New Cloud Backup Firm Emphasizes Security
TresorIt is the new kid on the block and wants to make a splash by offering Lifehacker and GigaOM readers a free 50GB cloud storage account if they signup by May 20th, 2013. Free 5GB cloud storage accounts are offered to everyone who doesn’t know about the special deal.
Because everyone wants free, (before they even know what they are getting), TresorIt is being a bit overwhelmed and you may have to try multiple times to logon to their servers.
But free 50GB is free 50GB, right?
Not always.
At this time, how could we in good conscience recommend a new service with not all that much known about it? We can’t. And won’t.
Oh, and it’s Windows only for right now. Mac, iPhone, and Android are on the way.
That said, why not lock in your free 50GB account and find out what you have later. Fine. Just think carefully about trusting your data to a new and as yet unproven service that is thin on every detail of what they offer except for the security.
What Does Tresor Mean?
Before you try and figure out why in the world a cloud backup service would name itself “TresorIt” it might be helpful to know a few things:
- The firm is Hungarian
- Tresor, in German, means “vault” or “safe”. So now it means something to you when they say “Tresor It”, right?
- Data security is what these people are known for
At this point we have no reason not to believe the integrity or security of TresorIt’s cloud storage service.
What we do need to know, though, are many things, like what is your service, backup, storage, both, hybrid, what? Details are pretty thin right now and one reason we wouldn’t count on this new service for anything other than testing and perhaps some “extra” backups of data.
For instance, if they auto-sync, will they delete files on their servers if they disappear on your system – if so, after how long? Do they store versions?
A Little Misinformation
One thing that does not impress us can be seen in the screenshot at upper left, indicating that secure storage did not exist before them. Wrong.
Other companies do client side encryption, also with AES-256, before the files leave your computers. SOS online backup specifically states AES-256, but IDrive, MyPCBackup, Carbonite and SpiderOak are among those that use varying levels of client side encryption also. Mozy uses AES-256 by default but you can use 448 Blowfish if you use a private encryption key.
What may be new is the use of public key encryption that allows you to share files securely without your key ever leaving your computer. But I’m not betting on that without more research.
Again, we have said many times that for whatever reason these online backup vendors often make it time consuming to get the nitty-gritty details about what they truly offer. Why is a mystery to us, other than to say MOST people really don’t care.
As evidence to the above statement, look at how many are flocking to the free 50GB TresorIt offer without knowing hardly anything about the service.
Bottom Line On TresorIt
The bottom line on TresorIt is that we feel this is a company to watch. It will be very interesting to see the product officially launch, announce pricing and hopefully give us more details on what is actually offered.
We presume that will be on or after May 21, 2013 when the free 50GB account offer expires; though we expect a free 5GB account may be a permanent offering.
So grab a free 50GB account, it could be all you need from a company that will likely be among the most secure cloud storage providers moving forward. But don’t gamble on them with your data just yet, let’s let someone else take the risk with their data.