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Developers have launched a sync-and-share service aimed at small businesses that adds an extra layer of encryption absent from popular services such as Dropbox and Box.

InfraScale says its Filelocker software protects data by encrypting it locally, in-transit and again in the cloud. Files are encrypted with a user's personal passphrase before leaving a device, transferred over a standard 256-bit SSL connection, encrypted again for peace of mind server-side, and then stored in the FileLocker cloud. InfraScale said it doesn't have access to the clear text of users' data.

FileLocker is free for five people and up to 25GBs of cloud storage (5GB per person), and supports desktop sync and mobile access albeit with a couple of limitations.

"The HTML5 mobile app will work for free and it lets you search, get your content on the go, download it, preview it and share it. But free users won't get the native mobile apps," explained Ken Shaw, chief exec of InfraScale told El Reg.

The company also offers a paid-for version of the service targeted at companies that want to run Filelocker on their own internal servers. Both versions of the technology launched on Tuesday.

That morning also marked the launch of another similar but more consumer-focused service. Scrambls for Files allows users to encrypt all types of files and folders before they are sent to cloud services such as Dropbox. The free technology is an extension of previous Scrambls services from Wave Systems Corp that allow users to control and encrypt social networking messages*.

Many sync'n'share startups are marketing file-sharing services that claim to be more secure or enterprise-friendly than Dropbox and Box. Other players in the online storage arena include TeamDrive, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, SugarSync, Accellion and many others.

End-to-end encryption is standard issue for enterprise apps, we're told. Business-grade file-sharing services also offer collaboration tools to securely synchronise of data across tablets, smartphones and desktops.

"While it is true that some consumer-grade solutions lack these basic security features, for business solutions they are table stakes," Paula Skokowski, chief marketing officer of Accellion, told El Reg. The company launched Kitepoint on Tuesday, which offers companies a unified view of content pulled from Sharepoint, enterprise content management systems, Windows file servers, and other stores throughout an organisation. The software is part of Accellion's Mobile File Sharing cloud-based platform. ®

Bootnote

*Scrambls users are able to choose exactly who can see and read any scrambled files by forming groups (based upon email address and Facebook contacts and groups, etc.) Anyone outside the group will see only obfuscated text.

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