Share with Key Only

One of the biggest advantages of cloud storage is the ability to easily share data with friends, co-workers, or customers. It is usually sufficient to share a file or directory via the file manager's context menu or the service's web front end and then send a link via email or instant message. With Cryptomator, sharing the data requires an additional step.

As usual, you load the data you wish to share into the encrypted vault. Then enable the sharing function and send the link to the recipient. In addition, you communicate the secret Cryptomator key, preferably using an encrypted email or a traditional one-to-one conversation. The recipient, who also needs Cryptomator, then mounts the existing vault directly using the Open vault function (below the plus icon).

You can only share the whole vault – no access controls exist for sharing individual files. If you want to send data to different partners, create a separate vault for each of them.

Conclusions

Cryptomator fills a gap that has been difficult to close for many years: It offers an easy-to-use, yet very secure approach to encrypting important data without you having to change your working methods or sacrifice flexibility. You can still access all data encrypted in the Cryptomator vault at any time and from any device. The only way to access the crypto containers is via the web front end.

Note, however, that an encrypted container does not replace a completely encrypted system. For example, if you create a LibreOffice document and move it to a vault, the intermediate versions and shadow copies saved by the office package will leave numerous traces of the document on the filesystem. Even though a vault does not necessarily have to reside in cloud storage, Cryptomator is not unjustified in referring to itself as an encryption tool for the cloud.