Anyone know just how much of a security risk installing Dropbox is?

I’m not planning on using it to store sensitive info, so not worried about that side of things.

What I’m concerned about is that it may somehow give access to other things that are on my PC.

Any IT bods know the score?

There have been some concerns recently (Google for them). I have no idea what they are though as I didn’t read any of the articles.

have a look on The Register, seems as secure as anything else these days (i.e. if someone wants in they can always hack anything).

its absolutely fine, as long as you don’t mind anyone else on dropbox or on the internet accessing your files held in dropbox……..

Right, so they always used to say they did not have access to the keys that data was encrypted with, but then admitted that they could access the data if they had to (i.e. they had the keys). Then they accidentally left the whole setup open after a botched software upgrade, allowing anyone to access any other user’s account and files.

So, not exactly good.

Smart money says encrypt files yourself before putting on the service, but this does limit you if you want to access a truecrypt volume through your iPhone.

Spideroak is [apparently] better, but I haven’t really used it in anger.

After looking at all the alternatives, I went with SugarSync rather than DropBox. Here’s my Referral Link if you want to take a look.

As with all these services, I wouldn’t use them to store sensitive data, but doubt that having the client installed is any more of a security risk than, say, TweetDeck or MSN Messenger.

As far as I know it’s as secure as anything. They split up your files and store them in various areas, which, in theory, means that if one area is compromised only a part of you info can be stolen. Clealy, if it’s possible to set up a level of security, it’s equally possible to breach it.
Simply being connected to the internet or talking by mobile phone is a risk.
A serious tech head friend at samsung put me on to them, if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.

read this, and decide for yourself:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/05/15/2157202/Dropbox-Accused-of-Lying-About-Security

As secure as anything else really. More chance of having your house broken into and your PC nicked than having someone hack your dropbox. You do have Truecrypt, right?

I’m still using it, mostly from being too hooked on the functionality, and having had it save my bacon a few times, rather than a concious choice over alternatives. It’s the de-facto filesystem for iOS devices too.

I used Novell iFolder for most of the last decade, but my current employer withdrew the service about a year ago so I moved to dropbox.

Sugarsync looks interesting though, will have a look.