Startup-Tour – ein wichtiger Anfang ist gemacht (German)

Am Pfingstsonntag starteten 45 Startup-Unternehmer gemeinsam mit Bundeswirtschaftsminister Dr. Philipp Rösler ins Silicon Valley und nach Washington D.C.. Ziel der Reise war es, dem Dialog zwischen der deutschen und der amerikanischen digitalen Wirtschaft anzuregen.

Wir ziehen ein durchweg positives Fazit: Wir haben in den 4 Tagen einen wichtigen Schritt zur Stärkung der deutschen IT- und Startup-Branche gemacht: Die Amerikaner waren beeindruckt von der Innovation ‚Made in Germany’ und dem Unternehmergeist!

Spürbar war das Interesse der US Investoren insbesondere auf dem Empfang im Silicon Valley. Hundert relevante Kapitalgeber und Unternehmer empfingen uns mit viel Respekt und Interesse.

Impulse, die wir aus den USA mitbringen

1. Mehr Selbstbewusstsein: In den USA herrscht eine Goldgräberstimmung: Jeder glaubt daran, dass er es schaffen kann. Wir müssen und können selbstbewusster auftreten, denn wir haben hervorragende Gründungen, auf die wir stolz sein können.
2. Mehr Inspiration: Im Silicon Valley herrscht ein einzigartiger Unternehmergeist.  Auch wir in Deutschland haben eine erfolgreiche und beachtete Unternehmer-Kultur vorzuzeigen.
3. Mehr Risikofreude: Die amerikanischen Unternehmer beweisen mehr Mut Risiken einzugehen. Deutsche Unternehmer gelten als risiko-avers. Ein Wirtschaftshemmnis, das wir uns auf Dauer nicht leisten können.
4. Mehr Offenheit: der schnelle, intensive und offene Austausch ist ein wichtiger Erfolgsfaktor im Valley. Wir werden in Deutschland die Erfahrung der etablierten Unternehmen mit den Jungen besser vernetzen.
5. Risikokapital: 45 Unternehmer haben Kontakte zu Venture Capital-Unternehmen in den USA geknüpft. Um auch in Deutschland Weltmarktführer aufzubauen, müssen wir ausreichend viele Investoren finden, die breitflächig Kapital zur Verfügung stellen.

Wir werden die gemachten Erfahrungen auch in Deutschland leben und weitergeben. Denn eines haben wir gelernt „connecting the dots“ ist das zentrale Erfolgsrezept der US-Szene. Diese Reise ist ein Meilenstein, für die Schaffung eines Bewusstseins um die vielen tollen Gründungen in Deutschland besser zu fördern. Von Unternehmern zu Unternehmern – Unser Glas ist halb voll, nicht halb leer!

Wir danken den Unternehmen herzlich, die uns ihre Tür öffneten um mit uns in Dialog zu treten; darunter Facebook, Google, Good Technology, SAP Labs, Jawbone, Adroll, Github, Marin Software, runway, incubator 1776. Nicht zu vergessen die Stanford University. Sie schuf eine grandiose Plattform, für Philipp Rösler’s Vortrag zum Thema „Think Big. Starting –up Made in Germany in the Digital Economy“.

Und übrigens: Jeder Delegationsreisende trägt seine Flug- und Hotelkosten selbst, alle gastgebenden Firmen waren so freundlich, uns auf einen Snack oder ein Mittagessen einzuladen.

Im Namen aller Unternehmer

Andera Gadeib, SmartMunk GmbH / Dialego AG
Sebastian Heise, Graphmasters
Günther Hoffmann,  DocRAID c/o AvailabilityPlus GmbH

Try the Beta version of the new Boxcryptor Generation

We are happy to announce that since today a first Beta Version of the new Boxcryptor Version for Windows is available. We have also made great improvements to the technical preview of the Android app which is now available as a new alpha version.

We also want to say “Thank You” to all our testers who shared their feedback concerning the Technical Preview with us. It was also your support which helped us to make these fast improvements.

You can download the new versions here:
Boxcryptor for Windows 2.0 Beta
Boxcryptor for Android 2.0 Alpha

You can access the key server here:
https://www.boxcryptor.com/app

Once again we would like you to invite to try the new versions and share your feedback with us. As with any pre-stable release software, use these preview versions with caution and do not use it with production data!

You can find the changes from the technical preview here:

Changes Windows 2.0 Beta:

• Importer for Boxcryptor Classic Folders
• Support for Company Package (Master Key, Policies, etc.)
• Support for Windows XP
• Improved Offline Account
• Overall improvements

Changes Android 2.0 Alpha:

• Added Settings and Logout
• Added own browser for upload/export/copy/move
• Added Copy/Move/Rename to Dropbox, Local Provider
• Added Filename Encryption for new folders
• Added: Manage providers and show details
• Added new providers (Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, Box, Telekom Cloud, Starto HiDrive, Cubby, GMX MediaCenter, Web.de Smartdrive, Livedrive, Yandex Disk, CloudSafe, WebDAV Advanced)
• Improved orientation change handling and stability

New: Key server Beta:

• Change account details
• Manage groups
• Manage devices
• Export keys for offline use
• Company Account: Manage users, groups, devices and policies

BoxCryptor and the German Federal Minister of Economics visit the United States

Silicon Valley and Washington take care: Our founder Andrea will be travelling to the United States at the end of May. But not alone! She will be part of the official German delegation and make this journey together with the German Federal Minister of Economics Dr. Philipp Rösler.

BoxCryptor has been chosen as one of a few selected German start-ups who get the chance to accompany the Minister on his tour. They will visit the Silicon Valley for three days and then continue their journey to Washington. Along the way they will also stop by at Stanford University and present the German start-ups to a group of VCs.

After getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning on Monday to drive to Munich and apply for a VISA, finally Andrea got back her passport today (as the delegation will be flying with the official German military aircraft (an A-340) they need a special VISA). So now everything is ready for the trip.

We will keep you up-to-date about the trip and her experiences with the delegation in the United States so make sure to follow Andrea (@AndreaWittek) and BoxCryptor (@BoxCryptor)!

Introducing BoxCryptor Classic

First of all we want to thank everyone that has taken the time to share their feedback with us in regards to the technical preview of our new Boxcryptor generation. It is very important for us to listen to you as users and customers in order to provide a product and a service which fulfills your needs and meets your requirements.

Since the release of the technical preview of the new Boxcryptor generation we have received lots of great feedback concerning the improvements and new features, which has been very encouraging for our entire team. But, at the same time, we received concerns from existing users regarding our plan to drop support for the 1.x versions 12 months after the official release of the new Boxcryptor. We understand that some Boxcryptor users are 100% happy with the current 1.x versions and that there is a legitimate interest to keep them as their cloud security solution of choice.

Therefore we will continue to offer the 1.x versions, which will be available as “Boxcryptor Classic” on our new website, and we will continue to offer regular support– independent from the release of the new Boxcryptor generation.

We are convinced that this is the best solution for existing and potential customers who do not want to move to the new Boxcryptor and are happy with the current versions. We want to give our users the possibility to choose the product which best fulfills their needs, and if our existing 1.x version is the right solution for you, then you will still be able to download it and purchase it on our website. We will also continue to offer support and updates for it so you can continue using it also for the long term. For example, we will submit a new version of our Windows RT app to Microsoft within the next days: Besides SkyDrive, our Windows RT app then also includes Dropbox as a storage provider.

For those users who would like to take advantage of benefit from our new features such as secure file access sharing without revealing your password, creating groups options, having a master key, and more, then our new Boxcryptor will be the perfect solution for you.

Andrea & Robert
Founders of Boxcryptor

BoxCryptor goes University

If you study computer sciences at a University because you want to become a software developer, this is sometimes very theoretical. Often students do not get the chance to have a closer look at e.g. how to develop an app on their own.  

In order to give students some insights into the programming of an Android app and to support them with their first steps in Android programming, our Android developer Boris visited the University of Augsburg for one day and run an Android tutorial organized by the organization AISTA.

For one whole day, 24 selected students and employees of the University of Augsburg had the chance to get a theoretical introduction of the Android SDK. After that, they were able to do their first steps with the Android SDK and had to solve the tasks prepared by Boris. 

Boris and our intern Johannes supported them and answered all their questions. Of course they also got some information concerning BoxCryptor and about our company. 

At the end of the day, everybody had learned a lot. Boris conluded that “it was great to see so much interest in Android development. It was a great experience to work with the students on their first Android apps.”

 

Be one of the first to experience the new Boxcryptor Generation

The next generation of Boxcryptor is one step closer and we would like to invite you to try the new Boxcryptor Technical Preview. This new Boxcryptor has been developed by taking into consideration the great learning and feedback we have gathered from our current and potential users, as well as our own experiences with our product and where we see it going. Among many new features, the official new Boxcryptor will offer easier and better collaboration options that are extremely important for teams in business environments and for private users who would like to share access to specific files with others without having to share their private passwords. Also, for companies the new version will offer options to set policies, have a master key in order to have access to the encrypted information when necessary, and much more.

Some of the new Boxcryptor features and improvements that you can already experience in this Technical Preview are:

• Easier access to your files: there are no special Boxcryptor folders and multiple drives as the current 1.x versions have. There will only be one Boxcryptor drive where you can access all your encrypted files.
• Secure sharing of file access: you don’t have to share your private password with others to share access to your files with the new Boxcryptor. Your private password will always stay secret, even when sharing access to single files or folders with others. Your private password will never be transferred.
• Group function: in the technical preview you will be able to use our group function: simply share your files with your whole team with one single click. You can also create groups and add and delete members.
• Easier access to your files: there are no special Boxcryptor folders and multiple drives as the current 1.x versions have. There will only be one Boxcryptor drive where you can access all your encrypted files.

Other features coming soon are:

• Company Account with Master Key: a company will be able to create a company account which offers additional features such as a master key, which gives the possibility to decrypt all files that have been created by the company members (employees). This allows the company to always have access to all the company files even in complicated situations (e.g. when an employee leaves the company). Moreover, it will be able to have a Reset Password Functionfor its members and to define policies (e.g. minimum password length).
• Boxcryptor Business users will have a centralized administration and billing.

Please note that Boxcryptor remains a zero-knowledge software and we don’t have access to your keys or passwords. Any information we receive from you is encrypted and protected by your password which never leaves your device or gets transferred. Please make sure to remember your password or keep a safe copy.

You can download the Technical Preview here.

FAQ:
You can find Frequently Asked Questions in our Knowledgebase.

Requirements:

• .NET 4.0 (will be installed during installation)
• Windows Vista or above. (XP is not supported in the technical preview, but will be in the final release).

IMPORTANT:

• Do NOT use it for production data.
• Make sure to backup your data.
• If there’s something wrong execute Boxcryptor with command line argument /debug. A file called Boxcryptor.svclog will be placed on your desktop. Please send this file to our support at support@boxcryptor.com

Technical Preview – Android

Our Technical Preview for Android only includes basic upload and download features, and is only available for Dropbox (but also several accounts at a time) and local storage. Please also notice that we have only a very limited error handling which means that you do not get (detailed) error messages if you try to execute a function which is not yet available or the if the app crashes.

Download the Technical Preview for Android here.

Special Upgrade Offer

We want our current Boxcryptor users to know that the current existing 1.x versions will remain available and will continue to be supported for 12 months after the official release of the next generation of Boxcryptor (Mid-May 2013 estimated release).
Also, we want to share that the new Boxcryptor will have a different pricing model. Besides the free version which we will still offer, the new Boxcryptor generation will switch to a subscription model starting from 3€ per user per month (private use) for the paid licenses. For existing Boxcryptor customers we will have the following special upgrade offers. Nevertheless we will still offer a free version for our private users.

Customers who:	Upgrade to New Boxcryptor
Purchased a license before January 21, 2013	Get a special 50% reduction of the first year’s fee (first 12 months after release)
Purchased a license after January 21, 2013	Get the first 12 months after the official release for free!
Purchase a license today	Get the first 12 months after the official release for free!

If you have any questions or would like to share your feedback with us, please contact us anytime at support@boxcryptor.com.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

 

Now BoxCryptor fully supports SugarSync on all platforms

We are very happy to announce that with today’s release of our new iOS version we fully support SugarSync and WebDAV!

Several SugarSync and BoxCryptor users have been asking us for full SugarSync support and we worked hard to integrate it to all platforms as soon as we could. We released our Android app for SugarSync a few weeks ago and with today’s release Windows, Mac OS X, Android, and finally also iOS are supported. Now you can encrypt and decrypt your files easily with BoxCryptor and store them in your SugarSync folder.

We have prepared manuals for all platforms on how to use BoxCryptor with SugarSync which you can find here.

Moreover, our new iOS app also supports WebDAV which now allows you to access your encrypted files from other cloud storage providers such as Box.net.

During the last weeks we have also released – minor – updates for all other platforms. You can download all new versions on our website or in the app stores by scanning the QR code below:

As always we are looking forward to your feedback and hope that you enjoy securely storing your files in the cloud.

 

Your BoxCryptor Team.

 

 

Working Confidently with Your Information in the Cloud

The way people work is changing. The latest technology and advances in cloud computing put powerful tools such as cloud storage in the hands of individuals, small businesses, and large corporations alike. 

This is a trend that looks set to continue. In fact, we are moving toward a world where cloud storage is so integrated with our day-to-day routines that working without it will become impossible.

Fortunately, most people are as excited as we are to take advantage of the new opportunities the cloud presents. With the cloud, it is easier than ever to access your files from all your devices, anywhere in the world.

The file you need is always where you need it to be.

At BoxCryptor, we believe the cloud is not just the future of business – it is the foundation of how we will all handle our information. But as more data is offset into the cloud, the same people who are excited about this new technology must understand the security risks it presents.

If all your data is “out there”, how can you confidently work in the cloud without compromising security?

How cloud computing makes our company more agile

Every day, more people take their data into the cloud using platforms like Dropbox, SkyDrive, and Google Drive instead of traditional local storage. At BoxCryptor, we have done the same, making our business more flexible and our information more accessible.

We have seen two major benefits of the cloud:

1. Access from all devices and locations
2. Ease of collaboration

Like most companies with an interest in cloud storage, our team is made up of the type of people that love the latest technology, and excel at using this technology to do better business. While our desktops are switched off, our notebooks, tablets, and smartphones are never out of reach.

Cloud computing puts data on all of these devices, at all times. We are not limited by traditional working hours or accessing local storage. Everything we need is in the cloud, which means everything we need is wherever in the world we are – on any device.

In addition, the cloud makes it possible to collaborate in new ways. The entire team can access files in real time, with updates rolled out the moment they happen. If we are working with the same files, we can always be certain our copy is up to date, whether we are in the office, at home, on the move, or overseas.

This is the promise of the cloud – empowering people to work with information in ways that, until now, were impossible. But without the right security, unlocking this promise requires a significant leap of faith.

Protecting your data in the cloud

When you move your data into the cloud, security is your responsibility. BoxCryptor can help to protect your data, enabling you to confidently adopt innovative new technology without putting your information at risk.

You can trust BoxCryptor to secure information stored in the cloud, leaving you to enjoy the comfort that today’s technology offers without adding to your workload or forcing you to switch to a new cloud service.

Using our desktop applications for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux alongside mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows RT, you can upload and access files using government-grade AES-256 encryption. We even offer filename encryption  to ensure the names of your files do not give away the contents.

Whether you are a personal user looking for a free service or a business in need of a commercial solution including unlimited drives and filename encryption, BoxCryptor offers robust security for the cloud.

Most importantly, BoxCryptor helps you to leverage the power of the cloud with complete peace of mind, knowing your data is safe. 

To find out more about BoxCryptor, visit www.boxcryptor.com. 

 

Working Confidently with Your Information in the Cloud

The way people work is changing. The latest technology and advances in cloud computing put powerful tools such as cloud storage in the hands of individuals, small businesses, and large corporations alike. 

This is a trend that looks set to continue. In fact, we are moving toward a world where cloud storage is so integrated with our day-to-day routines that working without it will become impossible.

Fortunately, most people are as excited as we are to take advantage of the new opportunities the cloud presents. With the cloud, it is easier than ever to access your files from all your devices, anywhere in the world.

The file you need is always where you need it to be.

At BoxCryptor, we believe the cloud is not just the future of business – it is the foundation of how we will all handle our information. But as more data is offset into the cloud, the same people who are excited about this new technology must understand the security risks it presents.

If all your data is “out there,” how can you confidently work in the cloud without compromising security?

 

How cloud computing makes our company more agile

Every day, more people take their data into the cloud using platforms like Dropbox, SkyDrive, and Google Drive instead of traditional local storage. At BoxCryptor, we have done the same, making our business more flexible and our information more accessible.

We have seen two major benefits of the cloud:

1. Access from all devices and locations

2. Ease of collaboration

Like most companies with an interest in cloud storage, our team is made up of the type of people that love the latest technology, and excel at using this technology to do better business. While our desktops are switched off, our notebooks, tablets, and smartphones are never out of reach.

Cloud computing puts data on all of these devices, at all times. We are not limited by traditional working hours or accessing local storage. Everything we need is in the cloud, which means everything we need is wherever in the world we are – on any device.

In addition, the cloud makes it possible to collaborate in new ways. The entire team can access files in real time, with updates rolled out the moment they happen. If we are working with the same files, we can always be certain our copy is up to date, whether we are in the office, at home, on the move, or overseas.

This is the promise of the cloud – empowering people to work with information in ways that, until now, were impossible. But without the right security, unlocking this promise requires a significant leap of faith.

 

Protecting your data in the cloud

When you move your data into the cloud, security is your responsibility. BoxCryptor can help to protect your data, enabling you to confidently adopt innovative new technology without putting your information at risk.

You can trust BoxCryptor to secure information stored in the cloud, leaving you to enjoy the comfort that today’s technology offers without adding to your workload or forcing you to switch to a new cloud service.

Using our desktop applications for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux alongside mobile apps for iOS, Windows 8, and Android, you can upload and access files using government-grade AES-256 encryption. We even offer filename encryption  to ensure the names of your files do not give away the contents.

Whether you are a personal user looking for a free service or a business in need of a commercial solution including unlimited drives and filename encryption, BoxCryptor offers robust security for the cloud.

Most importantly, BoxCryptor helps you to leverage the power of the cloud with complete peace of mind, knowing your data is safe. 

To find out more about BoxCryptor, visit www.boxcryptor.com.

 

 

 

Editing texts safely with BoxCryptor and Textkraft

Many people use BoxCryptor for iOS to secure files which they want to have available whenever and whereever they are. We know that editing these files is often as important as viewing them and will continue our mission to provide you the best possible experience. Therefore, we’re also working together with other app developers, e.g. infovole who are the makers of the popular text editing app Textkraft. Until we have more news on that ready, you can edit your text files with apps like Textkraft already using the “Open In” feature of iOS:

1) Be sure you have installed Textkraft, Schreibkraft or Easy Writer as well as BoxCryptor on your iPad. If you haven’t yet, create an encrypted folder on your Dropbox with BoxCryptor. Just follow the instructions of the app. 

2) When you are in Textkraft now, open the text you’d like to store safely. In the share menu, choose “Open in app” and select BoxCryptor. Hint: If your text shall have a specific name, first safe it in iTunes File Sharing under the name, then send it to BoxCryptor.

3) In BoxCryptor you are directed to the upload menu automatically. Tap on the blue button which says “Upload to this folder” to safe your text encrypted to the created folder. Hint: The list of files updated when you pull it down.

4) To open the document, you have to open the text file in BoxCryptor and choose the command “Open in ‘Textkraft'” on top right. Your document now opens editable in Textkraft. 

As mentioned above, this might still be a little inconvenient at the moment, but we are working on a convenient solution.