Forums Community AxCrypt 2.0 and 1.7 Reply To: AxCrypt 2.0 and 1.7

#6092 Reply

Dave

Svante,

I’ve been a long time supporter of your product development – I’ve done the manual paypal one off donations on a periodic basis until you provided a method of doing annual automatic donations through your online password vault service offering.  While I stored a few small things in the online vault, I really didn’t want/need the online vault, but rather, a way to regularly support you financially on an ongoing basis as I truly believe your file encryption application is one of the most trusted, versatile and easy to use products out there.  Now that you’ve released Version 2.0, what exactly happens to those paying customers to your online password vault product?  Should I cancel that “subscription” or does it convert somehow if/when I subscribe to the 2.x product?

Regarding the changes made from 1.x to 2.x, I believe that I’m going to run into a problem with the existing 2.x version.  I’ve used the 1.x release as a sort of Multi-Factor Authentication mechanism for keeping sensitive data that my wife and I can easily access.  The MFA principle is that you have something that you know and something that you have.  In the case of my wife, she knows a very simple password that she never has to write down.  She also has a USB stick which contains a much longer key file stored on it (it actually contains many key files on it but only she knows which key file # to select in order to decrypt the encrypted files I copy to her laptop).  So when she needs to access our sensitive data on her computer, she grabs the USB stick, puts it in her laptop, and then when she double clicks on the encrypted file she wants to decrypt, she only has to remember her simple password and she must select the correct keyfile to decrypt the file.  We’ve used this method for years and I feel very satisfied knowing that she can easily access our sensitive data while anyone else trying to access it would have a particularly difficult time getting to it.  They would need to know the physical location of the USB key, which one of the keys on the USB stick is the right key file to use and they would need to know my wife’s password that she uses (which is different than what she uses for email, different than her laptop password etc.).  So your 1.x application has been a lifesaver for us.

If I understand the change that comes with 2.x, key files are no longer an option to use to encrypt data and we are now stuck with a single password to encrypt/decrypt all files unless we choose to register the 2.x version multiple times with multiple email addresses.  Is my understanding correct?

Being able to select an alternate password to encrypt a file is actually a desired feature for myself (and I suspect for many others) as I can encrypt files for my wife using the password she prefers, I can encrypt files for my friends and family that they prefer.  The use of “key files” provides a nice enhancement for those who simply are not into complex pass phrases.  Or even if they are into complex pass phrases, needing the key file adds the MFA experience into the equation.  The encrypted files can be safely backed up to a cloud service, while the keys can be kept offline.  That logical/physical separation is more secure – correct?

Thanks again for listening to your supporters.  You have given so much to the community (freely) and I definitely want to continue to supporting you financially as I trust your work.  However, if the key file option is a thing of the past and the separate password to encrypt file option is also a thing of the past, then I’m going to severely struggle making the switch to 2.x.  I’m obviously going to continue 1.x for now and I hope that 2.x adopts some of those “classic” features that your follows have grown to love and depend upon.