In the next article we are going to take a look at Cryptomator. This is a encryption software for the client side. It is open source and with it we can encrypt the files we want to save in the cloud services we use. The program is cross-platform (we will find it available for Gnu / Linux, Mac, Windows and iOS) and has an Android application on the way.
Cryptomator works great with Google Drive, Dropbox, Mega and other cloud storage services that sync with a local directory. Because the encryption is done on the client side, we can be sure that no unencrypted data is shared.
Cryptomator general features
With Cryptomator, we will be able to create an unlimited number of safes with unique passwords that will always be safe thanks to its method of 256-bit AES encryption. Regarding security, directory structures, file names and their sizes will be safe by means of the encryption password that will protect our files from brute force attempts.
Compared to other encryption utilities disk, Cryptomator encrypts each file individually. So if we edit only a small text file, only the corresponding encrypted file is changed. This way, our cloud storage provider's sync client knows exactly what needs to be uploaded and what doesn't. Cryptomator will give us direct access to a virtual drive to access our safes. With this program we can add, edit and delete files as users are used to using any disk drive.
With cryptomator we won't have to deal with accounts, key management, cloud access grants, or encryption settings. Just choose a password and you're done. We won't even need to specify which cloud to use. Cryptomator encrypts files and it doesn't matter where you store them. This makes it a lightweight application.
This is a utility called de transparent encryption. According to its creators, this concept means that the user will not have to learn new workflows. You will simply work with your files as you are used to.
This is a free and open source software licensed under the MIT / X Consortium license. This allows anyone to view the source code of the program from their home page. GitHub.
Install Cryptomator
For Ubuntu "Vivid", Mint "Sarah", the elementary operating system "Loki" or other distributions based on Ubuntu from version 15.04 onwards, we can use the following PPA to install Cryptomator. To do this, we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write the following commands in it:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sebastian-stenzel/cryptomator && sudo apt update && sudo apt install cryptomator
For other Linux distributions, or in case we want to install this program using the installer .deb, we can make use of the following installation instructions that we will find at the bottom in the download page.
How to use Cryptomator
To begin we will have to create our first safe. We will click on "+" to add a new safe and select the location to save it. We will have to set the name of the safe we will finish by clicking on «Save».
Next, we will have to enter a password for the recently created safe and click on "Create safe".
With this, everything is ready. Now we can copy some files to our safe. After which we will have to enter the password to access them. The files that are copied there are synced already encrypted with Dropbox (or any other service).
Uninstall Cryptomator
To remove this program from our Ubuntu operating system, we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T). In it we will write the following order:
sudo apt remove cryptomator && sudo apt autoremove
And to finish removing the program from our system, we can get rid of the repository using the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:sebastian-stenzel/cryptomator
If you want to contribute to the source code of the project it can be done from your page of GitHub.