Groups

PCMag May 28, 2018

SpiderOak Groups

Unfortunately, cloud data breaches still happen frequently, so why haven't more vendors in the business cloud storage space focused more on solving this problem? SpiderOak Groups (which begins at $90 per month for 10 users) is one such service that is dedicated to security. Their "zero-knowledge" policy dictates that not even the company will be able to access your data because of your encrypted log-in credentials. This is an attractive feature for not only security analysts but for everyone.[ ... ]

One Backup

Cloudwards May 14, 2018

Three Dropbox Competitors for Secure Storage

Does straightforward cloud storage really get any better than Dropbox?

It’s a service that’s intuitive, fast, and equipped with an excellent set of features built around usability, syncing, and sharing. Dropbox competitors seem to lag behind this giant in quite a few ways.

We really like Dropbox, but if you want the best security around, it’s time to look elsewhere. [ ... ]

ONE BACKUP

Popular ScienceJan 22, 2018

SpiderOak ONE offers super-secure online backup and seamless syncing

Cloud storage platforms often trade blows over space and cost. But security should also be a top priority when your personal data is at stake. SpiderOak ONE is considered one of the most secure backup solutions available, with end-to-end encryption on all your files. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

Inc. Oct 6, 2017

AOL Messenger's on the Chopping Block: 4 Steps to Take Now

Now's the time to choose another platform and switch your allegiance.

Are you one of the AOL Instant Messenger remaining fans? The company, part of Verizon's content acquisition strategy, announced today that the platform will disappear as of December 15. Come that day, you will no longer have access and your data will go poof. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Anonymster Apr 15, 2017

SpiderOak Review – Encrypted & Secure Cloud Backup Service

SpiderOak is an online full-feature backup product that can sync, access, store and share files in a secure way. It uses a No Knowledge security system to offer you the best security for your stored data, a feature that we shall explain in details later on in this SpiderOak Review.SpiderOak is based in the U.S, and the company is known for its emphasis on privacy. It differentiates itself from other file-sharing companies by their unique feature of archiving changes and syncing files across multiple devices. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

The Kansas City Star Mar 27, 2017

Guerrillas versus robots in online privacy wars

The battle at hand is less man against machine, more man against The Man.

At issue is how much of what’s revealed about you through your digital life is harvested by robots working for government investigators and corporate marketers.

Privacy types think they’ve been losing. They’ve fought in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill with uneven success, including a fresh loss last week. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Wired Feb 24, 2017

Famed Hacker Kevin Mitnick Shows You How to Go Invisible Online

If you’re like me, one of the first things you do in the morning is check your email. And, if you’re like me, you also wonder who else has read your email. That’s not a paranoid concern. If you use a web-based email service such as Gmail or Outlook 365, the answer is kind of obvious and frightening.

Even if you delete an email the moment you read it on your computer or mobile phone, that doesn’t necessarily erase the content. [ ... ]

Semaphor

Fast Company Feb 22, 2017

Reporters Love Chatrooms But Worry Security Is Slacking

Slack and other virtual newsrooms have some reporters concerned about privacy in an era of embattled journalism that relies on discretion.

Last year, then Gawker Media executive editor John Cook found himself in the unsavory position of explaining in front of a jury why he posted a picture of [ ... ]

SpiderOak

LifeHacker Feb 16, 2017

The Privacy Enthusiast's Guide to Using Android

With everyone from local scammers to government agencies trying to get hands on your data, there’s never been a better time to beef up your privacy game. Fortunately, there are a ton of options out there to keep your messages, files, and phone safe on Android.

Before we begin, we should point this out: using a smartphone is always going to be a risk. Especially one running services from Google. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

LifeHacker Feb 15, 2017

The Privacy Enthusiast's Guide to Using an iPhone

Your privacy is important, and now more than ever, it seems like everyone is trying to put eyes on your personal data. That might include advertisers, governments, or some weird voyeur in your life. The good news is you can do a few things to your iPhone to make it more secure and privacy friendly without ruining the experience.

First things first: this is an Apple device and it’s a smartphone, so you’ll never hide yourself completely, but you can do a few things to shore up holes [ ... ]

Semaphor

The Daily Dot Feb 8, 2017

How to encrypt all your data

Lock it down.

Whether you’re an activist living under an autocratic regime, or a law-abiding citizen in the world’s biggest democracy, you have many reasons to fear for the safety of your data. State-sponsored cybercriminals, fraudsters, three-letter agencies and data-hungry corporations will go to great lengths to lay their hands on your files and data and use them for their own ends.

If there’s one thing eavesdroppers and data thieves hate, it’s encryption. It keeps them away from your private and sensitive data [ ... ]

SpiderOak

The Guardian Feb 2, 2017

Do more, work less: the best time-saving apps for home workers

In 2017, more of us than ever work from home or remotely. The very concept of the office is changing beyond all recognition. Take a typical working day: I access my work from home, liaise with business partners 120 miles away, rarely meet my clients face-to-face, and store almost all of my business online.

All of this is thanks to new technologies and apps. But if you’re just starting out as a freelancer or small business, what tools do you need [ ... ]

One Backup

ProPublica Jan 26, 2017

How to Protect Your Digital Privacy in the Era of Public Shaming

Americans face unprecedented threats to the digital safety of their personal information. We offer nine tips to foil hackers, ransomware, online trackers, data brokers and other menaces.

We are living in an era of widespread hacking and public shaming. Don’t like your political rivals? Beg Russia to hack them, and their emails mysteriously show up on Wikileaks. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

PYMNTS.com Jan 23, 2017

Threats, Risk Coming At Businesses From All Sides

Dabbling in FinTech innovation, expanding internationally, integrating digital systems — businesses must make progress, but they’re facing unfamiliar threats as they make these moves. And we’re not just talking about cyberattacks. Businesses face mounting risk thanks to things like geopolitical uncertainties and regulation but are also threatened by something as seemingly arbitrary as group chat platforms. [ ... ]

Semaphor

Help Net Security Jan 20, 2017

Most employees use unsanctioned group chat tools

Employees are sharing sensitive company information using group chat tools that are not officially sanctioned for use, according to SpiderOak.

The survey consisted of 600 full-time workers ages 21 and older who live in the United States. Company sizes ranged from 50 employees or fewer to 500 employees or more [ ... ]

SpiderOak

The Kansas City Star Jan 13, 2017

The top Kansas City startups to watch in 2017

Kansas City’s burgeoning reputation as a hub for entrepreneurs isn’t just a result of loud cheerleading.

And that’s in large part because there is already an array of upstart young firms initiating innovation and driving disruption not only in their industries, but in society as a whole. To explore some of those companies, Startland News refreshed its annual list of top startups to watch in 2017. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Security Today Jan 11, 2017

2017: The Year Encryption Goes Wild

Wow, another year goes by with even more monumental data breaches. Believe what you want about the election, the DNC hacks, the latest Yahoo breach revelation and the numerous other data thefts put even more business decision-makers in fear for their own company’s technology security. Leadership’s historical response to breaches has continued to be higher walls and wider moats. Maybe it’s time for a different (and maybe more affordably efficient) approach. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

IS Buzz News Jan 10, 2017

Think Your Online Content Is Yours? Think Again. They Can Read Your Passwords, Travel Plans, Ideas And Everything Else.

Last week, the Internet caught fire when Evernote changed their Terms of Service privacy policy to explicitly allow them to read user content. After a very vocal and rightfully negative response, Evernote recanted their position and will only read user content if users opt-in to a new service they are creating for the platform.

In reality, they’ve always been able to read a user’s content. In fact, just about every service on the Internet can do that. Always could, and always will. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

The Daily Dot Dec 25, 2016

2 Slack replacements that can keep your group messages private

You don’t want to have all your work messages made public, right?

With their expanding integration and customization capabilities, collaboration-messaging apps such as Slack and HipChat have carved themselves a nice niche as indispensable management tools, especially in media and tech companies. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

Reveal News Dec 8, 2016

How to stay safe online: A cybersecurity guide for political activists

Teresa Shook awoke Nov. 9 to a new reality. The previous night, Republican Donald Trump had staged the biggest political upset of the young century.

Defying the collective wisdom of pollsters and pundits, the former reality TV star had defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Network World Dec 6, 2016

Common security mistakes in collaboration tools

Collaboration tools have become all the rage, but has your IT department closed all security gaps.

Working Together:

Collaboration tools have become widely used across organizations today, as people come to rely on these handy tools to work more efficiently. They reduce reliance on email, increase conversation between teams and provide an easy way to share information with colleagues. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Network World Nov 17, 2016

Down the rabbit hole, part 6: Secure and private online file storage

Using a large, cloud storage service is handy, but you give up control and possibly security. Here are four options you can use instead.

Securing (and ensuring the privacy of) your digital life is, let’s just say, a bit of a challenge.

In the previous five articles in this series, I’ve talked about the need for a secure base platform, usage of Tor, email and instant messaging. And we’ve barely scratched the surface. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

The Intercept Nov 12, 2016

Surveillance Self-Defense Against the Trump Administration

On Tuesday, Americans handed the U.S. presidency to a racist, xenophobic, authoritarian, climate science-denying, misogynistic, revenge-obsessed ego-maniac — and with it control over a vast and all-too-unaccountable intelligence apparatus; and in a speech less than three weeks ago, Trump promised to sue all of the women who have come forward with sexual assault accusations against him. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Tech Crunch Nov 11, 2016

Tech tips to help stay safe in Trump's America

Tech is as much a liability as it is an opportunity, as this election demonstrated. The next few years will be scary for many reasons, and to some more than others, and part of that will be the continued and likely expanded exploitation of the technologies and services we’ve come to rely on. Communities likely to be targeted by Trump policies may want to take a few steps online to help ensure their safety and privacy. [ ... ]

One Backup

CIO Nov 10, 2016

How to pick the right cloud storage service

Many cloud storage options are available to businesses and consumers today, but one size does not fit all. This cloud storage guide includes tips to help you get started.

Cloud storage is an indispensable tool in today's hyper-connected world. But unlike the early days of cloud storage, when vendors regularly rolled out new capabilities and routinely bumped up storage limits, the market has matured in terms of capabilities and storage norms. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Kansas City Business Journal Oct 19, 2016

KCRise Fund makes its first VC investments

The KCRise Fund has directed its first investments to in two Kansas City-area companies — SpiderOak and Innara Health.

SpiderOak is an online data security company based in Mission with several products on the market. CEO Alan Fairless founded the company in 2006.

“We are very excited to be working with KCRise Fund to bring secure messaging to enterprise customers through our latest product Semaphor,” Fairless said in a release. “I’m glad Kansas City is home and a great place to grow a technology business.” [ ... ]

Semaphor

Business Wire Oct 17, 2016

Semaphor, the Most Private Collaboration Tool, Now Available for Enterprise

SpiderOak adds Active Directory to its Zero Knowledge messaging and collaboration tool to simplify enterprise on-boarding.

SpiderOak, maker of the world’s most trusted online backup solutions, today announced the availability of Active Directory (LDAP) integration with Semaphor. Built for teams and business who care about security and privacy, Semaphor is a real-time messaging and collaboration tool that offers Zero Knowledge protection for individuals and organizations. Thousands of teams have already started using Semaphor since its release this summer. [ ... ]

Semaphor

CSO Oct 4, 2016

Security for your collaborative software

Collaborative apps like Slack and Convo are like a sieve, but no one quite knows what to do about it.

There’s a gaping hole in your security infrastructure right now. The front door is open, the side window is ajar, and there’s an open safe with a neon sign saying “steal my data” in flashing lights. While you might have locked down the network used for this software, instituted strict usage policies, and insist on having users stick to complex passwords, the data is leaking. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

The Daily Dot Sept 14, 2016

This cybersecurity company wants to build a better Slack

‘How do we build a tool that lets me have the same experience I would have if I were in a room in person?’

It took about eight months for Slack to grow from nothing into a billion dollar company. But is the rise of group-chat apps putting organizations at risk? [ ... ]

SpiderOak

FossMint Sept 2016

SpiderOak – A Secure Cloud-Storage That is all About Privacy

In our day and age, local storage options are gradually becoming a thing of the past and there’s been an ever-growing presence of cloud backup companies offering varying backup services.

The one huge caveat, however, is the fact that most of these cloud-related backup options are not the greatest in terms of maintaining their promise of privacy. [ ... ]

Semaphor

The Office of the Mayor Sly James Aug 30, 2016

Mayor Sly James Announces Seven Partners for Innovation Partnership Program

Kansas City, MO – Mayor Sly James today announced seven partners for the 2016 Innovation Partnership Program.

The program, in its second year, provides a unique opportunity for startups to develop a use case and allows City Hall to explore, at no cost, how new technologies may improve City services in unique, forward-thinking ways.

“This partnership is a unique approach to the procurement process,” said Mayor James. “Historically, cities identify areas that need improvement and issue request for proposals to address them. This program allows companies and City Hall to identify challenges and innovative solutions together.” [ ... ]

Semaphor

Hak5 Aug 24, 2016

Hak5 2026 – DEF CON 24: Warwalking at DEF CON, Semaphor, Mousejack and Keysniffer

SpiderOak

PC Mag Aug 5, 2016

6 Ways to Deploy Encryption Across Your Organization Fast

Don't leave the front door wide open for intruders. Deploy encryption as soon as possible.

If you're worried about company data falling into the wrong hands, then it's time for you to consider encryption. You've probably heard the term bandied about but you weren't really sure what it meant or how you could use it to benefit your organization. In literal terms, encryption is the transformation of data from plain text to ciphertext. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

TechDirt Aug 3, 2016

The Rise of More Secure Alternatives to Everyone's Favorite Chat App, Slack

Like a ton of people and companies, we've been using Slack here. While we saw some folks claim it was revolutionary, we found it to be a nice, but somewhat marginal, upgrade to our previous use of Skype chat rooms. But, over time, it has certainly gotten comfortable, and there have been some nice feature add-ons and integrations that have made it a pretty cool service overall -- though if you really want to use it to its fullest extent and switch to the paid version, it can get pretty pricey, pretty quickly. I also am in a bunch of other group Slack chats, as it's basically become the platform of choice for group discussions. [ ... ]

Semaphor

Motherboard June 30, 2016

SpiderOak Now Has a Group Chat App

The cloud service is now taking on the likes of Slack.

Group chats are such an integral part of many organizations that sharing sensitive information is par for the course, but it's fair to say that the majority of users would prefer it if whatever was discussed in Slack stayed in Slack— forever. And it's not just mild embarrassment at stake. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

MIT Technology Review Jun 7, 2016

Customer Headaches Could Curtail Apple’s Encryption Push

Apple’s Tim Cook says he doesn’t want his company to be able to read customer data—but he probably can’t make that happen.

At an event held during Apple’s fight with the FBI over whether it should help unlock a dead terrorist’s iPhone, CEO Tim Cook promised “We will not shrink” from the responsibility of protecting customer data —including from government overreach.

Yet the obvious next step for the company could be hard to take without inconveniencing customers.

Apple is currently able to read the contents of data stored in its iCloud backup service, something at odds with Cook’s claims that he doesn’t want his company to be capable of accessing customer data such as mobile messages. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

PC Mag May 9, 2016

Cloud Regulations: What You Need to Know to Be Safe

Putting your data in the cloud can have several legal ramifications. Read this to make sure your bases are covered.

As cloud adoption becomes ubiquitous, it's more important than ever for businesses to understand the regulations and civil liabilities associated with storing data and applications in the cloud. More than 93 percent of businesses use the cloud in some fashion, according to survey results from Right Scale, a cloud management company. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

Above the Law Apr 2, 2016

7 Cybersecurity Tips For Lawyers

This past week, the world learned about the big hack of Biglaw. If your employer was one of the almost 50 firms prestigious enough to be targeted by Russian hackers… congrats?

The targeted firms tended to be transactionally oriented; the apparent plan of the hackers was to obtain confidential, market-moving information and trade on it. But litigators should be concerned as well. As noted by Logikcull, the discovery automation platform, ediscovery is the next frontier for hackers. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

The Christian Science Monitor Mar 23, 2016

Lessons on digital security and privacy from SXSW

When President Obama took the stage on the opening day of the South By Southwest Interactive festival, he sought to sell the throngs of entrepreneurs and coders on public service.

But the most-requested audience question for the commander-in-chief at this massive festival for creative types was about something else entirely: The debate over encryption and the balance between national security and consumers’ privacy.[ ... ]

SpiderOak

Motherboard Feb 29, 2016

Here Are the Biggest Problems with Nextbit's Robin Smartphone

How a company whose phone automatically backs up customer data handles its security.

Nextbit Robin is supposed to make running out of storage a thing of the past. The device's marquee feature is its ability to automatically send unused apps and photos to the cloud, freeing up space on its built-in storage for the content its owner uses the most often. It's an interesting gimmick -- and it debuted right as the dispute between Apple and the FBI led many Americans to care more about how their private information is secured by the companies they trust most. [ ... ]

Semaphor

Neowin Feb 10, 2016

SpiderOak brings privacy to team collaboration projects

SpiderOak - a company which emphasises its 'Zero Knowledge' policy - is planning to bring privacy to people working on collaboration projects. Its new project, called Semaphor, is currently in an invite-only phase, but should be available to all in Q1 2016.

Semaphor - like other SpiderOak services - uses a Zero Knowledge architecture. In plain English this just means that data is encrypted before it leaves your computer or mobile device before being sent to the cloud. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

Dark Reading Feb 1, 2016

SpiderOak Semaphor to Give Team Collaboration What It’s Missing: Privacy

In celebration of Data Privacy Day, SpiderOak today announced Semaphor, a new workplace collaboration tool for teams and businesses that care about privacy. General availability for Semaphor is later in the first quarter, and SpiderOak is accepting a limited number of pre-release invitation requests at https://spideroak.com/semaphor.

Semaphor helps teams improve their productivity by keeping members focused, informed, and connected. Teams can join group conversations, private message team members, share files, and install trusted third-party integrations knowing their privacy is protected at every step. [ ... ]

SEMAPHOR

Inc. Jan 28, 2016

A Secure Slack Alternative

SpiderOak is back with a new solution similar to Slack.

Slack, Hipchat and other collaboration tools are the cool kids these days. And while they do a lot well, almost flawlessly, there's something missing that can cost you your business. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

CIO Jan 28, 2016

3 misconceptions small business have about the cloud

CIO.com’s Paul Mah debunks three of the biggest myths about cloud adoption at small-and-midsize-businesses.

Starting a small business, or trying to grow it is a daunting affair. Thankfully, cloud services have sprung up to help business owners better leverage technology. [ ... ]

SpiderOak

PC World Jan 12, 2016

Why you need a cloud backup service, and how to use one

Cloud backup is the easiest way to get the security of off-site backup for your important files. Here's how to choose and use one of these services.

Cloud backup is exactly what it sounds like. Your data is stored in an online repository, where it’s accessible to you when you need it. It works like this: You download a desktop client to your PC, select the folders you want to back up, and that data uploads to the service on a set schedule. Then if catastrophe strikes [ ... ]