With the global fixation that governments seem to have at the moment regarding the creation of backdoors in chat based apps, you can forgive the average consumer for being a little more edgy about the safety on their data.  If you happen to run a business, this becomes even more of a priority when you are dealing with client information.  Encryption is a safe way of storing your files in a way that requires a key to decipher.  Even if someone manages to get hold of your files, they will look scrambled and unable to be read until the correct key is used to unlock it.  While this is a great way to keep your private files safe, it can be a little daunting when you first start out, and there are many programs that can do this, but most are pretty confusing and the costs can mount up, especially for businesses.

Luckily, there are programs available for Windows, Mac, and Linux; as well as IOS and Android that will encrypt your files on your computer before uploading to your cloud storage solution such as Dropbox. One such program will do this at no cost, and without going through a lengthy registration process.  Introducing Cryptomator, your one stop shop for cloud security.  While other, more complicated encryption software can be a little cumbersome and expensive, Cryptomator is as simple as it can get, and has managed to remain totally free.  Here we take you through the simple steps of setting up your first encrypted folder.  We will be using Mac, but other than the installation, the work-flow is the same on any desktop system.

Firstly download Cryptomator from their website.  Once you have installed the application, launch Cryptomator and you should be presented with the welcome page, and an empty box on the left of the application window.  The next step is to create our first encrypted vault.

Click the + symbol on the left hand side, and select “create new vault”.  Next, select your cloud storage solution of choice from the drive panel (for example Dropbox), and give the vault a name.  A password is then required, and you should make sure this password is not only a strong one, but also something you will be able to remember (if you lose your password then you could lose your files, so make sure you pick one that you won’t forget).

Once you have set up the vault, you will be asked to unlock it.  Again, enter your password and you should now see your new ‘virtual drive’ being displayed.  At the moment it should be empty, but feel free to drag and drop a few files into it, and Cryptomator will encrypt these files on the fly for you.

You can now open the Dropbox (or other cloud solution) folder, and once your account has synced, you should see your files are now encrypted.  To add more files to this vault, use the virtual drive as seen in the previous step.

Once you have finished adding your files to the vault, simply click on the Cryptomator icon in your system tray, and lock the vault.  This will also eject the virtual drive.  Once your cloud solution has synced, your files will now be safely stored away and encrypted.

To add or edit files in the vault, simply launch Cryptomator, and you should see your vault listed on the left hand side.  Click on whichever vault you want to edit, enter your password, and you will be provided with the virtual drive, ready to add, edit, or delete your files to your heart’s content.

The fact Cryptomator is free and open-source means you not only get a great deal, but you can rest easy knowing that there are no backdoors for hackers to enter without your knowledge as the code has been audited.  Free and secure, what more could you possibly want from an encryption app?  Check out Cryptomator here, and forget your security worries.