How to manually encrypt your files before uploading them to the cloud? step by step guide

Safety has become one of the most fundamental and key elements for all users, especially today when attacks on the internet they become more and more present, mainly at the moment of wanting steal any kind of private information and personal data.

That is how cloud services have become a target for all these cybercriminals, and this is because these servers online storage are becoming more and more popular, so They are used by millions of users around the world. In this way, everyone files stored on these servers are unfortunately not entirely secure.

On many occasions these web storage services suffer attacks or security flaws that they place in risk all those who have users saved there, a form of power avoid all this and that the information is exposed is by encrypting all the files before uploading them to the cloud. That is why here we are going to explain a little more how to perform this processfor this, follow in detail everything that we will teach you below.

Why do I need to encrypt my files before uploading them to the cloud?

One of the main reasons why they should encrypt files before uploading them to the cloud it is because these platforms online storage as they are Drive, Dropbox, Google Driveamong many others are only responsible for taking your data but they are not encryptedso they are exposed to any attack or information theft.

For this type of case the best solution is to use other alternative services or encrypt the files before uploading them to these platforms. And it is that all this has been turning into a real concern for all users who upload files and folders to the cloud. Since according to recent incidents it has been shown that none of this information is entirely safe there. But the need to use these types of web services forces many people to take these kinds of risks.

And it is that despite the fact that all these giant internet companies take the necessary measures to data protectionthey will always be prone to that they can eliminate or steal everything that is there, where many businesses and companies can be severely affected.Therefore, when what you want is protect the information that is uploaded to the cloud, the best option that can be taken is encrypt before upload.

When encrypt a file This is transformed so that no one else can access it, or only those who have your password can do so. To be able to do this data encryption there are today a wide variety of tools available that you can easily get on the web.

Learn step by step how to encrypt your documents before uploading them to the cloud

Bearing in mind that this is the most viable alternative to continue using these web storage services without running the risk of reaching lose information or suffer theft of personal and private data, So here we are going to show you different methods that you can use to encrypt all your files before uploading them to these platforms. This will give you a extra security in them at the moment of suffering any type of attack.

In this way, here we show you how to encrypt each of your documents, to do this follow each of the steps that we will teach you below:

With ProPrivacy

ProPrivacy it’s a open source software which is fully audited Truecrypt, whose fundamental objective is to be able to solve many vulnerabilities and security issues in which millions of users are affected every day. This whole program is mainly known as VeraCrypt. VeraCrypt is available for both Windows, Linux and OSX computers, so you can use it in any of these systems easily operational.

According to this, here we show you step by step how to encrypt your documents with this tool, to do so follow each of these instructions:

• To be able to use this tool, the easiest thing to do is create an encryption container inside a fileit will not be affected at any time, so it will behave like any other file that can be rename, delete or move. To perform this procedure, the first thing you should do is download “TrueCrypt”.

Download VeraCrypt Windows

Download VeraCrypt Mac OS

• Once downloaded you must open the software and run it. Then you must select the option “Create Volume” that appears on the main screen.

• Now you need to make sure that the checkbox “Create an encrypted file container” is marked, once this is verified you must click on “Following”.

• In the new window that appears, you must select the option “VeraCrypt Standard Volume” and click “Following”.

• In the next window select the option “Select File” and there look for the location where you want save the file created in the program, and choose a name for it. Note that at this point you should not choose an already existing file because VeraCrypt will remove it and replace it with a new container created in the program.

• The next thing is to select the encryption algorithm and the hash algorithm. For this it must provide information about each of the encryption algorithms to help you choose the best one. Note that while stronger be encryption the encryption and decryption process will take longer.

• Here you can compare how fast it takes encryption/decryption and check that each the algorithms are working correctly.

• At this point you must select how big you want the file to be, this can be any sizeyou just have to keep in mind that free space you have on the drive so that later you won’t have storage drawbacks.
• Selected all this, the next thing will be to select a access passwordthis is a vital process, if you are encrypting a file because you consider that your information is very important and cannot be available to just anyone, then make sure you create a good password. The wizard will offer you some tips when creating it.

• Now on the screen “volume format” you have the opportunity to choose file system you want to use. In this case, select FAT so that it stays maximum compatibility between devices and platforms.
• Note that if you move the mouse pointer over the window increases the cryptographic strength of the encryption key by introducing a truly random element. In this case it is recommended to move the mouse over the window about 30 seconds so that it increases safety. When it is finished you must click on “Format” and then wait for the confirmation dialog where you must click on “To accept” and then in “Leave”.

• In this way you will encrypt a file with VeraCryptso you can now upload it to your cloud server with greater securitysince only you and the people who have said password will be able to access it.

With AES Crypto

AESCrypt has become another of the most viable options when wanting encrypt any type of file or document before uploading it to cloud storage. In this case, this data encryption software is available for various operating systems and which works with the advanced encryption standard. “AES” industry standard for power encrypt documents in a very simple and fast way.

Download AESCrypt Windows

Download AESCrypt Mac OS

To use this program you do not need to be an expert, to do so you simply have to follow these steps:

on Windows

If you are one of the users who uses a computer Windows, then all you have to do is select the file you want to protect and right click on it, there you select AES Encrypt or AES Decrypt, then you must access security password What do you want set and program will take care of the rest, after a few minutes your document will be protected by the security password you have created.

on MAC

Now if you have a mac computerthen you can drag the file until the AES Crypto program and there you create the security key you want. In the command line you can run the command “aescrypt” with the file name and password that you will use to encrypt or decrypt the information. For PHP, JAVA and C# developers, there are libraries available that can read and write AES encrypted files from your application.

Now in the case of python, they also have a command line utility with strong code which is used to integrate the functionality of AES Crypt on your own python applications.

AES Crypto work under a powerful algorithm 256 bit encryptionwhich allows you to protect each of your files in a very safe way, preventing them from being vulnerable to any third-party attack. When the file has been encrypted, the worries can disappear, since the only ones who will be able to access it will be those users who have said access code.

Please note that an encrypted file cannot be read in any way if you don’t have the security key. In this wayAES Crypto has become one of the best software to carry out this type of activity, which allows users to store information on websites such as Google Drive or Dropbox in a much more secure way, thus preventing all the data stored there from being stolen.

This program has also become the ideal solution for those who need to store banking data with maximum security. Finally, it should be mentioned that it is a program of open source so you will have the opportunity to install it completely free either in your Windows or Mac computer. In this way you can use it either for personal use, for protect the data of your business or any personal project you are carrying out.

List of the best tools to encrypt files before saving them in the cloud

Just as we mentioned earlier in the post, today you can find a wide variety of tools that will allow you to encrypt each of your files before saving it in the cloudthis will give you a greater security and protection of your data.

Therefore, here we leave you the best tools that you can start using to carry out this type of activity:

Team Drive

This program has become one of the most qualified software when it comes to providing Security & Privacy by Designso it meets the highest requirements of security and data protection. However, it should be mentioned that this program is not free as it is not open sourcebut you can install it and enjoy 30 days freewhere you can make the decision if you want to pay it or not.

It offers a very complete encryption that goes from end to end thus guaranteeing a very complete and perfect protection against misuse of data and ransomware. All this has made Team Drive become one of the best options when you want to upload content to the cloud safely. In this way, it has GDPR certification with seal of approval europrisea very good alternative for you.

Some of its main features include the following:

• Offers a maximum data protection and security of data “GoBD, GDPR”
• Offers a secure and encrypted data transmission.
• has an easy configuration and operation.
• cloud service from a data center or server of your choice.
• It presents a collaborative work between file companies.

Download TeamDrive Windows

tresorit.com

Tresorit Enterprise Solution has become another of the great alternatives for most users at the moment of wanting store content in the cloud encrypted in order to guarantee a little more the security of all the data that is stored there. East protection system It is used mostly in companies where they handle very large and important data that may not be easily accessible to everyone.

Therefore, tresorit offers you a secure storage and synchronization for personal and work files. In the case of all files that are uploaded to the cloud are end-to-end encrypted thus offering a practice of proven security. Cloud storage is compatible with HIPAA, which allows uploading medical reports to keep records of each of the patients.

In this way, this software offers you an excellent security and encryption that allows you to have a increased protection at the time of share or save documents online, preventing these from being modified without your authorization or simply stolen. A way to increase your security at all times.

SpiderOak

Finally, we present SpiderOak, an excellent alternative so you can start protecting everything you want. This is how this program will allow you create highly reliable backups with the which you can protect each of your files in order to avoid important losses in them. It also allows you synchronize each of your data with all your devices, eliminating any type of restriction.

This way you can start using SpiderOak as your first option when you want encrypt data and then save it on one of the cloud serversthis you will ensure greater security at all times. Here you can not only protect documents and filesbut also allows you ensure the well-being of your best photosguaranteeing you a much more advanced protection.

Download SpiderOak Windows

Download SpiderOak macOS