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Simpleum Media GmbH participates in the European Cyber Security Month
We are happy to join the European Cyber Security Months again this year!
“ECSM is the EU’s annual advocacy campaign that takes place in October and aims to raise awareness of cyber security threats, promote cyber security among citizens and provide up to date security information, through education and sharing of good practices.” (Source: https://cybersecuritymonth.eu)
The BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) coordinates the German actions in the European Cyber Security Months.
During the European Cyber Security Months we reduce the price of our software to facilitate the access in the encryption also in terms of price.
Why choose SimpleumSafe?
Nowadays it is not enough “only” to encrypt your data to be protected. If you want to view, organize, or edit the encrypted files, they also must be protected. It is important not to leave any trace on the system, and even if a Trojan looks over your shoulder, it can not copy all your files to the Internet.
SimpleumSafe goes a different way than most other encryption programs. After authorization with a password, the files are not provided in the file system. Otherwise they would be completely vulnerable from this moment on. SimpleumSafe makes its own file system and has its own finder. Thus the files remain encrypted for the entire time.
News from the Simpleum-Lab - Development status of synchronization
SimpleumSafe 2.0 will support the synchronization of Safes between different devices. Today we would like to report on the current state of development.
Interview with the development:
Question: What is the synchronization?
Answer: In the end, the synchronization enables the same data of a Safe to be stored on different devices without the user having to worry about which data must be transferred.
Question: What devices are supported by the synchronization?
Answer: We support Mac with MacOS El Capitan (10.11) and iPhone / iPad with iOS 9
Question: i.e. Safes can be synced from a Mac to an iPhone?
Answer: Yes, in both directions. In addition, Safes can be synchronized from Mac to Mac and also from iOS to iOS. Thus, e.g. a Safe can be synchronized from an iPhone to an iPad or from a Mac at work to a Mac at home.
Question: How are the Safes transferred?
Answer: We offer several types of transfer. There is the transfer via iCloud. The iCloud is available to every buyer of an iPhone / iPad / Mac and is now familiar to most users.
Question: If I do not want the data to be transmitted over the Internet, are there other possibilities?
Answer: It is possible to perform a wireless synchronization. This is where Apple’s Multipeer protocol is used. If you can use AirDrop with your devices, you can also use this type of synchronization. For this purpose the devices are connected with Bluetooth and Wifi and the Safes are synchronized. The transmission of the data does not take place over the Internet.
For a Mac to Mac synchronization, we provide another type. Here, simply a folder accessible by two Macs, e.g. a network drive (NAS). In this way, synchronization is possible without the Internet. We have even developed so far that synchronization via a flash drive is possible. Thus, no wishes for safe transmission, even for high-security requirements, should be left.
Question: Is synchronization over the Internet secure?
Answer: Each Safe is encrypted and consists of three main types of data. First, the meta data (this is an encrypted database that contains information such as file name, file size, …). Secondly, the encrypted data files (they contain the data of the individual files in encrypted form). Third, the key file (it contains the encryption keys). Everything is encrypted with AES-256.
The data files are transmitted in their encrypted form. The sync protocol (which knows what data has been changed) is also transmitted encrypted. Thus, we have an end-to-end encryption. Everything can only be decrypted, if one knows the Safe password and has the key file.
To increase security even further, we do not directly transfer the key file.
For example, a Safe from a Mac is transferred to an iPhone for the first time, then SimpleumSafe creates a synchronization configuration as an encrypted QR code. This QR code is then photographed and evaluated by the iPhone. Afterwards the input of the Safe password is necessary and the Safe can be created and synchronized on the iPhone.
This additional security function protects the synchronization data from attackers. Even if they know the password and managed to steal the data from the cloud, they still lack the key file.
Question: How long is synchronization in development?
Answer: With the start of the development of SimpleumSafe it was already clear that one day there should be a synchronization. We first released the Mac version a year ago. Half a year later the iOS version. At the beginning of 2017, we started developing the synchronization.
Question: Why does the development of synchronization take so long?
Answer: Secure and robust synchronization is one of the most difficult development areas. Unfortunately, there are also no comprehensive ready-made solutions. Especially when it comes to encrypted synchronization.
We also wanted that users can perform the iCloud and a direct device-to-device synchronization.
We chose decentral asynchronous synchronization. It is considered the non-plus ultra and has the highest robustness. It also does not require any intelligent servers.
Question: When will SimpleumSafe 2.0 be on the market?
Answer: We can not say that yet. We have just set a very great milestone. SimpleumSafe 2.0 is now in the alpha phase. This means that the synchronization in the core is finished.
Now we will handle all exception and possible errors, complete the user interface and the translations. Then test again, test, test …
If we find the alpha version to be good, we will launch a beta test, which is also available to our customers.
If this is completed to the satisfaction of our customers and our quality assurance, SimpleumSafe 2.0 comes on the market.
Question: Does SimpleumSafe 2.0 cost extra money for SimpleumSafe 1 customers?
Answer: No, SimpleumSafe 2.0 is a free update
Update 2017-11-23: SimpleumSafe 2 is now available
“Best of Apps 2017” of Innovation-Prize-IT initiative 2017
We have been voted into the “Best of Apps 2017” list in the category “IT Security” at the “Innovation-Prize-IT” initiative medium sized businesses 2017.
As a German startup, Simpleum Media GmbH would like to make the protection of digital data available to small and medium-sized enterprises without any major introduction projects.
The German middle class is a select target for cyberspionage and the annual economic damage is enormous (estimated about 50 billion euro 2015).
Outstanding is the complete encryption, even while documents are processed eg in a text editor. The documents remain encrypted all the time. Thus the attack possibilities of espionage tools or extortion trojans are extremely reduced.
In spring 2017, a continuous encrypted synchronization of the data between the devices is added, so that also cloud storage can be safely used. The data remain encrypted all the time.
Easy access and ease of use contribute to a high degree of acceptance in the implementation of encryption from the secretariat, through the field service to management.
With SimpleumSafe a trustworthy encryption solution from Germany is available, which is not subject to laws or presidential decrees of other countries.