At Skiff, we've set out to build a workspace

 that's not only open but fundamentally more secure. To help you write and share documents more securely, we've built out an entire toolbar of privacy-first utilities. These powerful features provide you with both peace of mind and a greater ability to collaborate.

When sharing collaborators on a document use the expiration controls to limit access. Simply select a date, and your collaborator will automatically be unshared from the document on that date.

Note: In the beta, you can't expire editors since they have the ability to control and reset expiration settings. It's also important to remember that collaborators can always copy/paste or screenshot a document, so this feature is best used for restricting future – not current – access to the document.

Locks can add an extra level of protection for your most sensitive work. Just set a passphrase of your choosing, and everyone on the document (including yourself) will be required to enter the phrase each time they open the document. Locks are especially useful when combined with secure links. Using a passphrase-protected link, you can restrict access even if someone shares the link publicly.

Note: When you add a lock, make sure to remember the passphrase – if you forget the passphrase, you will not be able to recover the document.

Use watermarks to protect ownership of your document. When you add a watermark, text will appear on every page of the document like a stamp. Viewers will not be able to remove or replace the watermark, even if they export the document as a PDF.

Today, we’re rolling out Skiff Workspaces

, a new way to simply and securely manage your team’s collaboration.

Skiff Workspaces are end-to-end encrypted collaboration spaces that allow you to organize your work around teams, projects, or topics.

If you’ve used Slack, then you already know what workspaces are all about. They promote knowledge-sharing across an organization and allow you to group collaborators into specialized teams and focus areas.

But the Slack comparison only goes so far. Skiff Workspaces are distinguished by being completely end-to-end encrypted, meaning that control of your data is always in your hands.

Skiff Workspaces are organized around teams. You can create a team for anything — engineering, sales, a new product launch, or (dank) memes.

When you create a team, you have the option to make it accessible to everyone within a workspace, or to make it invite-only, which limits all the Pages within that team to designated collaborators. Use invite-only teams when you want to keep information on a need-to-know basis.

Admins of Skiff Workspaces have granular control over team membership and permissions. They can control individual access levels and assign roles, including editors, viewers and additional admins.

Workspaces are private from the ground up

Your team’s data is valuable. Unlike other collaboration platforms, on Skiff, you truly own it. End-to-end encryption, granular admin controls, and optional 

 mean that no one — not even Skiff — ever has access to any of the data in your workspace unless you choose to share it with them.

Skiff Workspaces are for anyone who collaborates online and cares about the security of their data. Entrepreneurs, crypto protocol teams, media organizations, nonprofits, and investment firms all use Skiff to maintain data autonomy and boost the productivity and peace of mind of their remote teams.

Ready to create a Skiff Workspace and start collaborating privately?

If you sign up during our beta period, we’ll give you unlimited users in your workspace. Sign into Skiff to create and invite your team members to your very own Skiff Workspace.

Introducing Skiff Workspaces

 out a new design for Pages (FKA documents) on Skiff. As tens of thousands of individuals and teams have signed up to use Skiff, we’ve received thousands of feature ideas and support requests via our 

. Many of these requests center on the same theme: making it easier to find and organize your information on Skiff.

Now, pages are structured with three new features: Titles, icons, and descriptions.

New page titles synchronize with your dashboard and file tree, making it easier for you to organize, find, and share pages in your workspace.

Icons enable creative customization for every page in Skiff. Click the icon at the top of every page (or to the left of page titles in the sidebar) to customize the page icon. Choose the icon and color that best fit your work.

Optional page descriptions provide additional context and information. To edit a page description, select the page’s title, and an area for description text will open. From there, add any relevant information, context, or descriptors to the page.

Comments or questions? Join our Discord here → 

New page design

Whether you are signing up for a new email service or logging into your bank account, you will almost always be prompted to select a password. We constantly deal with the hassle of creating a completely new password, remembering an old one, as well as the long frustrating process of forgetting a password and having to follow a labyrinth of instructions to create a new one.

We all know we should be creating strong password: Weak ones are easily guessed, which could leave our data exposed to hackers and criminals. However, before switching to better practices or using strong passwords, we need to actually know what constitutes one. As part of a series of privacy 101s, we at Skiff are going to share how to make a strong password across all your accounts and visited sites.

The first question you might be asking is why is a strong password is necessary. Yes, lots of slightly annoying online prompts require numbers, special characters, or capital letters, but the math behind different attacks showcases exactly why strong passwords are so important for everyone’s online security.

When you use a weak password from “abcdefg,” “123456”, “password,” or some easily guessed combination of your birthday and home address, you leave yourself open for hackers and criminals to easily access your accounts using a number of exploitation methods.

Hackers can guess weak passwords through several common methods, including:

A brute force attack is an attack that relies on either manual or automated trial and error to guess your password. If a hacker has found out that you are a car enthusiast and your favorite model of car is a Ferrari, they might try enter variations of passwords including the word “Ferrari,” such as “Ferrari1,” “Ferrari123,” “Ferrari12345,” in an attempt to access your account.

Brute force attacks are always automated today, and sophisticated brute force algorithms may combine other information about you or your account, such as the service name, your birthday, or other properties.

A dictionary attack is a slightly more sophisticated form of a brute force attack. In a dictionary attack, sophistiated hackers program a malicious software to run through hundreds, if not thousands, of variations of common words or passwords in an attempt to guess your password.

The weaker your password the easier it is for an attacker to guess your password and access your account.

Social engineering refers to hackers pretending to be someone from a trusted and legitimate organization, such as pretending to be someone from your bank or impersonating a fellow co-worker.

Hackers will try to gain your trust and then use information you share to guess your password and nefariously access your information and online accounts. They may also try to contact the service and convince them to reset your password or share additional account information.

Beyond the information above, there are many other ways hackers can guess your password. However, by following a few simple steps, you can create a strong password and significantly improve the chances that hackers will fail to steal your information and access your accounts.

There are several basic rules you should follow when trying to create a strong password. These include:

1. Always use a unique password for each of your accounts

When signing up for a new service, you should never use a password you have used for a previous account. If a hacker guesses one of your other passwords, or your password is exposed in a data leak, other accounts that share a password with the breached account will also become vulnerable to exploitation by the hackers and other criminals.

This is why you should always use a different password for each of your accounts. This will make sure that each account is securely protected even in the case when one of your accounts does become the victim of a hacking attempt.

2. Your password should be at least 12 characters

Shorter passwords are, unsurprisingly, easier for hackers to guess, This is why you should always make your password at least 12 characters in length.

Longer passwords are sometimes harder to remember, so we highly recommend using a password manager or secure storage mechanism for your accounts. A long password is no help if you forget it and are locked out of your account

3. Make sure your password includes letters, numbers, and special characters

Your passwords should always include a combination of upper and lower case letters, specical characters like “*” or “&”, and numbers. This combination will make it hard for hackers to guess your passwords using brute force attacks or other forms of attacks that rely on guessing a large number of password combinations.

On a basic mathematical level, going from 26 letters, to 52 uppercase/lowercase letters + 10 digits + 10 special characters for every character in your password, the number of possible passwords increases significantly (if you have 12 characters, over 10^22 possible passwords).

In conclusion, having a strong password is a necessary way to prevent hackers from accessing your accounts and stealing your sensitive data and information. There are several easy steps you can take to create a strong password, such as making your password at least 12 characters, including letters, numbers and special characters, and never reusing passwords across multiple accounts.

Taking these proactive steps to create a strong password will make your online accounts safer and keep hackers and criminals out of your life for good.

Why you need a strong password

 has made the next generation of products for writing, sharing, and collaborating popular among consumers. Big tech and startups alike have offered new productivity solutions, from 

. Similarly, new note-taking formats and features, such as markdown formatting, mobile sync, and project management functionality, have made consumer expectations for new note-taking apps significantly higher.

However, with new AI features and constant data breaches, consumers must be incredibly careful when choosing to trust a note-taking app. 

In this blog, we’ll walk through many of the newest and most popular apps for note-taking, personal productivity, and corporate communications (wikis, document sharing, and more). In particular, we’ll cover key areas to consider for more privacy and security minded users, including these apps’ privacy policies, encryption protocols,

 is an app that ensures that the notes you store in it are only accessible by you and nobody else. This is done by encrypting the notes with a key that only you know, meaning that even if somebody managed to get access to the app's servers, they would not be able to read your notes. As we store more personal information in our notes than in our homes, this degree of privacy is essential

End-to-end encryption for files is a way of encrypting data so that only you or an intended recipient can access it. This is in contrast to traditional methods of encrypting data, which typically involve the use of a central server. End-to-end encryption ensures that no one but the intended recipient can read the data, even if it is intercepted by a third party. This makes it an essential tool for protecting sensitive data, such as medical records or financial information.

: End-to-end encryption is a communication method where only the people communicating can read the messages. This type of encryption requires the use of two unique keys, one of which is public and one of which is private. The public key can be shared with anyone, but the private key must be kept secret. In order for two people to communicate using end-to-end encryption, they must first exchange public keys. Once they have done so, each person can use their own private key to encrypt messages before sending them. The recipient can then use the sender's public key to decrypt the message.

In the notes context, end-to-end encryption means only the person writing notes can see them, or any intended recipients if sharing. Given how prevalent end-to-end encryption is in all messaging apps (

), we expect privacy-first and encrypted notes app to support it.

: For a privacy or security minded user, 

 may yield important security protections from unauthorized access to your account. Even if someone knows your password, they won't be able to access your account unless they also have your second factor, which could be a code from your phone or a fingerprint.

: AES-256 bit encryption typically means a provider using a basic good practice to encrypt data at rest instead of storing it in plain text. Generally, this provides quite a week layer of protection as it fails to mitigate any privacy risks from the provider, law enforcement or others accessing data, or if the note-taking provider suffers a data breach where employee credentials or login credentials are exposed (which is unfortunately 

). As a result, this standard does not live up to most consumer needs for a secure note-taking app.

Google Keep, Evernote, Apple Notes, Microsoft OneNote?

Unfortunately, the most popular consumer productivity apps were not built with strong consumer privacy protections in mind. Most products have great usability and compatibility features, including web apps (accessible from all web browsers, including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox), mobile apps, and cloud synchronization, that we use to evaluate privacy-focused alternatives. All note-taking products below have either free versions or student plans for accessibility.

 is incredibly popular, compatible across many devices, and easy-to-use. The company introduced many of the modern rich text processing features all note-taking apps use today, such as embeddings, pinned or favorite notes, and simple tagging and organization tools for individual notes. It provides simple synchronization across devices and mobile apps.

However, Evernote provides relatively weak privacy protections - the service does not offer end-to-end encryption and has suffered from significant 

 in the past. Given this, we recommend choosing a service with end-to-end encryption, 2FA, and more sophisticated privacy protections.

: Apple notes is native to every Apple device, including iPhones, iPads, Mac, and more. Notes also synchronize to users’ iCloud accounts, enabling simple backup for quick notes and writing. As a result, it is a popular default choice for consumers. By default, notes are not end-to-end encrypted, but consumers can create “secure notes” that are end-to-end encrypted with a user-chosen 

. This does add a level of privacy protections and optionality for users but not the same level of privacy-by-default that the cloud services mentioned below can provide.

 is a familiar product to existing Dropbox users. It provides a very simple, minimalist text editor with a basic set of features for planning, distributing tasks, and working together - suggesting a more team-based usage context. Notes, as with all files on Dropbox, are not end-to-end encrypted. For Dropbox users, we recommend reading our blog on encrypted cloud storage 

: Google Keep is generally quite similar to Apple Notes in privacy and 

. Notes are “encrypted in transit” and “at rest,” but not end-to-end encrypted, yielding many of the same privacy concerns that plagued the note-taking products mentioned above.

: Notion is also not end-to-end encrypted and not considered a security-minded note-taking app. However, the product’s extensive templates for shopping lists, education, and project management have made it quite popular among consumers and students.

: OneNote is Microsoft’s note-taking addition to their office suite. The product is simple, easy-to-use, and provides a text editor familiar to many current office users. However, notes 

 end-to-end encrypted, which means you may want to take your private notes and thoughts to one of our top picks listed below.

Generally, we highly rank providers that are 

 and easy-to-use, and offer great value for users. Once you commit to a note-taking app, you may want to import years of content from other providers and local files. As a result, it’s important to know that a company’s prices, product features, and policies will not change significantly from when you sign up.

 is a privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted workspace that offers note-taking and collaboration, email (Skiff Mail), and file upload, storage, and sharing (Skiff Drive). Every email, file, and note on Skiff is end-to-end encrypted, keeping your personal information private to you. The company also offers a sophisticated technical 

 covering encryption and most client code, and a technical 

Skiff offers iOS, Android, Mac/macOS, and more native applications for their note-taking, collaboration, and mail products, which can easily be 

. Generally, Skiff is well suited for most applications, particularly for users who are looking for a broader collaboration suite (beyond just notes) or may be collaborating in groups or professional organizations.

 is a well-featured note-taking app that provides cross platform apps as well as end-to-end encrypted storage. Standard Notes offers marketing materials emphasizing how encryption, security, and privacy yield critical benefits for collaboration and creativity. Standard Notes’ source code is 

 and links to information about cryptographic audits and security.

For features, Standard Notes emphasizes covering critical note-taking functionality but not overwhelming users. This includes nested folder structures, pinned notes, and daily backups to ensure you can always revert to a previous version of a note, spreadsheet, or todo list. One note for potential users is that the paid plans go up significantly in price, to $59 and $99 per year, and offer additional note-taking features (such as spreadsheets) and more sophisticated backup and retention policies. On some other products on this list (including Skiff), these usability features, like tables, are included in the free plan.

: Joplin is a note taking app that allows users to create and organize notes in a variety of ways. Notes can be created in a variety of formats, including text, images, and audio, and can be organized into notebooks for easy access. Joplin also includes a variety of features for note taking, such as the ability to add tags and search for notes.

, maintains Linux, Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows apps, and also offers built in cloud-sync functionality called “Joplin cloud.” Finally, Joplin scores highly on their use of end-to-end encrypted to keep all user notes private. For more convenience features Joplin offers a web clipper directly integrated into the notes app to allow for cataloging, storing, and sharing webpage content. Joplin can also be 

 is a largely different class of note-taking and productivity, where notes become graphs and your mind considered a web of knowledge. Obsidian also offers cross-platform apps for Windows, Linux (multiple distributions), macOS, and other platforms, and is particularly marketed towards more technical users. Note that Obsidian uses a more barebones markdown editor, relying on MD syntax for all text formatting.

For a consumer coming from Evernote, Notion, OneNote, or a similar product, we would advise trying Obsidian along another product on this list as it has the largest learning curve. However, if you are an expert with markdown, experts, linking, and graph views, Obsidian could be an excellent choice. Like many other configuration options, Obsidian leaves end-to-end encryption as an option for the user; you can create either end-to-end encrypted vaults, or “

” vaults where Obsidian maintains a copy of the encryption keys. For this reason as well, unless you are prepared to manage your own keys and passwords, an app like Skiff or Standard Notes may yield a more intuitive experience when privacy is a required first-class feature.

: End-to-end encryption is a type of data security where only the sender and the intended recipient can access data, or a user can encrypt data without giving access to a cloud provider or other party (including law enforcement). The data is encrypted at the source before it is sent over the network, and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient. This type of encryption is often used for file storage, so that only the sender and the recipient can access the stored files.

: The best note-taking apps offer robust import, export, and conversion features that allow consumers to easily transfer data in and out. In some cases, this process can be automated to just one or two clicks, such as Skiff’s one-click Google Drive and Docs import. Otherwise, many providers accept imports for TXT files, Doc/Docx files, and markdown (MD) files as well. When you’re transitioning to a new note taking app, having a migration plan is critical to ensure compatibility and accessibility for your information.

: Most people do not read privacy policies when they sign up for websites or apps. This is a mistake. Privacy policies are important because they tell you what information the company collects about you, how they use it, and whether they share it with others. If you do not read the privacy policy, you may be giving the company permission to do things with your personal information that you do not want them to do. To avoid this, take the time to read the privacy policy before you use any website or app. If you do not understand something in the policy, look for an explanation elsewhere on the website or contact the company to ask for clarification.

: Terms of service are also often inscrutable - lengthy and filled with legal jargon that can be difficult to understand. However, it is important to take the time to read and understand the agreement before agreeing to it. Here are a few tips to help you read and understand a terms of service agreement:

1. Read the agreement in its entirety. Don't just skim through it. In particular, you’ll care about what limits providers may put on your account, or when you may be denied access to your account (when you exceed storage space?).

2. Be aware of what you are agreeing to. For example, if you are agreeing to allow a company to collect your personal data, make sure you understand how that data will be used and what rights you have to it.

3. Make sure you are comfortable with the terms of the agreement before agreeing to it. You should never agree to something you don't fully understand or are not comfortable with.

There are numerous reasons to choose a privacy-first, encrypted notes app that protects your sensitive information above all else. Beyond simply protecting your information from being accessed by unauthorized individuals, encrypting your notes can also help to prevent data loss in the event that your devices are lost, stolen, or accessed by a malicious individual.

Finally, in a world where privacy is generally fleeting and rare, encrypted notes apps keep our personal information private and owned by us - restoring many of the critical expectations we have for our personal writing and communications. We highly recommend trying one of the privacy-first, encrypted note-taking products mentioned above in “our top picks.”

Have any questions? Reach out to us on our 

The best encrypted note taking apps in 2023

Cloud storage is a convenient, safe way to manage and share important documents and files. However, choosing the proper cloud storage platform and setting it up properly are prerequisites to ensuring good security and privacy practices for your data.

This article outlines some best practices to employ when you’re using cloud storage services, including security practices, data protection guidelines, and suggestions for the privacy and encryption practices to keep your data safe. We’ll also cover some of the most popular cloud storage providers and analyze their security practices, encryption schemes, and privacy policies.

Before cloud storage, sharing files and information was slow, frustrating, and significantly less secure. Files were either sent over email, or shared in physical form using USB drives, portable hard drives, or other cumbersome hardware. In contrast, 

 users to upload, store, and share data online, from gigabytes of research and documentation to personal photos and videos. Users can manage permissions, choose providers with different encryption practices, and ensure compliance with data processing regimes, such as 

. Now, user data is stored on servers that are owned and operated by a service provider, which subsequently owns, operates, or rents storage in data centers. Consumer cloud storage providers include Dropbox, Box, and Google; other companies operate cloud storage services for enterprises and applications, such as 

The service provider makes the data available to the user over web, iOS, Android, and other consumer applications. This allows users to access the data from any device that has an internet connection, or to sync data locally with a desktop folder (in fact, this was one of Dropbox’s biggest innovations that sparked initial massive growth). The cloud storageservice provider subsequently manages the security of the data, and the user or organization will not have to worry about losing the data if a single device is lost or stolen. Furthermore, unlike some portable USB drives or hard drives, access to sensitive data can easily be revoked or via cloud permissions, yielding significant safety benefits.

In this section, we’ll cover the most common encryption schemes used on cloud data storage services. These include disk encryption, symmetric encryption, and end-to-end encryption, wherein the cloud provider 

: Symmetric encryption is a type of encryption where the same key is used to both encrypt and decrypt data. This means that anyone with the key can access the data, so it is important to keep the key secure. Symmetric encryption is typically faster than asymmetric encryption, but it is less secure since the key is shared. Generally, symmetric encryption is used for 

 on cloud provider data centers; if you see the term AES-256 used to describe a provider’s encryption model, it generally refers to them using a symmetric encryption scheme.

In this model, cloud providers generally have access to both the encrypted key and encrypted content, giving them full access to decrypt users’ files. As a result, examining providers’ privacy policies, 

, and guidelines for accessing user data. A transparency report is a way for technology companies to outline how their practices may limit user privacy on their platform, such as providing widespread access to law enforcement. Most big tech companies, including 

: End-to-end encryption is a whole step above basic symmetric key encryption: Unlike using a single symmetric key, end-to-end encryption allows users to store files on the cloud without giving cloud providers access to any of the content. Even if the messages are intercepted by a third party, they will be unable to read them.

End-to-end encryption - sometimes known as client-side encryption or zero-knowledge encryption - has become frequently used in messaging applications in order to protect the user’s privacy - for example, 

 incorporate end-to-end encryption by default. Most of the biggest cloud storage providers - even ostensibly secure cloud storage providers - are 

 end-to-end encrypted. Below, in reviewing different storage providers, we cover end-to-end encrypted providers that provide this additional level of protection.

When it comes to encrypting files for the cloud, some particularly sensitive users may choose to encrypt files themselves. For example, one common and widely trusted method is to use an app such as 

 to encrypt your files before uploading them to the cloud.

GPGTools uses asymmetric encryption with a public and private key, which means that only you will be able to decrypt the files using your private key. Another method that can be used is to create an encrypted disk image using a tool such as 

. This will create a virtual disk that can be mounted and used like any other disk, but the contents will be encrypted.

Finally, you can also use full-disk encryption on your computer if you are using a cloud service that allows you to do so. This will encrypt all of the data on your hard drive, including the operating system, and will require you to enter a password each time you boot up your computer.

Generally, we do not recommend using your own encryption tools, such as GPGTools, unless you are well equipped to manage your own encryption keys. Remember: If you lose all copies of your encryption key, you may be completely unable to recover your files!

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an additional layer of security that can be used to protect online accounts when using cloud storage providers. When 2FA is enabled, a user is required to provide not only their username and password, but also a second factor, such as a one-time code generated by an app on their phone.

2FA can help to protect against account hijacking

: Even if a hacker knows your password, they will not be able to access your account without also having your second factor, which may be an SMS code sent to your device or a PIN entered from an authentication app. 2FA can also be useful in cases of phishing attacks, where a hacker may try to trick you into entering your login details on a fake website. If you have 2FA enabled, they will not be able to login to your account even if they have your password, as they will not have your second factor.

2FA is not perfect, and it can be bypassed in some cases, such as if a hacker has physical access to your device and is able to see the one-time code as it is generated (some more 

 also present risks to 2FA). However, it is still a valuable security measure to take to ensure total data security, and it can greatly reduce the risk of your account being compromised. Using 2FA in combination with a 

 yields quite strong protection against account compromise.

 is a file hosting service that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. It was founded in 2007 by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi as a startup company, with initial funding from seed accelerator Y Combinator. Dropbox has expanded far beyond simply offering online storage; the company offers real-time collaboration products (

 is one of the most popular and widely used consumer cloud storage providers, largely because it comes directly integrated with Gmail, Google Docs, and additional Google products. Google Drive offers more storage space for free than Dropbox – 15GB compared to Dropbox’s 2GB - and also integrates with a number of other Google services, such as Gmail and Google Docs, making it a more seamless experience for users who are already invested in the Google ecosystem.

 is a cloud storage service founded in 2011 in Switzerland. The company provides personal and business cloud storage solutions with end-to-end encryption. Tresorit is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and has offices in Budapest, Hungary and San Francisco, United States. Tresorit is an end-to-end encrypted, zero-knowledge service, which means that the company has no way to access your data. Dropbox, on the other hand, is not end-to-end encrypted. This means that Dropbox employees could access your data if needed. However, note that Tresorit is more expensive than Dropbox. Dropbox’s 500 GB storage plan costs $9.99 per month, while Tresorit’s 500 GB storage plan costs $19.99 per month.

 is a Canadian cloud storage and file synchronization service based in Toronto, Ontario. The company was founded in 2011 by Dmitry Buterin and James Beshara. Sync.com offers a relatively standard cloud storage service that syncs across devices. The company offers storage plans with large amounts of space available, largely targeting creative professionals who frequently generate files that can consume gigabytes of storage space.

 is personal cloud storage offered by Microsoft. Similar in features to Google Drive or Dropbox, OneDrive is well suited to personal use for file storage or photo storage. However, the product is not end-to-end encrypted, and it offers additional features when used on Windows devices or across the Microsoft ecosystem. As a result, we suggest testing OneDrive, but you may prefer another provider if you are not already ingrained in Microsoft Office and operating systems.

 - is a relative newcomer to the cloud storage market. ProtonDrive offers a number of features that make it similar to Tresorit on best security practices, but with a different user experience for sharing, link sharing, and more. Like Tresorit, all data stored on ProtonDrive is encrypted before it is uploaded to the server. This means that even if the server is hacked, the data will be unreadable. Second, ProtonDrive offers two-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security.

 is a fully private, end-to-end encrypted cloud storage provider with an intuitive design and apps for Android, iOS, and more devices. Skiff Drive provides all of the easy sharing and usability features you would expect, including file sharing, link sharing, and public folder sharing. Skiff Drive also offers unique security features, such as sharing expiration and watermarking. Skiff Drive’s encryption is completely client-side, ensuring that no one else can access your data. Finally, Skiff Drive is the only end-to-end encrypted provider that can be optionally configured to 

 via the InterPlanetary FileSystem (IPFS), which yields another level of censorship resistance and data ownership. Skiff’s encryption protocols are open-source and described in their 

Follow these tips to keep your data secure.

: When your data is encrypted, it's much more difficult for hackers and other unauthorized individuals to access it. Many cloud storage providers offer encryption services, but it's also possible to encrypt your data locally on your own computer before uploading it to the cloud. When you encrypt your data locally, make sure you keep the encryption key in a safe place; otherwise, you won't be able to access your data either.

: Use a strong password and set up two-factor authentication. All large cloud storage providers, including Dropbox and Skiff, offer 2FA for user accounts. 2FA provides significantly greater protection in case your password is compromised, which could happen if you reuse passwords or your provider suffers a significant security breach.

: There are a lot of cloud storage providers out there, so it's important to go with one that has good policies and a trustworthy track record of keeping customer data safe. Remember, cloud storage providers may store your personal information, health records, credit card numbers, or more critical sensitive data, so understanding their security rack record is critical.

: Many cloud storage providers, such as Dropbox, now offer 

. We highly recommend monitoring these logs for suspicious account access, downloads, or sharing. Note that some activity monitoring features require an enterprise or business plan instead of simply a personal free plan.

: When interacting with other cloud storage providers, be careful before clicking links and downloading files to your computer. Unfortunately, malicious actors have started to use 

, spyware, and other viruses - so make sure you are downloading files from sites and contacts you trust.

: Ultimately, you may be entrusting your identity, financial information, and family information with the cloud provider you choose. Choosing an 

 provider keeps your information private to you, preventing your storage provider, internet service provider, or anyone else from ever accessing your data.

Switching to Skiff's encrypted product suite

Skiff's end-to-end encrypted product suite offers privacy-first file storage, real-time collaboration, documents, notes, calendar, and email.

Every Skiff user has access to the following products:

 (all data end-to-end encrypted, unlike Notion)

Skiff's paid tiers include even more value. Users benefit from more aliases, custom domains, and so much more, such as full version history on Pages and Skiff Domains:

This article covers the history of cloud storage as well as some key tips for using cloud providers safely and securely. When choosing a cloud storage provider, we recommend examining many technical factors - such as whether it employs end-to-end encryption - as well as the policies and terms that govern your account and data.

Finally, regardless of the provider you select, you must adhere to good security practices when setting up your account, including choosing a strong password, setting up two-factor authentication, and monitoring activity logs for any suspicious activity.

What's the best encrypted cloud storage provider?

Most of us can’t remember the last time we went 24 hours without using the internet. Through the portals created by web browsers, we search for new restaurants in our area, hotels we want to stay at, and the latest news from around the globe.

In short, we use the internet to find out all the information we need in the course of our daily lives - and, today, we ingest an incredible amount of information. We constantly use browsers - Google Chrome, Firefox, and 

 - yet, most of us never stop to think about how private and secure these browsers really are.

Since we search the internet for all types of information, log into our most important accounts through web browsers, and use browsers as communication and collaboration tools, it is of the utmost importance that the browsers we use respect our privacy.

In this piece, we will share more about the most private web browsers currently in the market that you can use for safe, secure, and free internet use.

. Firefox has a storied reputation as a reliable and secure browser since its founding in 2002. While Brave (see more below) and Firefox share many of the same privacy features you would expect in a privacy-respecting browser, one big difference is the fact that Firefox is run as a not-for-profit organization while Brave is a for-profit organization. (However, note that Brave does not make any money from selling or collecting your personal data, in contrast to big tech giants Google and Facebook.)

In 2017 Firefox rebuilt their entire browser engine so that Firefox would be comparable in speed and efficiency to other browsers in the market like Google Chrome and Safari. Firefox also has a vibrant 

 which allows you maximum customization with thousands of browser extensions and add-ons available. One thing to note about Firefox is their default search engine is Google, but this can easily be changed in settings to more privacy focused search engines like DuckDuckGo (more on this below) or 

To download Firefox on all platforms including macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and Windows, visit the MozillaFirefox website here: 

Brave is a free and open-source web browser founded by Brendan Eich (

) and Brian Bondy in 2015. Brave is a chromium based browser with over 62 million monthly active users. Brave is one of the best privacy-focused browsers in the market at the moment. 

, cross-site cookie tracking, fingerprinting, and more. Brave also displays to users some of the information that they are blocking from third parties. Brave’s many other privacy features include a privacy focused search engine, VPN service, and VoIP platform. Brave also includes its very own cryptocurrency wallet built-in to the browser (Brave Wallet).

Brave is available on all platforms including macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and Windows. You can download the Brave Browser here: 

DuckDuckGo started off as a private search engine which eschews user data collection and emphasizes top-notch security features and privacy protections. 

, pop-ups, and third-party cookies from tracking you while you use DuckDuckGo’s search engine. DuckDuckGo has one of the best browsers currently available on iOS and Android 

and is currently developing their own desktop browser

 which they aim to make one of the most secure browsers available in the market. DuckDuckGo is a great choice for those who want a privacy-focused browsing experience. Your ip address is never tracked in DuckDuckGo and an ad-blocker is default enabled for maximum browser security.

Safari is the default browser available on all Apple devices and one of the most popular browsers in the world. In recent years Apple has worked to improve the privacy functionality of Safari. Additions such as 

, anti-malware features to stifle hackers has pushed Safari closer to being a private browser than other big tech browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Safari even works to prevent browser fingerprinting, a method used to track users online activities across the internet. While Safari does store your cookies and browsing history by default, you can search in a private browsing mode which will ensure your web browsing history will not be stored on your device. Safari is also very customizable with lots of extensions available for download.

While Safari is not as purely and completely focused on online privacy as some of the other web browsers on this list, it is still a respectable choice to shore up vulnerabilities and protect your personal data from web pages, social media sites, and hackers who are trying to collect and sell your data.

Safari comes pre-installed on all iPhone, iOS, and Mac devices. You can also install Safari on many non Apple devices as well.

Opera is another chromium based browser which includes by default a built-in ad-blocker, 

, messaging functionality, and over 2,500 customizable browser extensions. Opera claims you can browse the web longer than any of its major competitors because Opera uses less resources in general and offers users privacy features, like an ad-blocker that optimizes Opera’s performance. If you are not satisfied with Opera’s default browser and are looking for an upgrade, Opera also offers specialized browsers for Cryptocurrencies (

Opera is available on most operating systems including Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Check out their website here: 

Vivaldi was founded in 2016 by one of the co-founders of Opera, so the team behind Vivaldi has tons of experience building browsers with 

. Vivaldi is designed for technical users and customization first in mind. Vivaldi has tons of great plugins as well as internal settings that let users create and experience a truly personalized browser experience. From custom keyboard shortcuts to expert tab management there is something for everyone with Vivaldi. Some of the great built-in privacy features available include tracking protection, pop-up blocker, secure mobile sync, ad blocker, and a private calendar.

The Tor Browser is a web browser that uses something called the Tor Network to anonymize 

. The Tor Browser makes it impossible for your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and other third parties to track your online activities, regardless of whether you are on WiFi or using some other form of internet connection. The Tor Browser was founded and is maintained by the Tor Project. The Tor Project is a nonprofit, and thus runs the Tor Browser without any profit motive.

While the Tor browser provides one of the most private and anonymized web browsing experiences available, it comes with the drawback of being slower than its rivals when it comes to browsing the internet.

When most us think about private browsing, we think about using 

. The question is: How secure is our browsing really when we are in incognito mode?

The answer is: Not as much as you think. While incognito mode deletes all information associated with a website visit or search when you close your tab or window, it does nothing to prevent the websites you are visiting from gaining information about you from using things, like trackers. Your browsing history might be protected in incognito mode but you should still be careful about what you are looking at through your search engine of choice.

No matter which browser you end up using, it is always important to keep your online information and data as secure as possible. One way of doing this besides using a privacy-focused web browser is using a product like 

Skiff is dedicated to making privacy-first and end-to-end encrypted products more accessible and user-friendly. This is why Skiff has built a comprehensive privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted, and Web3-native platform.

 empowers users to communicate privately and confidently with an end-to-end encrypted, secure, and private email address, allowing for the most comprehensive and efficient wallet to wallet communication available.

 lets users write and store sensitive information that can be easily shared with collaborators, without ever breaking client-side encryption. Users also have the option to store their pages on the InterPlanetary File System for a decentralized experience.

 enables users to store all their files, regardless of file type, on a privacy first, end-to-end encrypted platform. These files can be easily accessed, downloaded and, retrieved. All your files are encrypted on your device, and, if you choose stored on IPFS; all files remain end-to-end encrypted and censorship resistant.

Web Browser Privacy Appendix and Glossary

 Tracking cookies are pieces of information that are stored on your computer by websites that you visit. They are used to 

 and can be used to store information such as login details, website preferences and shopping basket contents. Tracking cookies can be placed on your computer by advertising networks in order to deliver targeted ads. They can also be used by website owners to track how you use their site and to see which pages you visit most often.

: Ad blockers are software programs that 

prevent tracking cookies from being placed

Locking down your documents

Security Toolbar

Expiring Access

Document Locks

Watermarks

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