Important note: There’s a cool giveaway at the end of this post so make sure you don’t leave reading the post midway. 🙂 Whatsoever guarantee they may give, there are certain vulnerabilities your data is exposed to with so many trespassers peeping into the network. As a computer user we tend to take measures like encrypting data for security. Unfortunately, we seem to have no choice but to trust the service provider when our data lies in the cloud. This should change. However, we do have complete control over our records until we push them into the network. SecretSync wants to help you here in encrypting your data first, and then ensure that users will have total secrecy over their information even outside their machines.
What is SecretSync?
SecretSync is an additional layer of security for using online backup and synchronization utilities like Dropbox, SugarSync, Box etc. It creates an additional folder named SecretSync on your computer. Anything that’s placed inside SecretSync is encrypted and then added to Dropbox or any such service to be synchronized to your other computers. This way, your files are owned and encrypted by you before they leave your machine and are in the encrypted state while being synchronized until they are back in your control.
Using SecretSync to Encrypt Data
Follow few basic steps to get started. We’ll take up Dropbox here as an example when talking about setting it up with the cloud storage tool. If you use a different service, you could follow the same steps and get it set up. Step 1: Download and install the tool on your computer (supports Windows, OS X and Linux, and works on Java so you’ll need to have that installed first). During the procedure you will be asked to register. The password is very important as you will need this to sync files and folders on other machines. Step 2: You may additionally add a security passphrase which provides another layer of security. Step 3: Be careful in selecting the location of SecretSync Folder. This is where the sync folder outside Dropbox will be recognized to encrypt files. Step 4: Copy any file or folder to the SecretSync folder. It gets encrypted and is taken up by Dropbox to sync them to the cloud and other computers. When you log on to Dropbox you will be able to see a new folder that has been created. It is in sync with the newly created SecretSync folder. It will show all the contents that were originally placed there. However, you will not be able to access or read them because they are in encrypted state. Step 5: Install Secret Sync on other computers as well; computers where you want these files. Remember to use the same password and paraphrase or else you will lose or corrupt your data. It also has a Log View giving details of activities. There are additional buttons to Refresh, Stop Sync and Start Sync. That’s about it. Right, it is that simple and easy! Now, the free account of SecretSync gets you 2GB of encrypted data but you could expand it to a whopping 20GB by participating in our giveaway. Read on.
Giveaway of 25 SecretSync Licenses Worth $39.99 Each
UPDATE: The giveaway is over. Scroll down to see the results. We are giving away 25 SecretSync licenses, each worth $39.99 and gives you 20 GB of secure and encrypted space for a year. Participating in the giveaway is pretty simple. You just need to complete the following 3 steps.
Step 1: Like us on Facebook
Make sure you are logged in to Facebook and then go to our Facebook page and hit the Like button. If you are already our fan of Facebook then you may skip this step.
Step 2: Circle us on Google+ and +1 this post
Click here to add the Guiding Tech Google+ page to your circles. After that, come back here and hit the +1 button that should appear in the left of this post. The +1 button is also available below this post.
Step 3: Leave a simple comment
Finally, leave a comment on this post. Anything that tells us that you need this. Make sure that you use a valid email address while commenting so that we can email you if you win. If you comment using your Facebook or Twitter account, that’s fine too. Important: You need to complete all the above steps to ensure a valid entry to the giveaway. There are 25 licenses to be won so your chances are pretty bright. So don’t wait, just get started with the steps! The giveaway will run till March 4 and winners will be announced in the next week of March. Since we got less comments than the number of licenses we had, we decided to reward all the current 16 commenters on this post. All the commenters will be informed via email about their prizes. Those who didn’t leave an email, please contact editor at guidingtech dot com to claim your prize (however, we will try to get in touch with you through Twitter or Facebook). The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.