 and that's the best the company ever reached. At the same time, AOL had 20 million users, but AOL's performance was already starting to lag and it had dropped from its earlier high of 27 million users. CompuServe discontinued its Forums in mid-December, 2017.

Currently those who want to join a Yahoo Group can do so only if they are invited and a group moderator approves the request. New groups may still be created but they can no longer be public. The choices for new groups are private (not listed in the Groups directory) or restricted (listed in Groups directory and membership requests must be approved by a moderator.) Members of groups can no longer upload or share content on the Yahoo Groups website. Instead, the groups will operate more like Listserv email groups.

Yahoo says that additional changes were made on 14 December, specifically:

• Public groups no longer exist. All existing public Groups are being converted to restricted status.
• Any content that was previously uploaded via the website will be removed.

Those who remember the early days of online services will recognize what's happening. In addition to CompuServe, these early dial-up services included GEnie (from General Electric), Prodigy (from IBM, Sears, and CBS), early versions of America OnLine, BIX (Byte Information eXchange from Byte magazine), and thousands of bulletin-board systems. They're mostly gone now or at least forgotten if not gone. Also forgotten but not entirely gone are services like Gopher, Archie, Veronica, and Jughead. Things change and what once seemed to be cutting edge becomes ordinary and then unimportant. So what we're seeing now is Yahoo Groups beginning what will probably be its long slide into oblivion.

The End of Windows 7

Also sliding into oblivion as of 14 January 2020: Windows 7. Windows 10 finally passed Windows 7 in market share this year, but some companies and a lot of consumers continue to hold on.

Windows 7 was, after all, a remarkable operating system when it was released a little over 10 years ago. It followed the horrible Windows Vista and preceeded the bad Windows 8. It was so much better than Vista, and Windows 8 introduced so many "features" that consumers hated, that Windows 7 has occupied a sweet spot despite the release of Windows 10. But everything has a life cycle and Windows 7 is at the end of its life.

If you're still using Windows 7, you've probably seen pop-up messages that warn about security issues. These messages could be easily dismissed, but users will see more intrusive messages starting on 15 January: A full-screen overlay message will explain that support for Windows 7 has ended and that the system will be vulnerable to viruses and malware because all updates, including security updates, have ended. The full screen prompt cannot be dismissed until the computer user responds to it.

The three options to dismiss the message are:

• Learn more. This is the one that Microsoft hopes users will choose so that they'll be on the road to upgrading to Windows 10.
• Remind me later. This is for those who want to continue procrastinating and don't mind the risk.
• Never remind me again. I read this one as being the equivalent of "Turn that damned fire alarm off becuase I have work to do and the noise is distracting me."

I remember my excitement with Windows 7's touch and handwriting recognition, its performance on multi-core processors, faster boot, and kernel improvements. The new Windows Media Center was a huge advance. Windows PowerShell was included and an updated calculator function did more than just basic math. The ClearType Text Tuner made its first appearance. Recovery and troubleshooting were improved and support for biometric devices had been added. There was a lot to like in Windows 7, but that was a decade ago. Just as it was time back then for Windows XP users to move on, now it is time for Windows 7 users to move on.

Adobe Has a Holiday Gift for Capture Users

Adobe Capture is a handy little utility application for Android and IOS devices. It can be used to capture colors from nature to create a palette for a project that's being developed in one of Adobe's other applications. It also can be used to create patterns, vector-based shapes, and brushes based on a smart phone photo. Two often-requested new features are being added to Capture.

Create Color Shapes is an advanced version of the existing ability to create high-contrast shapes and it retains color data within the resulting vector image. Shapes created in the application can then be used in many desktop applications, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Animate. The amount of detail retained in the resulting shape can be adjusted and unwanted background images can be removed. This feature is currently available only on IOS devices.

Create Shape-Based Patterns has been added to Capture versions for Android and IOS tablets. Starting with one or more vector shapes, the user can combine them into seamless patterns. Each object can contain just a single color, but shapes with various colors can be combined in the image.

Capture is free to download for Android and Apple devices, but is most useful when combined with Adobe Creative Cloud. The app transforms a phone or tablet camera into a scanner so that the user can collect colors, shapes, and patterns that can then be adjusted on screen.