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Cryptee
Type of site
Available inEnglish
OwnerJohn Ozbay
URLcrypt.ee
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired
Launched2017; 7 years ago (2017)
Current statusActive
Content license
Open Source

Cryptee is a privacy focused client-side encrypted and cross-platform productivity suite and data storage service. Users can write personal documents, notes, journals, store images, videos, and various kinds of other files.[1][2][3][4] The company's commercial strategy is focused on offering to its users an open source and transparent Photo Storage, Document Editor and Cloud Storage services without trackers or advertisements [4] as it seeks to compete with Google Docs,[5] Google Photos[1] and similar services through its offerings. Cryptee, based out of Tallinn, Estonia, Europe, utilizes zero-access storage to safe-keep all users' sensitive digital belongings.[6][7]

History

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Cryptee was founded in 2017, by John Ozbay, a cybersecurity researcher, commenter, and activist,[8][9][10][11] to exclusively focus on providing a secure document editing service similar to Google Docs and Photos for everyone, with a particular focus on victims and survivors of domestic abuse, journalists and reporters.[2][4]

Software

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The source code of Cryptee is open source and publicly available to allow anyone to audit the service with ease, and help identify errors or potential vulnerabilities in a public and transparent manner.[12][1][3]

Cryptee has a few key features that differentiate it from other services in the industry, such as its Ghost Folders and Ghost Albums features, built specifically with victims and survivors of domestic abuse, journalists and reporters in mind, which allows users to hide (ghost) folders for plausible deniability also as known as deniable encryption in the field of cryptography and steganography, and ensure privacy even under coercion.[2][7][6][13][14]

Features

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Cryptee Docs' features include:[2]

Cryptee Photos' features include:[1][7]

  • Ability to create slideshows.[7]
  • Ability to store original quality of photos.[7]
  • Ability to tag photos for organization.[17]

Advocacy

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Lockdown mode

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In July 2022, to fortify iPhones against the Pegasus Spyware, Apple announced a new, upcoming Lockdown Mode feature in iOS 16, welcomed by many experts. [18]

In the following weeks after Apple's announcement, in August 2022, the Founder and CEO of Cryptee, and privacy activist John Ozbay published their research highlighting an important shortcoming of Apple's Lockdown Mode, along with a proof of concept website to demonstrate that enabling Lockdown Mode makes it possible for all websites and online ads to be able to detect if users have Lockdown Mode enabled or not. Commenting further in a call, Ozbay said: “Let's say you're in China, and you're using Lockdown Mode. Now, any website that you visit could effectively detect you are using Lockdown Mode, they have your IP address as well. So they will be able to identify that the user with this IP address is using Lockdown Mode”. It is also reported that Ozbay reached out to an Apple employee on Twitter and had a conversation with him about the issues he found. The employee, according to screenshots of their chat, told him that “web fonts are disabled intentionally to remove font parsing from the available web attack surface,” and that “watering hole attacks are part of our threat model, so I'm not sure it would make sense to have web font exceptions per site”. The article further concluded that there's nothing Apple can do right now to mitigate this issue without fundamentally changing how Lockdown Mode works and that Apple did not respond to a request for comment.[8][19][20][21][22]

Apple, the EU Digital Markets Act and Web Apps

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In February 2024, Apple announced plans to kill progressive web apps on iOS devices in the EU, claiming it was to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).[23][24] The announcement was criticized as anti-competitive by many in the tech industry, including by Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games.[25][26]

In response, Cryptee started working together with Open Web Advocacy (OWA), an international not-for-profit digital rights group to advocate for the future of the open web, promote web browser choice on mobile operating systems through challenging Apple's anti-competitive third party browser engine ban, and to champion the use and equality of progressive web apps over native apps, by reaching out to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) team.[7][27]

To better understand the consequences of Apple's decision to kill web apps, the EU announced that they "seek to investigate Apple over cutting off web apps", and that they sent "requests for information to Apple and to app developers, who can provide useful information for our assessment".[28] Apart from sending a response to the EU, Cryptee, along with the OWA, launched an open letter to Tim Cook, which in 48 hours, got thousands of signatories including : European Parliament Members (MEPs) (Karen Melchior & Patrick Breyer); and thousands of other developers and organizations from over 100 countries.[29][30] Consequently, 24 hours later, Apple backed off, and reversed course on its plan to cut off progressive web apps in the EU.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37]

Following the events, eventually on March 18, 2024, Founder and CEO of Cryptee John Ozbay represented the Open Web Advocacy (OWA) group in European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) hearing for Apple. At the hearing, OWA confronted Apple, accused Apple of "maliciously intending to undermine user choice", and stated that there was no defense for Apple's behavior. In response, -according to the tech news outlet Ars Technica-, Apple's spokesperson "seemed to dodge Ozbay's question".[11][10][38][39]

Within a week of the hearing, the European Union announced a DMA non-compliance investigation against Apple,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][11] and United States' Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.[49][50][51][52][53][54][55]

A few months later, on June 27, 2024, Cryptee, in cooperation with EDRi — an international advocacy group, along with Article 19 — a British international human rights organization, Privacy International, F-Droid, Free Software Foundation Europe, Guardian Project (software) and others have submitted a comprehensive analysis to the European Commission about how Apple's plans to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) are insufficient.[56][57][58]

Reviews

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In a 2018 article, Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch reviewed Cryptee, articulating the fact that Cryptee offers zero-access storage for photos, files, documents and notes, and pointed out that: "Being based in Estonia puts Cryptee outside the “14 eyes jurisdiction,” an international surveillance alliance of European Union and North American countries, making it less likely it will be targeted with demands for data". In addition, the review highlighted Cryptee's Ghost Folders feature which ensures privacy even under coercion.[2] In a 2019 article, Reclaim The Net named Cryptee as one of the "5 great privacy-focused Evernote alternatives to keep your notes safe", underlining that: "When it comes to security, this app is state of the art." and that "When making this app, the developers thought about every aspect of security and have taken every precaution to make it as secure as possible.". The review further underscored Cryptee's open-source nature, its strong encryption, and easy migration features.[3]

In a 2021 article, The Verge reviewed Cryptee, pointing out that Cryptee, -based out of Europe- is one of the main photo storage service alternatives to Google Photos, and that it's their recommendation for users who are "concerned about privacy and like the idea of encryption" as Cryptee "offers to keep all your photos encrypted using AES-256".[1] In a 2024 article, Beebom, enlisted Cryptee as one of the "7 best iCloud Photos Alternatives for iPhone and iPad", making complements to Cryptee's simplicity, its use of encryption to safeguard users' photos against hacking by not storing any unencrypted data, and bringing further attention to Cryptee's additional features such as such as Ghost Albums, slideshows, easy-to-use drag and drop uploads, tagging and users' ability to store original-quality photos on Cryptee, concluding that Cryptee is "a safe bet if you are on the lookout for a privacy-centric iCloud Photos alternative".[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Krasnoff, Barbara (June 1, 2021). "How to choose an alternative to Google Photos — if you want one". The Verge. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Paul, Kari (November 7, 2018). "How I keep Google's eyes off of my diary". Wall Street Journal MarketWatch. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Omar, Selimovic (March 3, 2019). "5 great privacy-focused Evernote alternatives". Reclaim The Net. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Cryptee - About - Encrypted Secure Photo Storage & Encrypted Documents Editor". crypt.ee. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Orr, Andrew (June 22, 2018). "New Service Cryptee Gives You a Private Google Docs". Mac Observer. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Cryptee - Security - Encrypted Secure Photo Storage & Encrypted Documents Editor". crypt.ee. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Mishra, Rajesh (March 30, 2024). "7 Best iCloud Photos Alternatives for iPhone and iPad". Beebom. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (August 25, 2022). "Websites Can Identify If You're Using iPhone's New 'Lockdown' Mode". VICE Motherboard. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  9. ^ "Major Bitcoin Scam Targets Celebrities Including Kanye West And Elon Musk". GQ Australia. July 16, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  10. ^ a b Moussie, Stéphane (March 19, 2024). "Entre fermeté et ouverture, comment Apple a défendu son plan 1.0 de conformité au DMA". iGeneration (in French). Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c Belanger, Ashley (April 10, 2024). "Report: People are bailing on Safari after DMA makes changing defaults easier". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "Github - cryptee/web-client". github.com. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
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  16. ^ Orr, Andrew (March 8, 2021). "Cryptee Adds DOCX Support for File Editing". Mac Observer. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  17. ^ Orr, Andrew (April 27, 2021). "Cryptee Photos Adds Tagging for Better Organization". Mac Observer. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  18. ^ Milmo, Dan (July 6, 2022). "Apple to Launch 'lockdown mode' to protect against Pegasus-style hacks". The Guardian. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  19. ^ Peterson, Mike (August 25, 2022). "Apple's secure Lockdown Mode may reduce web browsing anonymity". The Mac Observer. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  20. ^ Zafra, Arnold (August 26, 2022). "Apple's Upcoming Lockdown Mode Feature May Also Pose Privacy Risk for iPhone Users". The Mac Observer. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  21. ^ Lovejoy, Ben (August 26, 2022). "iPhone Lockdown Mode can be easily detected, could make you a target". The Mac Observer. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  22. ^ Kulesh, Sourabh (August 26, 2022). "iPhone Lockdown Mode: Proof of Concept Website Can Detect if It is Enabled on Your Phone". Gadgets360. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  23. ^ Perez, Sarah (February 15, 2024). "Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  24. ^ Roth, Emma (February 15, 2024). "Yep, Apple's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU". The Verge. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  25. ^ Perez, Sarah (February 16, 2024). "Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  26. ^ Claburn, Thomas (February 8, 2024). "In its tantrum with Europe, Apple broke web apps in iOS 17 beta, still hasn't fixed them". The Register. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  27. ^ "Apple backs off killing web apps, but the fight continues". Open Web Advocacy Blog. March 1, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  28. ^ Espinoza, Javier (February 26, 2024). "EU seeks to investigate Apple over cutting off web apps". Financial Times. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  29. ^ "Cryptee, Open Web Advocacy & EU vs Apple: Part 2". Cryptee Blog. February 22, 2024. Retrieved April 6, 2024.
  30. ^ "Open Letter to Tim Cook, Sabotaging Web Apps Is Indefensible". Open Web Advocacy. February 26, 2024. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  31. ^ Acton, Michael (March 1, 2024). "Apple reverses course on plan to cut off 'progressive web apps' in EU". Financial Times. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  32. ^ "Apple reverses decision to disable home screen web apps in EU". Reuters. March 1, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  33. ^ Phelan, David (March 1, 2024). "iOS 17.4: Apple Confirms Surprise U-Turn For Next iPhone Update". Forbes. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  34. ^ Purdy, Kevin (March 1, 2024). "Apple changes course, will keep iPhone EU web apps how they are in iOS 17.4". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  35. ^ Roth, Emma (March 1, 2024). "Now Apple says it won't disable iPhone web apps in the EU". The Verge. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  36. ^ Metha, Ivan (March 1, 2024). "Apple reverses decision about blocking web apps on iPhones in the EU". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  37. ^ Claburn, Thomas (March 2, 2024). "EU-turn! Now Apple says it won't banish Home Screen web apps in Europe". The Register. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  38. ^ "Compliance with the DMA: Apple". European Commission Streaming Service. March 18, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  39. ^ "OWA v Apple: EC DMA Q&A 1 - Safari gets exclusive rights to default hot-seat incl via choice screen?". Youtube : Open Web Advocacy. March 27, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  40. ^ "Commission opens non-compliance investigations against Alphabet, Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act". European Union. March 25, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  41. ^ Satariano, Adam (March 25, 2024). "E.U. Takes Aim at Alphabet, Apple and Meta in Wide-Ranging Investigations". New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  42. ^ Armangau, Romane (March 25, 2024). "Apple, Facebook, Google investigated under Brussels' Digital Markets Act". Euronews. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  43. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (March 25, 2024). "EU launches probe into Meta, Apple and Alphabet under sweeping new tech law". CNBC. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  44. ^ Mackrael, Kim (March 25, 2024). "Apple, Meta, Google Probed by EU Under New Digital-Competition Law". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  45. ^ Gerken, Tom (March 25, 2024). "Apple, Meta and Google to be investigated by the EU". BBC. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  46. ^ Porter, Jon (March 25, 2024). "Apple, Meta, and Google targeted by EU in DMA non-compliance investigations". The Verge. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  47. ^ "EU opens DMA investigations of Apple, Meta, Google". Open Web Advocacy Blog. March 25, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  48. ^ Ozbay, John (March 28, 2024). "After hearing concerns from Cryptee, Open Web Advocacy, and others, EU opens a DMA investigation into Apple". Cryptee Blog. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  49. ^ "Justice Department Sues Apple for Monopolizing Smartphone Markets". U.S. Department of Justice. March 21, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  50. ^ Fung, Brian (March 21, 2024). "Apple sued in a landmark iPhone monopoly lawsuit". CNN. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  51. ^ Rajesh, Ananya Mariam (March 21, 2024). "US DOJ to sue Apple for antitrust violations, Bloomberg News reports". Reuters. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  52. ^ McCabe, David (March 21, 2024). "U.S. Sues Apple, Accusing It of Maintaining an iPhone Monopoly". New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  53. ^ Liedtke, Michael (March 21, 2024). "Justice Department sues Apple, alleging it illegally monopolized the smartphone market". AP News. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  54. ^ Debusmann, Bernd (March 22, 2024). "Apple lawsuit: US accuses tech giant of monopolising smartphone market". BBC. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  55. ^ Acton, Michael (March 22, 2024). "'Apple is going to war': US lawsuit adds to iPhone maker's antitrust woes". Financial Times. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  56. ^ "Apple must comply with the DMA, urges civil society call to European Commission". EDRi Blog. July 2, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  57. ^ "Apple must comply with the DMA, urges civil society call to European Commission". Cryptee Blog. June 27, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  58. ^ "Defending DMA against Apple: The FSFE signs joint position paper". FSFE News. June 27, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
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