kung fu grippe

  1. The (Imperfect) Art of Sending Sensitive Stuff

    Securer file sharing with Dropbox « practically efficient

    • Zip your files
    • Put the zip file in your Dropbox ‘Public’ folder
    • Email the file link, not the file

    Great advice on sending sensitive stuff via Dropbox . And pretty close to what I do. With this handful of paranoid additions involving chaos and automation:

    • Parent Folder. in your “~/Dropbox/Public” folder, create a new folder with a sensible name like, “seekritstuff”

    • James Bond Naming. Keep a sane name for the uncompressed source doc you’re sending (say, “2010_income.txt”), but rename the zipped version of that file with a random name

      • e.g., something like, “I8-H~*gY{4%u.zip”

      • TIP: 1password can generate a “password”-style string that makes a swell file name

      • Maybe an unnecessary step. But it does makes the file name way harder to just guess

    • Hazel help. Most Important. Create a Hazel rule for “~/Dropbox/Public/seekritstuff” that automatically moves any file it contains to a local/non-Dropbox folder on your Mac n days or hours after “Date Added”

      • Mine’s set to 36 hours, but your setting can be whatever suits you and your recipients

    • Two-steppin’. Yes, send your recipient the link to that zipped file (NOT the actual file)—but do so in a separate and obscure-looking email that makes no reference to either previous emails or the link’s contents.

      • Viz.

        SUBJECT: thing for you
        B—
        here’s that thing
        http://i-0.us/e4wQcw
        call or text me with questions

        /m

      • Even better still? Send that link to a different email address for that person, or TEXT them the URL

    • In general? Just never hurts to mix it up. All of it.

    It’s a start.

    Like anything that touches an open network—and most especially anything that touches email—it’s a solution that’s far from perfect. But, to my mind, it feels a little safer than crap like sending plaintext via email.

    Seriously. My mind is boggled by how many people throw sensitive stuff around in email to complete strangers—the equivalent of writing a password on a postcard. Then pinning it to the corkboard in the laundromat. Insane.

    2. Tagged:  Dropbox   security 

    Posted 2 years ago 126 notes

    1. sang-crace reblogged this from amkelly
    2. un-b-titelt reblogged this from merlin
    3. techdrops reblogged this from merlin and added:
      I already do in a similar way to this, but I think I’ll bypass the two-stepping, and I’ll manually do the Hazel trick...
    4. thomascarrington reblogged this from merlin
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