How to Safeguard your Data in the Cloud from Greedy, Nosy Corporations

I'm always looking for ways to up my personal Internet security. I use ad-blockers like AdAway on Android, UBlock and Privacy Badger on Firefox. A cheap, log-free VPN service will protect browsing data from your Internet service provider's prying eyes. I am currently very happily using a Nordic-based VPN called Mullvad that doesn't require any personally identifiable information.

These solutions are all well and good, but they do nothing to protect you when your using cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. Even if you take the extra leap to setup your own dropbox in your home, Hillary Clinton-style, your data will still be vulnerable to outside intruders. The best way to protect your data while it sits in the cloud is the free and open source (FOSS) cryptographic program Cryptomator, available for Mac, Linux, Windows, Android and Apple.

Cryptomator is a completely free and easy to use encryption service that will encrypt all of your data before you upload it to the cloud. So no matter how much Google or Microsoft want to take a creepy look at your pictures, scan them for faces, products or use them for any other marketing purposes, they simply cannot. When the Google robots scan your data they will only be able to see an opaque encrypted mass of data.

The best part about all of this, you will not notice any difference in working with your files! Cryptomater uses a technique called transparent encryption, which generates an encrypted vault in your cloud folder and creates a virtual hard drive through which you decrypt and access your files.

Someone should tell Jennifer Lawrence about this! (I don't have enough clout yet!)