Veracrypt. It offers more flexibility. But it's USP is not really providing encryption to day 2 day cloud provisioning services. Cryptomator and Veracrypt are different fundamentally but you can upload to any drive storage with heavy encryption, using a veracrypt container.
Yup totally agree on Veracrypt. I mentioned it in the video, and that is the way I use it, by encrypting a container and storing it on the cloud. If you are paranoid about security it is great, but not as convenient as Cryptomator. I use both depending on the situation.
Vera crypt and cryptomator doesn't allow you to share the encrypted file without sharing your password. I use Axcrypt sure the best software for all encryption sharing and lot more security features. It allows me to encrypt both local and cloud files allows to share without sharing my password to just one specific person that i want with password management and lot more What do you think about it Sam Makris
@@rittikkhilani5514 Axcrypt is a nice alternative, but you have to pay to use and I'm not sure what happens if the company is sold or goes out of business. Cryptomator is open source, so it is vetted plus you will always have access to the app. Similar to what happened with Truecrypt. If you do a ton of sharing I can see the benefit of using Axcrypt.
i like the convenience of using google drive on my phone, but hate the lack of security, so finding this video is a total game changer for me, after following your tutorial i can now use google drive and feel my files are stored securely, cryptomator works flawlessly on my phone. thanks for posting this video.
Terrific video, Sam. Thanks for the walk-through. I'm a BoxCryptor guy migrating off the platform well ahead of when my paid period ends, and this helps me confirm I picked a good alternative. I'm going to have to check out what else is on your channel.
Thank you for kind words! I've been quiet on my channel for the past few months; sometimes life gets in the way hard, but finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. More coming soon! Thank you again!
Nice video. I was looking for a youtube video for checking the Android Cryptomator viewer. You showed and explained it nicely. I tested cryptomator before on my desktop: oh man, i was using the exact same name and password than in this demo, haha. Tx!!
great video and really explain it all...thought about having cloud storage for those important files as you said like banks..ect and cryptomator able to achieve that. gonna test myself..
I use Veracrypt for long term storage since it works better for my workflow, plus I've been using it before I even knew of Cryptomator. But now I have a Cryptomator folder synced to an online folder, and it has been very useful to have encrypted docs on my phone when I need them on the go. The problem with Veracrypt is that you really need a computer to access your files - there are some ways to get access from a phone, but I don't trust them - and Cryptomator solves that beautifully.
@@SamMakris Thanks Sam. The other product I use is Zerotier which provide network as a service type functionality. However its not reliable when using mobile internet. I am might setup a WireGuard server in a cheap VPS, so I can get reliable connections when travelling. I have just started using OpenMediaVault on a few PI servers and using Syncthing to provide real-time resilience.
@@wayne6220 That is funny. I bought the Zerotier router when they first sold it on Indiegogo but then had to return all the funds because they couldn't develop it. I never had the need to roll my own, at least not yet, but still kept them in the back of my mind.
If the encrypted vault is stored in dropbox and is opened on two desktop computers A and B simultaneously. When you add one file to the vault on computer A, will the file show up correctly on B? I'd think it is tricky to sync properly across multiple devices.
That is an issue with anything you share with another person. Unless you have the option to exclusively checkout something where someone cannot make edits until you check it in, this will always occur. You could be working on a Word doc at the same time as someone else, and when you both save, one version clobbers the other. I'm not sure if something like the business version of dropbox has that kind of feature.
If you mean the encrypted folder then no it shouldn't be an issue. The contents are decrypted locally with the password you created. Without your password they will not be able to view the contents. Just make sure the password is fairly complex. Everything works like this. Your browser works the same way when you are browsing https sites. The contents get encrypted locally, transmitted to the destination, and decrypted on the server with the private key.
@sammakris Thanks for this overview of CM. I'm trying it now with pCloud, on my iPhone. But am a bit confused. Where do the files in the CM vault actually reside? Locally on my phone, or in pCloud? I'm expecting the encrypted files to reside in pCloud, but when I go to my pCloud account, I am not seeing the files/folders that are in my CM vault. All I see are some files (like vault.cryptomator, and a folder called "d" with more stuff in it). Also, I see that if I "remove" a CM vault, it won't delete the encrypted files. But if I remove a vault, how do I access the files that were in the vault before I removed it?
The way Cryptomator works is that it encrypts a folder of your choosing. So, for example, if you have a folder in your pCloud called “MyFolder” and select that one as your vault, everything in there will be encrypted. That folder will not get moved from that location. All the files remain in the folder you chose to make your vault. The only thing that will be done is to scramble the contents until you decrypt it using the app. That ‘d’ folder and files you see is the result of the encryption. If you mess with those, you may be unable to recover the files. Removing a vault from Cryptomator will not delete the folder. All it is doing is removing it from the UI. Imagine you have 50 encrypted folders as vaults, but only want to see 5 in the app. Think of the vault list as a list of favorites. If you don’t want that vault or the contents of that folder anymore, you must delete the folder manually. I hope I clarified it for you.
One doubt ….if somebody get access to that d folder and say for example they delete those encrypted random files…will I not be able to recover my files from my vault?
I would create an encrypted folder in Dropbox and put those files there. They would then be encrypted and hidden from anyone with access to your Dropbox. When you decrypt a cryptomator encrypted folder, the files are decrypted locally so nobody but you would be able to see them. Just make sure you remove the files you currently have in Dropbox once you move them to the new encrypted folder. Since Dropbox may have some kind of recycling bin, if you need to ensure that nobody can see those, make sure to remove any history. I don't know about Dropbox, but some have a sort of version control to be able to get to older versions. So you would need to find and remove those as well.
If I'm understanding you correctly, the only way would be to create an encrypted folder that is stored in dropbox. What you would need to do to access the data would be to decrypt, add any new data and then encrypt the folder. That encrypted folder would be in dropbox so you could access it from anywhere. There's no real way to automatically have dropbox do that if that is what you are asking.
@@SamMakris excellent thanks. Essentially i want to encrypt my google drive files (not dropbox sorry) to prevent hacking as well as google themselves viewing my files. Thanka
@@ledique6945 Yeah, if you don't want your files in the open, you need to encrypt them before they go to google drive. I use Sync which is end-to-end encrypted, and I still encrypt what I feel is sensitive before uploading to them.
Yes you can. As long as you have access to cryptomator to decrypt you can move that folder anywhere you want. I have created an encrypted folder (vault) and moved it to iCloud later, and could open with cyptomator without issue.
@@SamMakris Hi Sam, nice video and channel. A question for Veracrypt: can you create a vault inside Dropbox? Then if you open dropbox from a different laptop, the veracrypt vault will be available also there? (of course you will need Veracrypt on that 2nd laptop to decrypt the ault). Just wondering if we can use Veracrypt like that as it seems so easy to sync files in the cloud. Ah also, if the above answer is Yes. Then, instead of dropbox can I do the sme on pCloud? Gdrive? Mega? Thank you in advance
Absolutely. That is precisely the way I use it. I have my Veracrypt container on an online drive (any online drive) and have the portable windows version on the online drive as well. So no matter where I am, I can use the web portal to download the container and use the portable version to decrypt it. Works great. Unfortunately no portable mac version, so you would have to install Veracrypt, but it works just as well.
Yes it will. All the info is stored in the vault so you can open it from any device. So you can copy the vault to a USB key, go to someone else's computer, and can open it if there is a doc you need to access. That's the first thing I tested.
Sure that would work fine. Cryptomator is free BTW. The issue is the convenience factor. You use the tool that makes sense. I love 7-zip and use it all the time. It's hard to use a zip file on a mobile device though, and cryptomator makes it easy. Plus working with files (adding, modifying, etc) is easier with cryptomator since you just use it as a normal folder, and once you close the session it auto encrypts again. Slightly more friction with archives; not much but still there. Password protecting a zip file is a totally viable solution and I use that as well. That's a great tip and thanks for bringing it up to everyone.
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If you know of another tools that could be useful, list it here!
Veracrypt.
It offers more flexibility. But it's USP is not really providing encryption to day 2 day cloud provisioning services. Cryptomator and Veracrypt are different fundamentally but you can upload to any drive storage with heavy encryption, using a veracrypt container.
Yup totally agree on Veracrypt. I mentioned it in the video, and that is the way I use it, by encrypting a container and storing it on the cloud. If you are paranoid about security it is great, but not as convenient as Cryptomator. I use both depending on the situation.
Vera crypt and cryptomator doesn't allow you to share the encrypted file without sharing your password.
I use Axcrypt sure the best software for all encryption sharing and lot more security features. It allows me to encrypt both local and cloud files allows to share without sharing my password to just one specific person that i want with password management and lot more
What do you think about it Sam Makris
@@rittikkhilani5514 Axcrypt is a nice alternative, but you have to pay to use and I'm not sure what happens if the company is sold or goes out of business. Cryptomator is open source, so it is vetted plus you will always have access to the app. Similar to what happened with Truecrypt. If you do a ton of sharing I can see the benefit of using Axcrypt.
i like the convenience of using google drive on my phone, but hate the lack of security, so finding this video is a total game changer for me, after following your tutorial i can now use google drive and feel my files are stored securely, cryptomator works flawlessly on my phone. thanks for posting this video.
I'm happy you found it useful! Thanks!
Thank you Sam. Very much appreciated this. You are the first person that I have seen demo the mobile App which I am interested in. Thanks again!
I'm glad it was helpful!
Terrific video, Sam. Thanks for the walk-through. I'm a BoxCryptor guy migrating off the platform well ahead of when my paid period ends, and this helps me confirm I picked a good alternative. I'm going to have to check out what else is on your channel.
Thank you for kind words! I've been quiet on my channel for the past few months; sometimes life gets in the way hard, but finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. More coming soon! Thank you again!
Nice video. I was looking for a youtube video for checking the Android Cryptomator viewer. You showed and explained it nicely. I tested cryptomator before on my desktop: oh man, i was using the exact same name and password than in this demo, haha. Tx!!
Glad it was helpful!
Nice & useful review, thanks!
great video and really explain it all...thought about having cloud storage for those important files as you said like banks..ect and cryptomator able to achieve that. gonna test myself..
I use Veracrypt for long term storage since it works better for my workflow, plus I've been using it before I even knew of Cryptomator. But now I have a Cryptomator folder synced to an online folder, and it has been very useful to have encrypted docs on my phone when I need them on the go. The problem with Veracrypt is that you really need a computer to access your files - there are some ways to get access from a phone, but I don't trust them - and Cryptomator solves that beautifully.
Brilliant video 😊
I appreciate that! I'm glad you found it useful!
Thanks for this helpful video Sam. I'm curious which camera you used to film this? I find the colour rendition and contrast very pleasing!
Glad you found it helpful! I used a Sony A7s3 in PP8 profile which is SLog3 and then color grade it after.
@@SamMakrisThanks!
Thanks Sam, good video. I would like to combine this with Syncthing.
Glad you enjoyed it! Plus I'm not sure how I never heard of Synching. Looks very neat and I can already think of a use case for me, thanks!
@@SamMakris Thanks Sam. The other product I use is Zerotier which provide network as a service type functionality. However its not reliable when using mobile internet. I am might setup a WireGuard server in a cheap VPS, so I can get reliable connections when travelling. I have just started using OpenMediaVault on a few PI servers and using Syncthing to provide real-time resilience.
@@wayne6220 That is funny. I bought the Zerotier router when they first sold it on Indiegogo but then had to return all the funds because they couldn't develop it. I never had the need to roll my own, at least not yet, but still kept them in the back of my mind.
If the encrypted vault is stored in dropbox and is opened on two desktop computers A and B simultaneously. When you add one file to the vault on computer A, will the file show up correctly on B? I'd think it is tricky to sync properly across multiple devices.
That is an issue with anything you share with another person. Unless you have the option to exclusively checkout something where someone cannot make edits until you check it in, this will always occur. You could be working on a Word doc at the same time as someone else, and when you both save, one version clobbers the other.
I'm not sure if something like the business version of dropbox has that kind of feature.
Both side have to use Cryptomator to see/copy/sync etc.
Tested today (dec.21.2022) from iOS (mobile app) and it encrypts and uploads the added files to the cloud.
Nice! The more I use this app the more I'm loving it. I'm planning on paying for the app just to give them some support.
Is the tutorial on HOW to use it on IOS/iPadOS? 😢
Would it be stupid to store the encryption keys on Google Drive as well?
If you mean the encrypted folder then no it shouldn't be an issue. The contents are decrypted locally with the password you created. Without your password they will not be able to view the contents. Just make sure the password is fairly complex.
Everything works like this. Your browser works the same way when you are browsing https sites. The contents get encrypted locally, transmitted to the destination, and decrypted on the server with the private key.
@sammakris Thanks for this overview of CM. I'm trying it now with pCloud, on my iPhone. But am a bit confused. Where do the files in the CM vault actually reside? Locally on my phone, or in pCloud? I'm expecting the encrypted files to reside in pCloud, but when I go to my pCloud account, I am not seeing the files/folders that are in my CM vault. All I see are some files (like vault.cryptomator, and a folder called "d" with more stuff in it).
Also, I see that if I "remove" a CM vault, it won't delete the encrypted files. But if I remove a vault, how do I access the files that were in the vault before I removed it?
The way Cryptomator works is that it encrypts a folder of your choosing. So, for example, if you have a folder in your pCloud called “MyFolder” and select that one as your vault, everything in there will be encrypted. That folder will not get moved from that location. All the files remain in the folder you chose to make your vault. The only thing that will be done is to scramble the contents until you decrypt it using the app.
That ‘d’ folder and files you see is the result of the encryption. If you mess with those, you may be unable to recover the files.
Removing a vault from Cryptomator will not delete the folder. All it is doing is removing it from the UI. Imagine you have 50 encrypted folders as vaults, but only want to see 5 in the app. Think of the vault list as a list of favorites. If you don’t want that vault or the contents of that folder anymore, you must delete the folder manually.
I hope I clarified it for you.
One doubt ….if somebody get access to that d folder and say for example they delete those encrypted random files…will I not be able to recover my files from my vault?
What do you do if you want to encrypt some documents that are already stored in, say, Dropbox?
I would create an encrypted folder in Dropbox and put those files there. They would then be encrypted and hidden from anyone with access to your Dropbox. When you decrypt a cryptomator encrypted folder, the files are decrypted locally so nobody but you would be able to see them. Just make sure you remove the files you currently have in Dropbox once you move them to the new encrypted folder.
Since Dropbox may have some kind of recycling bin, if you need to ensure that nobody can see those, make sure to remove any history. I don't know about Dropbox, but some have a sort of version control to be able to get to older versions. So you would need to find and remove those as well.
Does it still work well even without installing Macfuse?
Their docs said it should work, but to be sure I tried it myself and it worked fine without MacFuse. I think you should be ok.
How do I encrypt all my files that google dropbox is backing up with cryptomator?
If I'm understanding you correctly, the only way would be to create an encrypted folder that is stored in dropbox. What you would need to do to access the data would be to decrypt, add any new data and then encrypt the folder. That encrypted folder would be in dropbox so you could access it from anywhere.
There's no real way to automatically have dropbox do that if that is what you are asking.
@@SamMakris excellent thanks. Essentially i want to encrypt my google drive files (not dropbox sorry) to prevent hacking as well as google themselves viewing my files. Thanka
@@ledique6945 Yeah, if you don't want your files in the open, you need to encrypt them before they go to google drive. I use Sync which is end-to-end encrypted, and I still encrypt what I feel is sensitive before uploading to them.
@@SamMakris will check out sync thanks
@@ledique6945 Yeah they don't store your password, so the files on their server are encrypted. No can access them but you, which is neat.
could you encrypt a folder on your computer, then drag the folder to a cloud account later on?
Yes you can. As long as you have access to cryptomator to decrypt you can move that folder anywhere you want. I have created an encrypted folder (vault) and moved it to iCloud later, and could open with cyptomator without issue.
@@SamMakris thank you :)
@@SamMakris Hi Sam, nice video and channel. A question for Veracrypt: can you create a vault inside Dropbox? Then if you open dropbox from a different laptop, the veracrypt vault will be available also there? (of course you will need Veracrypt on that 2nd laptop to decrypt the ault). Just wondering if we can use Veracrypt like that as it seems so easy to sync files in the cloud.
Ah also, if the above answer is Yes. Then, instead of dropbox can I do the sme on pCloud? Gdrive? Mega?
Thank you in advance
Absolutely. That is precisely the way I use it. I have my Veracrypt container on an online drive (any online drive) and have the portable windows version on the online drive as well. So no matter where I am, I can use the web portal to download the container and use the portable version to decrypt it. Works great. Unfortunately no portable mac version, so you would have to install Veracrypt, but it works just as well.
@@SamMakris this is the best answer. What I really wanted to know and very detailed. Appreciate!!
If i lose my device and get a new device and downloading cryptomator. Will it still work with the file in the storage
Yes it will. All the info is stored in the vault so you can open it from any device. So you can copy the vault to a USB key, go to someone else's computer, and can open it if there is a doc you need to access.
That's the first thing I tested.
I have a better solution....just use an archiver like winrar or 7-zip and encrypt it with a password. It's easy and it's free. O:
Sure that would work fine. Cryptomator is free BTW. The issue is the convenience factor. You use the tool that makes sense. I love 7-zip and use it all the time. It's hard to use a zip file on a mobile device though, and cryptomator makes it easy. Plus working with files (adding, modifying, etc) is easier with cryptomator since you just use it as a normal folder, and once you close the session it auto encrypts again. Slightly more friction with archives; not much but still there.
Password protecting a zip file is a totally viable solution and I use that as well. That's a great tip and thanks for bringing it up to everyone.