Dropbox provides end-to-end encryption to business users and buys a company's assets to make it happen.
In a blog post (opens in a new tab) published earlier this week on the company's website, Dropbox said it had signed an agreement to acquire "several key assets" from Boxcryptor, a company that provides encryption." zero knowledge" from start to finish. finish. for cloud backup services.
The combination of these two companies will apparently help Dropbox better serve the needs of its customers, including better cloud storage security in the post-Covid world.
Dropbox Acquisition of Boxcryptor
"Our customers have told us that storing encrypted files is becoming more valuable to them and their teams, and there is increased demand for built-in features and functionality to support this in the Dropbox experience," the blog reads.
Dropbox's plan is to natively integrate Boxcryptor's capabilities into Dropbox for its business users on their paid plans, adding an extra layer of security by encrypting files locally on devices, before syncing them to Dropbox folders.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, so we don't know how much money Dropbox had to shell out for the Boxcryptor assets, or what exactly those assets might be.
Boxcryptor was founded in 2011 and works to protect people's data stored in cloud services like OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint and, you guessed it, Dropbox. The company was already one of Boxcryptor's "early partners," TechCrunch reports (opens in a new tab).
Both Dropbox and Boxcryptor were careful with the wording they chose in the ad. While Dropbox said it was acquiring "several key assets," suggesting it was not a standalone acquisition, Boxcryptor said its "new mission" was to integrate its technology into Dropbox.
The media believe that the wording was intended to calm things down at Boxcryptor, as the company still has obligations to its existing customers.
As such, you will continue to support them for as long as the contracts are valid, and keep the keys, contracts, and data safe in your own hands and not Dropbox's.