, file encryption has become a necessary 

 measure. If you want to protect your data from malicious parties, you need a service offering cutting-edge security protocols.

Most cloud solutions promise outstanding protection, but only a handful deliver it

. Big Tech providers typically oversell their encryption standards, making users believe they have more privacy than they actually do.

To help you safeguard your files, this guide will explain different encryption types and show you which one offers the most protection. You’ll also see some of 

With end-to-end encrypted cloud storage, Skiff offers ultimate data security and control

Experience unrivaled privacy with Skiff Drive

Not all cloud storage encryption standards are equal

Most cloud providers offer two encryption types:

—protects your files and data while they’re idle on the cloud

—shields your data while it’s traveling between endpoints

At first glance, a cloud provider offering both types seems to cover all ground. If your files are 

 while sitting on the servers and traveling between them, it’s normal to assume there are no vulnerabilities an attacker could exploit.

This is the logic most providers use to market their solutions as completely safe. In reality, 

there are two major issues with this level of protection

Data in transit is typically encrypted using the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol. This encryption standard is outdated and 

it doesn’t offer enough security for shared data

encrypted on the provider’s server using their key

. Whoever owns the key has unrestricted access to plaintext data, so you get no privacy from the provider. 

They can access unencrypted copies of your files

 is a server breach. If an attacker penetrates the server’s defenses, they can steal encryption keys and gain access to all your data.

This is why you shouldn’t consider every cloud provider promising to keep your files encrypted. You must assess their measures and go with a service offering 

the only secure standard—end-to-end encryption

The importance of using end-to-end encrypted cloud services

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) protects files before they leave your device. Here’s how it works:

The encryption key is created by the user and stored locally

Files are encrypted before being uploaded

Your data reaches the cloud server and is stored on it in the encrypted form

This mechanism offers numerous benefits you don’t get with standard encryption. As your device creates and stores the encryption key, 

the cloud provider can’t see your files in plaintext

—only the encrypted data. You get complete privacy and confidentiality.

If a malicious party breaches the server, they’ll also see ciphertext instead of the original data. The decryption key remains safely stored on the user’s device, so as long as they keep it secure, 

The above benefits make it clear that end-to-end encryption is the best way to stay safe in a cloud environment, so narrow your search to the providers supporting it.

Skiff Drive is E2E-encrypted storage and a part of Skiff's security-first productivity suite

Choose a storage you can trust

Best cloud storage with encryption—top three providers reviewed

Several privacy-first cloud providers support end-to-end encryption, giving you peace of mind when storing files on their drive:

Offering E2EE doesn’t make these options equally effective

, as you’ll see in the below breakdowns of each.

Proton Drive is a secure cloud solution protected by stringent Swiss privacy laws. It offers various privacy and security measures, but the storage size is slightly disappointing compared to the competition.

Proton Drive offers a free plan and two paid tiers:

—$4.99 per month ($3.99 per month billed annually)

—$11.99 per month ($9.99 per month billed annually)

Proton is best known for its secure email service, Proton Mail. After the platform’s success, the provider launched a popular VPN service alongside a cloud solution. All of its platforms are protected with end-to-end encryption, so you get excellent privacy compared to a typical Big Tech solution.

Proton Drive supports all file types and extends their protection to sharing links

. It features a clean user interface, so navigation is smooth and intuitive.

Despite these benefits, Proton might not be the best choice for several reasons. It uses PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) for end-to-end encryption, 

. It has been tied to significant vulnerabilities, so several providers have already moved away from it.

You only get up to 1 GB of free storage, with 500 MB available out of the box

. You can get the rest by completing simple actions like uploading files, which feels unnecessarily complicated for such low storage.

Even the Proton Unlimited tier doesn’t live up to its name, as it caps at 500 GB

. You do get access to premium versions of Proton VPN, Calendar, and Mail, but this might not make up for the limited storage.

NordLocker is a solid solution if you’ll use a cloud service for archives and backups. It’s not as feature-rich as most competitors, but it still offers enough security to be worth considering if privacy is your main concern.

NordLocker offers a free plan and various paid tiers for individual and 

—$8.48 per month ($3.17 per month billed annually)

—$21.22 per month ($7.42 per month billed annually)

—$12.99/user per month ($8.99 per month billed annually)

—$18.99/user per month ($14.99 per month billed annually)

—Pricing tailored to chosen storage and features

NordLocker uses zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption, giving users high levels of security and privacy. With servers in various locations, it lets users choose where their data will be stored.

The platform has a unique selling point—besides providing encrypted cloud storage, 

it lets users encrypt files in their local storage

. If someone uses your computer, they can see the encrypted folder but can’t access it or see any details on the files inside.

compliant with several important regulations, including HIPAA and GDPR

. It’s great for storing sensitive data and ensuring there’s no misuse of personal information.

If you need a cloud solution to collaborate on projects, NordLocker won’t be your top choice. 

It doesn’t feature any editing, collaboration, or even file-sharing features

, and you can see why this option isn’t ideal for work, especially in a remote setting.

Although it’s more generous than Proton storage-wise, NordLocker is still slightly limited. 

 and 500 GB/2 TB with paid personal and business tiers. Considering the relatively high price, the value for money isn’t great unless you commit to an annual subscription.

 is an end-to-end encrypted cloud solution using advanced cryptography to ensure complete privacy of stored files. It’s suitable for 

 and business use thanks to a generous free plan and various features ensuring streamlined collaboration.

—$4 per month ($3 per month billed annually)

—$10 per month ($8 per month billed annually)

—$15/user per month ($12 per month billed annually)

Skiff Drive prioritizes user privacy and confidentiality. You can 

 without leaving any PII (Personally Identifiable Information), and Skiff won’t store your login credentials.

Thanks to the cutting-edge end-to-end encryption protocols, 

you get full ownership of your files and encryption keys

. Skiff’s team doesn’t have access to the keys or unencrypted files, so only you decide who can see their contents. Shared links are also end-to-end encrypted, which prevents misuse of your files even if they get intercepted.

Unlike most privacy-first solutions, Skiff Drive is fully transparent about the codebase. 

, so all security measures can be verified. You can visit Skiff’s 

The free plan comes with everything you need to 

Optional IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) integration

Thanks to the platform’s compatibility with 

, iOS, macOS, and browsers, you can access your files easily wherever you are.

Skiff integrates with major crypto wallets to help you maintain your anonymity:

Besides the standard payment methods, you can also use crypto to 

upgrade to the paid tiers if you need more storage (up to 1 TB)

Cloud storage with encryption—leading providers reviewed

A cluttered inbox prevents you from staying organized and can 

. You likely receive hundreds of emails per month, and many of them aren’t important but only fill up space and mess with your focus.

, the more this issue grows unless you clean your inbox regularly. Unfortunately, most people amass thousands of conversations they don’t need, so they typically want to delete them in bulk.

This guide will teach you how to delete all emails on Yahoo

 using the service’s available options.

Email aliases, folders, labels, and filters are some of the ways Skiff helps tidy your inbox

Keep your inbox organized with Skiff Mail

, Yahoo doesn’t support a mass-delete option that would clean your inbox in one go. You can delete multiple emails at once, but even that can be laborious if you have thousands of messages.

The following tutorials will show you how to

How to delete multiple emails in Yahoo Mail

Yahoo lets you make the email deletion process somewhat faster by selecting all emails on a given page of your inbox. To delete emails in batches using this method, follow these steps:

Click the checkbox in the upper-right corner above your emails

It should mark all emails on the page. If it doesn’t, click the arrow next to the checkbox and select 

As this option only deletes emails from one page, you must repeat the process as many times as it takes to remove all batches, which is quite inconvenient. The good news is that 

there’s a way to declutter your inbox faster

Archiving your mail has a significant benefit over deleting it altogether—you can refer back to specific messages in the future without having them fill up your inbox. In Yahoo, it also comes with the added advantage because it lets you move all emails from the inbox to the Archive folder at once through the Clean you inbox feature. It only takes three quick steps:

 folder in the left-hand menu until a down-facing arrow shows up

Yahoo will immediately start moving your emails from the inbox, though the process might take a while if you have a lot of emails. Once it’s done, you can find your messages in the 

 there is no option to mass delete all emails from Archive

—you must remove emails in batches, as explained in the previous tutorial.

How to delete old Yahoo emails using filters

If you have outdated emails from newsletters and senders you no longer communicate with, you can remove unnecessary mail to focus on ongoing correspondence. Yahoo streamlines the process with its advanced search and filtering.

You can use this feature to delete emails from a specific timeframe. You’ll still need to do it in batches, but at least 

you can separate specific emails you want to remove

Pick the timeframe for which you want to see emails

Your inbox will now only show selected mail, which you can remove by following the aforementioned deletion steps.

It’s not uncommon to accidentally delete an email you need. Luckily, restoring it is easy—all you have to do is:

Find and select the email/s you want to recover

 option to place the email in a specific folder

If the email you need is lost and you can’t locate it, 

. It only works for emails deleted or lost in the past seven days, so recovery won’t be possible for older conversations.

That is why you should be careful about the deletion unless you’re moving away from Yahoo entirely. If you are, 

Skiff Mail values privacy and never has access to your data

Choose a safe and reliable service

Leaving Yahoo? Choose a privacy-first email provider

Yahoo seems to be losing popularity, as evidenced by its 

 compared to the 2008 peak. While there have been some slight ups and downs, the overall trend is continually negative. It does not come as a surprise, as users have had 

Whether you’ve had a poor experience with the platform or only wish to start over with another provider, 

 can be challenging. Other Big Tech platforms like 

 might seem like obvious choices, but you should think beyond them. While they might give you some additional functions, such services 

share one of Yahoo’s main issues—insufficient security

. Many are infamous for invading users’ privacy and profiting from their data.

Users are awakening to such issues and switching to 

. Such options implement numerous security measures to 

Why your email provider should support E2EE

End-to-end encryption turns all your data into ciphertext on your device. Your email travels in encrypted form until it reaches the recipient, who deciphers it using the decryption key accessible only to them. As a result, nobody else can see plaintext copies of your emails.

often combined with additional security layers

You will not get most of these measures with a Big Tech email platform. If you want a 

 alongside numerous useful functionalities, 

Skiff Mail—safe, private, and user-friendly

Skiff Mail makes end-to-end encryption and 

 available to all. The platform uses a set of two separate keys to give you full ownership of your data:

—The public encryption key is shared with the recipient and enables device-level encryption

—The private key is mathematically related to the public key and decrypts the message without ever leaving the user’s device

, so you can rest assured the provider can’t read your emails. It isn’t the case with Yahoo or other Big Tech providers, as they create the keys and store them on their 

The Secure Remote Password protocol lets you 

—the account requires no personal information or verification.

Creating an end-to-end encrypted environment is a massive endeavor, so many privacy-first providers 

 to offer such advanced features. With Skiff 

, and you’ll get everything you need for a safe and productive email workflow, most notably:

—Skiff uses the Authenticator app to enable two-factor authentication, which 

—Despite strong encryption, Skiff enables lightning-fast email search

—Skiff lets you log in with various crypto wallets, including major platforms like 

—You can keep your inbox in order with folders, labels, and filters

—You can manage multiple email addresses in one inbox

Skiff keeps your data safe even beyond emails. When you 

, you’ll enter a secure ecosystem comprised of three additional end-to-end encrypted products:

 is a secure document creation and editing platform

 that lets you collaborate on projects and share sensitive information with minimal risk of leaks

 of all types and comes with optional IPFS integration

 syncs with Skiff Mail to help you stay organized

 and allows you to host private video meetings with the built-in conferencing tool

 provides more information on these platforms and their security measures. You can also find the source code on 

The above products offer cross-platform support, so 

Creating your Skiff account is quick and straightforward—all you need to do is:

. The following table breaks down the highlights of each plan:

How to delete all emails on Yahoo—a step-by-step tutorial

Sharing private information online makes most people uneasy. According to statistics, 

, while 37% have experienced data breaches. If you’re emailing sensitive personal or 

 information, you should go the extra mile to keep it safe.

 so this guide will show you how to encrypt a PDF file for email correspondence.

Skiff Drive's easy encryption process ensures you control who can access your PDF attachments

Ensure your files are firmly protected

There are several ways to protect your PDFs from unauthorized access:

 using your email service provider’s (ESP’s) built-in security features

Each option has specific benefits and drawbacks,

 so we’ll explain them in more detail to help you send 

How to email password-protected PDF files

A common way to secure a PDF is to password-protect it before sending. Most users’ preferred PDF viewer and editor is Adobe Acrobat, which comes with useful security features.

Encrypting your file with Acrobat involves a few quick steps:

Tools > Protect > Encrypt > Encrypt with Password

, select the appropriate Acrobat version. It must be the same as the recipient’s so they can open the PDF. Note that different Acrobat versions use varying encryption standards:

(you can also choose to only encrypt metadata or file attachments, but encrypting all contents is the safest option)

Confirm your choices, retype the password, and click on 

The above option is only available to Acrobat Pro users. The good news is that Adobe offers something similar if you use the free version or don’t use their software at all.

How to encrypt a PDF file for email for free with Adobe’s online protection tool

Adobe’s online tool lets you turn any PDF document into a password-protected one. Here’s how to use it:

Download the protected file and attach it to your email

While password protection is a solid way to limit access to your file,

 it leaves a significant loophole—you must share the password with the recipient.

 If email is your only form of communication, you won’t have another option but to send the password along with the file, which defeats the purpose of setting one in the first place.

You can arrange another way of password exchange through SMS or a third-party app

, but doing so can complicate the process and lead to additional security risks by increasing the potential attack surface.

How to encrypt a PDF for email using your provider’s security settings

Most major email service providers enable you to send 

 rather than the attachment alone, which increases the 

 to create a new email, and attach the PDF you want to send

In the bottom row, click on the lock icon to turn on 

Chose the expiration period from the available options

—The recipient will get the passcode to their 

—Gmail users can open the email without restrictions until it expires, while non-users will get the passcode via email

Ehsan Asdar