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Web-Based Private File Storage?
steve802 writes "Recently, someone died in our company, and word is getting around that the admins who were given access to his Outlook account have found personal things that are embarrassing at best (the rumor mill differs on what was found). No matter, it raises a question. I have personal stuff in Outlook folders that I would not want someone in IT to see if I suddenly dropped dead: emails to the wife, photos of the kids, that kind of thing. I also keep a journal at home that I save to a server; personal reflections that I never want anyone else to see, especially if I die. So I was thinking that some sort of web-based storage for files, individual emails, and perhaps even Outlook folders would be perfect. All my most private personal stuff in one place. I found CryptoHeaven, which seems to offer some of what I'm looking for — but it is pricey. I'm willing to pay, but something less than $400/year would be nice. Best would be a service with a dead-man's switch, so that if I don't access it in, say, three months, it auto-purges. Any thoughts?"
Slow, but very secure.
Create a google email account.... Nooo, i am just joking.
Dont use personal info on work systems. Often time anything in there is usually subject to scrutiny.
Why does it have to be web based? If the only requirement is absolute privacy, TrueCrypt will suffice.
I think you mean "emails to the wife, photos of the wife, that kind of thing"
Web-Based Private is an oxymoron. Why does this have to be web-based?
It would be pretty trivial to set up a Linux distro with two hard drives, one with the simple operating system and the other an encrypted drive with a passphrase, and set up the OS to nuke the second drive if the current time is ever greater than three months from the last time the passphrase was successfully supplied.
Solution: Don't do personal stuff on your work account...
Here's an idea... Don't keep personal data on company assets. As an admin I can't stand having people store there wedding videos, "personal" music collections, and what have you on the company's network file storage.
They can already read your emails..
Personal gmail account?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Encrypt it. Don't write down the passphrase. If you're especially concerned, make a script to unmount the encrypted volumes after some amount of time with no user input. Say, three hours. This is also convenient if you are arrested.
I recommend truecrypt, though I don't have experience with anything else. Also, I find it quite odd that your train of thought is:
I don't want anybody to see this. --> Put it on the internet!
...it raises a question, why would anyone keep their personal stuff that really is embarrassing or important on company email account? Or on that matter, ON a company laptop.
How about not sending personal emails using your work email account?
Problem solved.
On a more serious note.
1) Kill switch is unnecessary. If it's a paid service then it'll purge when you stop paying the bill
2) I've been playing with tarsnap lately and i'm pretty impressed. You use it just like tar but it uses a private key to store the results on their server. They can't see what you store and it intelligently tracks diffs so if a file appears in multiple archives you don't need to transfer or pay for it after the first time.
3) Something like mozy or jungledrive would surely be easier to use and should be able to offer a similar level of protection. Obviously you'll have to be a little cautious about who has access to your private key, but it should protect you from casual snoopers
4) Stop storing personal stuff at work
I've got to ask the question, but... why?
I mean, if you don't want anybody to find this stuff when you're dead, why bother collecting it when you're alive?
And for the 'pictures' of the wife, what's wrong with a Truecrypt store?
Encryption + online storage. You can use openssl, truecrypt or whatever you like for encryption and, say, Jungledisk for online storage. Problem solved. Unless you think your colleagues will mount a 1 trillion entry dictionary attack against the file that they illegally recovered from your personal online storage after your death. In case of which you should perhaps look for new colleagues.
Are you really going to care that much?
Run a server out of your house. Use linux with truecrypt and SELinux enabled. Access it through ssh if you need to from a remote site.
Do what I do. Store the unhallowed debris of your grimy little soul in a true crypt file. When you shuffle off to meet your maker the passphrase goes with you. Need web access, put it on dropbox.
When you die, your writings and works are the only thing left of you. They are the only way for someone to try to dig deeper into your mind and build up an understanding of your true character. A lot of crazy shit happens in a lifetime, someone may really appreciate you leaving a book of your reflections behind.
If you want to access the info anywhere, but keep the files private, you could store them on a USB drive instead. That eliminates most security holes, and you could easily encrypt the files for even better security.
This also gives you the option to launch applications from the drive (I use FirefoxPortable, for instance), ie. applications that you control instead of the company. That still leaves the possibility of the company snooping on any connections you make, unless you encrypt those.
Keeping personal stuff on a work computer is just bad informational hygiene.
Make a tar, zip, w/e archive of the stuff you want to backup, encrypt it and upload it to the cloud, eg. dropbox. Make sure sure that it's bigger than the free 2GB, so when you die and stop paying the storage fee, they'll delete your account. Was that so hard, or did I overlook something?
First of all, keep your business and personal data separate, or at the very least keep your embarrassing personal data separate.
Secondly, don't upload shit you want to keep private to any web service. They may not be honest, but even if they are they could still be hacked. Use truecrypt on a USB drive you keep with your car keys. For backups, upload the encrypted file container from your USB disk to any random online file storage periodically.
Thirdly, don't worry about being embarrassed after you die. You'll be dead; you won't care.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
"I was fucking his wife last night and apparently he was hung like a toddler."
She said you were a "form and fit replacement".
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
So, I'm looking for something to be absolutely private and secure...
"So I was thinking that some sort of web-based storage for files..."
Yeah. That was my first thought too. "Lets put them on the internet."
How about,
1) don't access absolutely private stuff at work.
2) store it on an encrypted drive
3) consider putting instructions in your will that it be destroyed
Other than that, as for a dead-mans switch type thing. Seriously? You'd seriously prefer continually risking losing the documents forever over the slight possibility that someone might hack the encryption and see them after you are dead?
Why not just delete them now and spare yourself the hassle?
This is about the easiest problem in the world to solve. If you don't want corporate IT in your personal business, then don't do your personal business on those systems. You have no expectation of privacy on work computers. Anything you don't want them to see, do it AT HOME on your own system.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
A home router capable of running OpenWRT VPN packages, such as a Fonera or a Sheevaplug, and then store files on your home server. The Fonera has pretty control panels produced by funded developers, so the software is pretty good, but its radio has a blob driver, and its memory and CPU capability makes it seem like a ripoff compared to the Sheevaplug which has more than 4x of both.
There are many different kinds of VPN: OpenVPN is probably best at busting through firewalls, while L2TP/IPsec has clients pre-integrated into proprietary operating systems.
You will also need to set up dynamic DNS on this router, and worry about the un-neutral port blocking or no-servers AUP your ISP might do.
I use a plain IPsec VPN based on proprietary Cisco software, which is something you can also do with eBay, but this is definitely not the wise approach for someone with no budget or experience, and a dynamic IP address.
Once the VPN is done you can get to your files almost the same way you do at home, only slower, and ``browsing'' won't work. but ``map network drive'' and Command-K will work just as they do at home, if you use an IP address. There is no monthly fee, and you keep all the files in your possession where a dishonest or over-cooperative ``cloud'' company can't eagerly turn them over in response to secret police state letters, curious advertisers, or civil lawsuits.
The internet should be connecting everyone together. It's not a service delivery platform for cloud providers, although you may think that if you read too many of the ads these companies post, and internalize too many of the un-neutral restrictions last-mile carriers place on your access.
... and you'll have nothing to worry about :-)
I keed, I keed!
First off, anyone who keeps incriminating material on a work computer is ot-nay oo-tay ight-bray.
I do keep a series of rather personal and private journals on my home computer, password-protected. There is some stuff that I've written there that's not meant for anyone else to see, ever.
Other than that, I don't think anyone would be too interested in the vast collection of stuff on my computer - some of which has followed me from computer to computer since CP/M days...
Actually, some of it might be of historical interest
I never left personal files or data on the computers at work. I would shunt anything personal to a server I had running at home. For any personal journal writing or private data, I would SSH into the server and create it there. I went to great pains to ensure that I left nothing personal or private on the company's property.
I'm not comfortable storing sensitive personal information off site with some online service. My preference is to store important data in a small RAID I set up in a fireproof area in my basement. Come tornado or conflagration, my data will still be accessible after doing a little digging with a backhoe. If the server was still alive, I could retrieve it wirelessly!
If I really wanted off site storage, I would rather put it in a relative's house. They get use of a really good computer, and I have an off site server where I can mirror important files.
Whew! This water sure is cold!
For any file up to 20 mb, you can create email drafts in Gmail and attach the files you want to save. Have the subject of the email be the name of the file you're saving to it. Then save it as a draft (don't send it to anybody).
They can already read your data and email now. Why is it more embarrassing for them to read the stuff after you die than before?
Don't use your work email for private and personal stuff. D'oh!
My web domain.
I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen any comments on the bigger issue - the IT folks entrusted with this data who let data leak (or at least rumors of the content). As a system admin - if you're at that level you're already not trustworthy enough to keep that postion and would probably be reassigned depending on the severity. Understandably if it's something illegal then it needs to be report it but even still - discretion is still required. It's no one else's damned business.
Compare this to your HR person - would you like them to spill your SSN randomly here and there? Just because the guy is dead doesn't mean his data requires less care.
Anywho - as far as technical solutions 1) don't put personal stuff on a work computer, 2) even some web space and an ftp account should be nearly sufficient if you just need a place to store files remotely that isn't easily accessible.
Take the personal shit off, now, because you don''t need it there. Backup and store elsewhere.
Don't put anything but business correspondence on business systems, and don't put anything unencrypted on email you don't want to see on 4chan.
I don't use my workplace email. I use a webmail address so my correspondence follows me if I leave. Not an option for everyone, but nice so you can't get locked out by accident or intent. All my browsing at work is done using Firefox Portable, copied to USB key, and archived at home.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
"I have personal stuff in Outlook folders that I would not want someone in IT to see..." Stored AT your IT department. As 100 people here have said, solve that problem first.
You'll be dead, after all. We are all food for worms. Get over it.
Check out http://www.swissdisk.com/ (Guilty, I started the company many years ago, but I don't own it anymore, just maintain the servers).
Why would anyone think a corporate Outlook account wasn't being monitored by admins?
Apple has me.com which provides email and storage for $100 a year. Many people balk at the price and use the free servers of their work email, but the repercussions of that is the reason for the question. It is plug and play and friendly to the non-techie, with password protected space for all the things you describe. For about the same price, or a little less, you can get a shared server account, bluehost, terrabyte, dreamhost are the companies I have dealt with, set up a personal domain, and host your email, save files, do pretty much whatever. They will generally give you much more storage space and allow ssh access.
I cannot imagine what someone is selling you $400 a year. Probably setting up and hosting an exchange server. A quick google search for MS Exchange hosting still seems to be les than $100 a year for small accounts.
I am not sure if there is an in between for the free gmail and google docs account and the $100 a year shared server account, or if all this useless because Exchange is the only solution. In any case, $400 seems way too much.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
The lesson here is: Your work email isn't yours. We are constantly re-educating users here at work that the email isn't their personal property. It belongs to the company, and you should be aware of the fact that at any time, without you being aware of it, members of the IT could be reading your email. Generally speaking, we don't unless there is cause (instructed to by Management / HR as part of an investigation, your request, etc) but the possibity exists. I always advise people that if you don't want it shouted across the room for all to hear, don't put it in an email. Corporate email is NOT private, at least not within the company. As for storage, if it's web-based, you in theory have the same problem. An admin for the storage company would be able to access your data etc, in case of file ownership issues, or a court order, etc. The only truly secure way to store your files (and it would be an absolute pain) would be to copy them to an encrypted harddrive, and then physically store that drive in a safe / security deposit box. And that doesn't take into account the possibility of theft / equipment damage.
Why do you have things on your computer that you don't want people to see, and they aren't encrypted or otherwise protected?
Sorry just can't get past that question.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I recommend Windows Home Server. Of course, it integrates perfectly with your Windows machines (since you're running Outlook you have at least one) and is the best backup and recovery solution I've been able to find for home use (you can roll back individual files). You can have folders mirrored on different drives, and you can control who has access to what folders.
Additionally, through the magic of dynamic DNS you can access your files through the Internet. You get a subdomain off homeserver.com which allows you to check the status of the server, upload or download photos, and if you have expensive enough versions of Windows on your machines at home you can control them via Remote Access.
I've used other NAS solutions for years at home, and I don't regret switching to WHS at all. FYI, I built my own server and installed WHS myself - I didn't buy one off the shelf, though you certainly could if you're not into building computers.
I use spideroak.com as it is convenient, multiplatform, synchronizes across machines, provides a backup and is secure through encryption on my local machine - and it is free.
I would understand if you were keeping for posterity, but why write if you don't want it known? If they are private thoughts, keep them in your head. I believe everybody has some kind of wild, crazy idea that they don't want to share. That's why mine is in my head. Someday, when I don't have to worry about what others think about me to make money, I might share. These thoughts that you write would be very valuable to your family and others in the future. Historical correspondence has been a great way to understand WHY people did what they did. I suggest you leave it there.
"Ones and zeros were everywhere. I even think I saw a two!" - Bender
Think of the children !
GENERATION O98346: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig and remove a random number from the generation. T
I only exchange emails with my wife and friends using my gmail account.
Clean house in your work email and stop doing that.
General rule of thumb: Never send anything in E-Mail that you don't want to appear on the front page of a newspaper the next day.
E-Mail is stored unencrypted on several servers along its path, and due to some weird legislation is required to be stored that way for several years ( in case authorities "need to know" what you said ). Also, any one of those server's administrators could be bored and have bad ethical standards.
If you are sending unencrypted personal E-Mail from work, there is no doubt that your employers can and probably do read some of your mail.
bluHatter
When I die I want everyone to be able to see what the hell I was doing when they weren't around. Hiding yourself after you die is just fucking pointless, you're dead. You no longer care (or do anything else).
Probably you want your wife to be able to get those mails and pictures. Or your family might at last figure out why you were so could to them after they find out that you knew that they were a S&M troupe that made special shows every friday night and left you out of it.
Yeah my life is kind of complicated.
Works great. Can be encrypted on the client so no one can access it. Including you if you lose your keys. Rates are reasonable...usually a few dollars a month. I backup all my photos, videos, documents, etc... this way.
With PogoPlug, you control your file storage. If you buy a Sandisk Freeagent Dockstar then you get a free lifetime subscription.
(See U.S. Military vs. Wikileaks current events.)
Corollary: Don't save porn/ you don't ever want people to find.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Instead of using Web based measures, what about a cryptographic token and TrueCrypt? This way, someone had to have the token, know the token's password, and have the TC passphrase and volume. If someone guesses the passphrase on the token too many times, it goes boom and there will be no access for anyone, which may be what is wanted.
Another option is to build a custom file server with Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, enable TPM + PIN + USB flash drive, and use BitLocker. This way, for someone to bypass the file access, they will need an item, a passphrase, and to not have altered the computer (and some computers can be configured to have the TPM to drop all keys if the case is opened.) This way, data can physically reside on a decently secure machine.
There are several articles on the topic, but I'll just link Schneier: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/07/truecrypts_deni.html
If you are storing personal data on the company mail server you are an idiot. If you are accessing personal data from a company machine that is not much better.
Best would be a service with a dead-man's switch, so that if I don't access it in, say, three months, it auto-purges. Any thoughts?"
Don't leave the country.
Don't let an auto crash leave you in a coma.
Don't be trapped on the Gulf Coast in hurricane season.
Dead doesn't always mean dead-dead. It can mean nothing more than that you or your files have become temporarily inaccessible.
Wuala has a java based client that links to local file folders when it's running. It's encrypted on your computer before being stored over the network, so only you can decrypt everything. And if needed you can access things through their website too. Lots of sharing options also if you wanted to. It's worth checking out. Wuala.com
photos of the kids
If you are afraid IT will see pictures of your kids, either you got ugly kids or you took the wrong kinda pictures.
THL phish sticks
1) do not store anything private on company hardware, not on your pc on your desk, not on your laptop you take home, not on your blackberry. Doesn't matter if you encrypt or not. Do not do it. You have no right to privacy when using company hardware.
2) regardless of where you store your private data, do not access it from company hardware, at home or at work. No form of security is effective if you're accessing it from hardware you do not control. Clearing cookies/history or using a "portable private browser" or even a live CD doesn't mean jack. You have no right to privacy when using company hardware.
3) if you bring your laptop/smartphone to work and access offsite storage, use strong encryption. IMAP with SSL or HTTPS at the very least. "Company hardware" includes their routers and switches, do not pass unencrypted personal information through their hardware. You have no right to privacy when using company hardware.
Some companies may have specific rules against using this option. Check with your BofH. Many companies don't allow information entering/leaving their establishment if they can't monitor it, to protect their IP. In those cases, accessing personal information from work may simply not be possible. See Rule #4.
4) don't think you're clever. Don't use the pc on your desktop to RDC to your computer and home to access personal email, or do some other obfuscated method to try to cheat rules 1-3. The BofH is almost certainly more clever than you. You have no right to privacy when using company hardware.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
and word is getting around that the admins who were given access to his Outlook account have found personal things that are embarrassing at best
If any of my IT admins revealed any personal information about a mailbox they'd been given access to, they'd be looking for a new job right now. If they can't stop blabbing about someone's sex-change operation, why should I think that they can keep any confidential business data a secret?
https://spideroak.com/
I may not be a smart man, but I know what an inode is.
Make a TrueCrypt container and store it anywhere in the world on an SSH-enabled server. Pick up a copy of ExpanDrive to mount the TC store over SSH as a drive letter if you are using Windows.
If a million monkeys randomly pounded on keyboards, they would all log into AOL.
A simple PHP application running on a LAMP or LAPP server can easily be created to upload files and encrypt them with a custom SSL certificate using openssl. I did a demo for something very similar for a client.
Of course there are many avenues of risk between the upload to encryption path and the decryption to download path. Some of the risk can be reduced by choosing the right hosting method.
The cheapest solution would be free web hosting for the application but I am not sure they will have an SSL connection available for the hosted application. A better solution would be to set up a private server on your home broadband connection to host the application and you could use a self signed SSL certificate.
But either way you still have some risk at your end of the SSL encryption due to man in the middle attacks by your IT group or they can easily monitor all file activity at your PC after the encryption.
As others have noted if you really don't want the information to get out then don't store it on a public server and don't use equipment at work to use or transfer the information. Other than that caveat there are some inexpensive options that can provide a significant level of protection.
for your personal stuff, not the companies email.
Put your password in your will.
Done. Of course, if it's just general run of the miles pictures and emails, I doubt anyone cares.
If you have stuff that you want to keep secure for other reasons, then don't use company anything ever to keep it secure. If you also want it to not get to yuor wife for some reason, I suggest you talk to your wife more.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Dropbox or any other sort of remote file storage or web server, with an encrypted file(s)? Doesn't TrueCrypt do something like that?
I think you're being paranoid. Keep your personal stuff separate from your work stuff. Problem solved.
If you really need some kind of crypto-storage why not use a USB key with something like TruCrypt? Putting stuff on a remote web server isn't really my idea of privacy.
But I still have to wonder what's so secret that you need to sequester it away. Your child porn collection or some equally unsavory and/or illegal content???
Are we still discussing this today? Use your work email for work only. If you don't want it printed and put on the office wall, email from 1) the web using hotmail/gmail/yahoomail/etc. 2) use your personal cell phone 3) use a portable client on a usb drive to send via your personal account. 3) Connect to a pc at your home to send email via logmein/etc. By encrypting you are just going to get management and the IT admins pissed. I tell my users, that if they type it on a company computer then it belongs to the company. If you don't agree, you need to talk to your manager and get the "official" word.
You could buy one of the simple Network Access Storage machines that sits on your home network. Most of them have a dynamic DNS service that comes with the purchase so that you can access your stored files from anywhere over https.
Evernote might be another good choice. You can store and access just about anything, and edit it on your phone with android or iOS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9gnexnnIDc
It all starts at 0
Don't die.
Gotta get me one of these!
I can recommend SpiderOak. It is a fully encrypted web storage service, and the first 2GB are free! then its $10 a month for the first 100GB. I don't think you can beat that.
You could just put a NAS in a closet and use that. You'd have 100% control, and you could do it for $0 if you use something like FreeNas.
I don't respond to AC's.
These are emails on the company's IMAP server? Ok, first off, WTF are they doing on there? Delete them.
Ok, but let's assume you're talking about emails on your own IMAP server. IT still shouldn't be able to read them (even though you've lazily told your email client the login credentials) because IT doesn't know your PGP passphrase. And emails between a wife and husband? Yeah, that's private (as in: nobody else's business) so naturally of course they're encrypted, and since you have actually met your wife in person (I assume) you have cross-signed each other's keys without even having to use the WoT. This is one of those cases where secure communications is just plain easy.
Now you still have the problem that since you're doing this on a work machine, it's possible that they do know your passphrase since they keylog, but I don't think that's a threat you're trying to defend against. (I don't blame you.) But seriously, the emails should be encrypted. That's just basic common sense.
Beyond that, get an account at linode (I think that's the answer to the question you were really asking) for your email server. It costs considerably less than $400/year and you can deadman it or do anything else if you want to. But first, encrypting your email is both higher priority and easier than this part, so do the easy+smart thing first, before you spend time and money on your hosting issue.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
1. Find yourself a web hosting provider that allows SSH login.
2. Use sshfs to mount your web-hosting space as a drive.
3. Use Truecrypt (or other) to run an encrypted file container on your web-hosting space.
100GB is $30/yr.
Any of a number of solutions allow access as folders (Gladinet). ssh proxy via port 80 on an external machine, and you're done.
Just buy some hosting space ( like at bluehost, or pair, for example ) and either use their built in file services or write your own and run it there.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
My thoughts are similar to those which have already been posted, but here's my two cents anyways.
1.) Do something about that IT staff. Their behavior is unprofessional at best, borderline illegal at worst. As Network and Systems Administrators, we essentially have the "keys to the kingdom." As such, it is our responsibility to exercise professionalism and discretion at all times. We are entrusted with this data -- employee data, customer data, what-have-you -- because it needs to be managed, secured, transported, and we know how to do that. When I ponder this, it sometimes brings to mind a line from Angels & Demons: "Be delicate with our treasures." If management has asked that the late co-worker's email be opened and archived, and that email happens to contain pictures of him in a tutu and a snorkel dancing hip-deep in a lake, and IT happens to see these photos, it is their responsibility to maintain their professionalism, and to say nothing about it.
2.) Do not, for any reason, store personal data on company resources. Period. Company resources belong to the company, and, as such, the company has the right to inspect any and all data which those resources may contain. My personal data on my laptop, and my personal mail (which sits on an IMAP server which I administer and to which I have physical access) are backed up to DVD every quarter, and those DVDs are placed in an envelope in a sealed plastic bag - along with a hardcopy of my password spreadsheet - in a safe-deposit box. My Will clearly states who gets access to that box if I should happen to fall under a bus, as does the paperwork at the institution which houses the box. It's not the fanciest solution, but it's effective, and I like it.
The phones now allow to keep a lot of data and keep records and all those things can't be viewed by the company unless you have a company phone. This way no one from work would even try to look into what was there. Your phone internet connection would be separate from work as well, so they can't monitor and disable websites. At my work almost all email / chat / data exchange sites are locked out anyway, so that would be the only option.
Begs the question, "why?" That was mistake 1.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Just delete the friggin' e-mails you don't want anyone to see when you're dead. Is that so hard? What, you want to keep a detailed record of everything - for yourself? Is that narcissism?
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Dropbox is amazing. I'd highly recommend it.
Feel free to mod me down, just know that unlike some Anonymous Cowards I'm not afraid to express my views as myself.
Ok, I didn't get through any of the posts here (I'm far to drunk at the moment and I am sure someone else said it already; and this does NOT justify a "+1 insightfull") but just encrypt your records wit GPG or any similar product and a private key only you know ... and soon as you die NOBODY else will have access to it.
Simple as that...
Drop.io is a good platform. It can be used for either personal storage or for sharing files. As far as I can tell it's secure (though I have not fully verified). The free version you can have up to 100mb per drop, or there are paid versions with more storage. And they do have a "dead mans switch" that you can set the time limit on (up to 1 year).
You'll be dead.
Tarsnap (http://www.tarsnap.com) positions itself as an “online backup for paranoids”, but should be easily usable for simple web-based storage.
That's an excellent point. Here is an excerpt from the SAGE System Administrators' Code of Ethics:
Speaking as someone who works in IT, I would like to remond you that IT reports to business, and there are all sorts of (legal) reasons why business can order IT to inspect your company owned PC and company owned email account. If you have private information on a work PC, you shouldn't. If you send private mail through a work email account you shouldn't. If you use a work telephone for private calls, you shouldn't. It is unethical on your behalf to use work resources for private business and you should have no expectation of privacy.
To answer the second part of your question, you can easily use truecrypt, GPG or any other encryption program to store data on PC (that hopefully you own) and as long as you use a decent passphrase it would be very difficult for anyone to access should you die. Putting this on a $15 per month VPS is an excercise for the reader...
The thing that struck me most about the posting was that the sysadmin who got access to the private email actually told others about private stuff he found there. This is extremely unprofessional, bordering on reason to fire the idiot. I have worked many years as a sysadmin and the first rule is: What you see as part of your job as a sysadmin, you should not talk about. That goes for company information as well as private information you get access to. To me, this is an absolute. If you cannot trust your sysadmin to keep his mouth shut, fire him.
If you've got private stuff on company servers you're too dumb to use any of the solutions proposed here. You'll just screw things up and make things worse, like moving it all to the web.
Just stop putting private stuff in public places, if you can.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
You don't need to break the system. The fact that there is "plausible deniability" built into the system means that when the police asks for "the other password as well, please" and you say "but officer, I never used the option", they're more likely NOT to believe you.
If we're not talking about the police, then you don't need any plausible deniability - just say you forgot the password and be done with it.
don't use work resources for personal use. QESBNED (Quite Easily Said But Not Easily Done)
I disagree. Non cooperation can still strain your relationship with your employer. It's much safer to actually open the archive and say "see, here is my grocery list and some personal budget spreadsheets" than "no, I won't give you my password".
And for the former to work, you need plausible deniability, and it's not that easy to prove. Even without having a formal proof, it would definitely look better if your Word/Excel recent documents were pointing to that grocery list / budget spreadsheet your pretend is the sole content of your encrypted archive.
Any website that allows file uploading will do, what you wanna do is encrypt the files using something like Truecrypt or 7zip. (I suggest 7zip, easier and better for storage) 7zip will allow you to encrypt all your files into a .7z archive with AES-256, just make sure you have a long passphrase (not password) and it'll be impossible for them to crack. Alternatively you can set up a old pc at home (or build one) and install Linux on it. Then you can ssh to the pc from work and keep all your private stuff on the pc at home. That way if you suddenly die all of your stuff is at home and they can't ssh into it.Any website that allows file uploading will do, what you wanna do is encrypt the files using something like Truecrypt or 7zip. (I suggest 7zip, easier and better for storage) 7zip will allow you to encrypt all your files into a .7z archive with AES-256, just make sure you have a long passphrase (not password) and it'll be impossible for them to crack. Alternatively you can set up a old pc at home (or build one) and install Linux on it. Then you can ssh to the pc from work and keep all your private stuff on the pc at home. That way if you suddenly die all of your stuff is at home and they can't ssh into it.
what about Evernote? would that do what you are looking for?
Either create a TrueCrypt or Encrypted DMG on a DropBox shared volume.
Free for up to 2Gb. (should be plenty)
...near "web-based" and "private" being used in one and the same sentence :-)
Avoid the problem in the first place.
If you must though, you could:
- Keep your stuff on an encrypted USB stick or hard disk
- SSH or VPN Home (See also OpenVPN and IPCop)
- Buy some online storage from someone
- Colo your own server
and more...
But nobody cares. You're gay or lesbian? Good for you - most people don't care any more. You had a sex change? Good for you - most people don't care any more. You cheated on your wife? Nobody cares, you dirty rotten sack of sh*t! You're a pedophile? SOMEBODY ALREADY KNOWS! And they have an ax to grind, so you can't control when the news comes out anyway.
Seriously, if you have something that you think will make you die of embarrassment, confront it. You'll be better for it when you realize that nobody cares.
Just as an FYI, while working with executive level of people I have found a large percentage who exhibit sociopathic behavior. So I'm not sure that just jumping to another job is going to do the trick.
People like this often do rise to the top, sometimes they get in trouble and sometimes they don't. But if you are working a job like this you damn well better figure out who they are.
Earlier in my career I met one who was flying to the top of the food chain. Through his badgering and insistence (manipulation) on a job being done a certain way it led to the death of someone I knew. The interesting part was the way people around and knew the situation reacted. Some were down right pissed and others blamed the victim (Should have known this wasn't the right thing to do). I was on the pissed side.
You never confront these people head on. You may crack their ego, but you never are going to get them to become more self aware. They are always going to blame others, if they recognize that there is any blame. I have actually seen people get sent to psychiatrict counseling ( go to counseling or lose your job), when it wasn't them that was in need of counseling. Their issues were perfectly sane, they just didn't recognize what they were dealing with.
But this is just my 2 cents to try and make people more aware of the sharks in the water.
Any corporate IT worth their salt will not be thwarted by your attempts to hide data on their own machines. Only if you have complete trust in your own system can you even begin to think about keeping what you do with it secret. If you can build your own box, stick Linux with LUKS or Windows with truecrypt on it, install virtualization software and run the "corporate image" inside the virtual machine. Don't do anything private in the virtual machine, and don't leave the box accessible when you're not present. That means, practically, shut it off or hibernate it to an encrypted volume. There are numerous hardware attacks to get encryption keys out of running machines, many of them simple and fast like firewire/pccard hacks. This still doesn't prevent simple hardware keylogging or a hidden camera if they really care to catch you doing something against their policies.
Tarsnap would potentially do the trick:
http://www.tarsnap.com/
So, given this statement, why would you choose to continue to do this? Why would you use a work account for personal matters, since you claim to be concerned about privacy?
Seriously: This isn't rocket science, If you have personal stuff in your corporate Outlook folders, they are there because you CHOSE to put them there.
You can also choose to remove them, you know.
You can ALSO choose to NOT do this, in the future.
Am I missing something?
Regards,
dj
ssh + vi + gnupg
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
Hey - here's a thought: Why not try NOT using your work account(s) for personal matters, and, later, figure out what works best for you, with regards to your personal "presence" on the 'net such as it is, based upon your own awareness? You know - actually taking RESPONSIBILITY for your own affairs? Once you've actually done so, you'll be in a MUCH better position to dictate what should happen, after you die.
...
And, what saddens the rest of us on Slashdot (or at least me)? You never mention that person's name, nor anything save to use their death to create what is basically a completely selfish, Karma-whoring post.
"Hey, some person that I didn't give a shit about died, and it drove me to think about myself, and to submit an article to Slashdot. The editors accepted it, because they not only didn't give a shit about my motivation, but also didn't care about the person that died as well."
NICE.
You're a prince, you are.
Why in the hell would you keep private messages from your wife, etc on your work email account? What are you planning on doing if you get fired? Why wouldn't you have a separate personal account in the first place? It's not like there aren't tons of free ones.
Thanks for the (helpful) suggestions. Should have know that minds would jump to trannies and bukkake, but that's slashdot for you.
I get all the issues raised. I don't know if the dead guy *actually* had anything rumor-worthy. Maybe, maybe not. What is a little horrifying to me is if these rumors get back to his family. I get that if I write an email to my wife from work, it is entirely possible that IT could have seen it, maybe even passed it around. That is less of a conern to me than some office interns getting access, with their possible lack of IT ethics. The rumors are all about admins (by "admins" I should make it clear I meant "adminstrative assistants"), not IT.
As for the content, it doesn't even really matter if it is a naked photo of my wife or a picture of my kid blowing out birthday candles - it is not relevent to business and no one else needs to see it. "Company resources" yada yada yada ... I don't know many people who don't have personal stuff on their work computer embarrassing or not.
So I'm dead, what do I care? Well, I don't even know the dead guy's family, and I care about the repercussions for them... why would I *not* care about my own family after my demise? Of more concern to me are my journals - they are my private thoughts, and if I can't control them, I don't want anyone, maybe even *especially* my own family, having access. Dead or not. Maybe if I were someone important, and my diaries could bring them financial gain after my death, I might care less about them surviving me. But no one is going to pay for them - and if my thoughts about family got out to everyone out of context (or even in context), there could be stress and anxiety they don't need.
I'll read the upmodded replies with interest. Thanks.
I hear memcache is a pretty secure and efficient away of storing data on the net.
It's not a bug, it's a lepidopter!
I just struggle to see the situation as you describe it. To be honest, if I had an encrypted file on my machine at work, my employers wouldn't know about it.
But let's say they found out that I have some encrypted file and they're asking me what it is (maybe concerned that I'm storing company secrets there). Again - this is unlikely, because I can just push a USB stick and store whatever I want on it.
So I look at the employer innocently and say "oh this is just my grocery list from 2008" (date on the file: 2010). Oh, now I have to maintain a fake encrypted grocery list just for plausible deniability.
And then the employer says "oh this is TrueCrypt - I know this program, are you using two passwords on this file?"
At that point the employer stopped trusting me. He doesn't know whether I'm lying or not, but he is paying me money for understanding technology. If I say "oh, I didn't know you can do that" he will *know* that I'm lying. If I say "nah, what do I need the second password for? It's only a grocery list" he still doesn't know - there's the file, I know how to use the tool, and just storing a grocery list in an encrypted file using a tool that allows plausible deniability sounds ridiculous.
So no, unless plausible deniability is an undocumented feature that I somehow discovered (rather than one of the main advertised features), I don't think it would work.
It's a bit like having a better lock on your garden shed than you have on your house. The police arrive and you open the "safe door" on the shed, and there's a shovel and a flower pot. You think the police will not demolish the shed to see where you've hidden the body?
Well like a lot of people here have said; don't use your work account for personal stuff. Problem solved. Anything on a work system is open to scrutiny; I know because I build systems specifically designed to store this stuff. For example; email. Where I work EVERY email received or sent is stored in a database for 7 years in case of legal discovery process. This is a very common practice and access to this database is strictly limited. However, even if you delete it, purge your deleted items, whatever... that email is still in the system for 7 years whether you like it or not. So plain and simple; don't do it. I keep my personal email to my GMail account and even then I prefer to use face-to-face for completely personal stuff.
As for personal files I have a 2GB USB stick with nothing on it but a Truecrypt store. It uses two key files, both accessible from separate online services in case I need to set up access on another machine... and a 30 character password. I periodically sync that store to my Drobo at home, and that in turn gets backed up to Mozy. The contents never get out unless I want them to. Sure the store is small but my REALLY personal files are not that big; Excel and Word documents mostly with a few text-only PDF's. Is it possible that someone could hack it? Yeah... no encryption is perfect. But they'd have to be REALLY determined to get to that data and if they're that determined then power to them. Chances are though that even the fact that the data is encrypted and just a simple password won't cut it will usually deter most.
As for personal photographs and the like... meh. My perspective on that is if you don't want it getting out don't take a picture of it. As I said, no security is perfect and thus everything that is stored has the potential to be used and abused.
And web storage? Forget it. I only use it for my keyfiles and non-sensitive data. Even then only I know where those keyfiles and stuff are so the really sensitive data gets protected. I know enough about how corporations work on the back end... and I've seen enough "secure data leaks" in my lifetime in IT that I don't trust my sensitive or personal data to anything I don't control absolutely. Like my USB stick.
.... if companies didn't encroach in personal time.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
And how do you call it when companies force people to work over time without payment?
Companies can have it any way they want it, but employees have to act subserviently and avoiding the most basic rules of common sense....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Use common sense.
If the company forbids all access, then why do they have internet access in the first place? (if you need access to a few website it is a piece of cake to restrict access elsewhere).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
They may have the right to check what you have up to, then can even fire you for wasting company's time, but sure as hell they can do whatever they want with the pictures of your family or the novel you were writing. (unless your company makes specific provisions for all this, otherwise it is not the default).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Surely you would have a copy in a server (and the respective backups).
What you don;t want is that a copy of *that* data that is in transit is easily accessible (did you seriously think that the copy in the drive would be the only one???).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
SSL authority: you.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
(did you seriously think that the copy in the drive would be the only one???)
This sort of self-destruct is precisely what the original article submitter suggested!! Just read portion of the article summary, quoted below:
"All my most private personal stuff in one place. [...] Best would be a service with a dead-man's switch, so that if I don't access it in, say, three months, it auto-purges. Any thoughts?"
All my most private personal stuff in one place, with a dead-man's switch. Nuff said. :p
Maybe its not what -you- were suggesting, but it is exactly what the article poster was asking for, and which I think is demented. (and it would appear you agree)
I think when you have a computer at work it is almost inevitable that you will end up with personal stuff on it. Here are a couple of approaches; 1) Have a personal datafile for outlook that loads from a usb drive - that way you can copy incoming personal stuff to that location. 2) Create a personal file container on your hard drive using Truecrypt (excellent Open Source encryption tool) and store your personal stuff in there. The truecrypt container can be mounted as a drive when required. 3) I have heard that some personal cloud computing offerings actually allow encryption of the whole space or a partitioned section. Again Truecrypt would be excellent for this.
Back in the mid 80s when I was in grade school, my 6th grade teacher told the class one day "There's two important things I've learned in life. Don't ever say what you don't want heard and don't ever write what you don't want read.". Those words echo throughout my mind quite often whenever I consider doing one of those two things. I would suggest the same for anyone else as well. My favorite teacher (6th Grade male teacher, a rare thing) died over twelve years ago so I don't know what his opinion would be today considering all of our technology and encryption capabilities but I would imagine it would remain unchanged.
Guys you need to check out Spideroak. It's an online storage system offering a free 2GB which syncs between computers. It features zero-knowledge encryption - they store your data on their servers but the decryption is done on your machine. Definitely worth checking out. Excerpt from the site: Your SpiderOak data is readable to you alone. Most online storage systems only encrypt your data during transmission, meaning anyone with physical access to the servers your data is stored on (such as the company's staff) could have access to it. Or, even if your data is encrypted during storage, your password (or set of encryption keys) is often stored along with your data, thus making its easily decoded by anyone with local access to those servers. With SpiderOak, you create your password on your own computer -- not on a web form received by SpiderOak servers. Once created, a strong key derivation function is used to generate encryption keys using that password, and no trace of your original password is ever uploaded to SpiderOak with your stored data. SpiderOak's encryption is comprehensive -- even with physical access to the storage servers, SpiderOak staff cannot know even the names of your files and folders. On the server side, all that SpiderOak staff can see, are sequentially numbered containers of encrypted data. This means that you alone have responsibility for remembering your password or 'Password Hint' (which you can create to help you remember) allowing SpiderOak to create a true 'zero-knowledge environment' – keeping your data as safe and secure as it can possibly be.
" I have personal stuff in Outlook folders that I would not want someone in IT to see if I suddenly dropped dead"
Don't use work systems for personal use. Certainly not the work Exchange server.
However if work doesn't provide web access to any external emails solutions this can be very difficult to avoid.
In the end it comes down to two things - one, work should honour personal emails when stored in a personal folder and just delete them, and two, sent emails should not be stored in a single sent email folder, but be split up into "work sent" and "personal sent", with the latter again being deleted without investigation by the business.
Now things that your don't mind being seen by co-workers, like photos and the like in screensavers (a modern version of the photo-frame people used to have at work), might be personal, but then again, they're not *that* personal that you care - you'd previously have had them pinned to the partition wall anyway. Any sensible company allows its users to personalise to that degree.
thebelltolls.com allows you to send instructions (incl user/pass) after you've passed away to someone you trust to get rid of the dirty laundry.
Crashplan is about $4 a month and if you don't pay, your data goes out the window. Otherwise it's very securely stored off-site with a crypto key that you control.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
If I may ask... *what* is so personal that you would continue to *supposedly* care after your death?
Plans for eventual family domination over the earth, and that somehow, pre-knowledge of that eventuality would prevent your offspring from doing so?
"In a 1976 study anthropologist Jane M. Murphy, then at Harvard University, found that an isolated group of Yupik-speaking Inuits near the Bering Strait had a term (kunlangeta) they used to describe “a man who repeatedly lies and cheats and steals things and takes sexual advantage of many women—someone who does not pay attention to reprimands and who is always being brought to the elders for punishment.” When Murphy asked an Inuit what the group would typically do with a kunlangeta, he replied, “Somebody would have pushed him off the ice when nobody else was looking.”"
Emotions! In your brain!
Yeah, but with global warming and all, you know how rare ice is becoming?