Tutorial: Protect Files while Traveling with Panwrypter

29th March, 2018 | Tutorial

When travelling domestically or internationally, you may habitually choose to bring confidential files with you, on your notebook or a USB stick. Using this approach might give you some peace of mind, because the sensitive information is physically with you at all times.

During travel however, when your carry-on or checked-in luggage is not with you, this information might be vulnerable to unauthorized access. For instance if you place your carry-on backpack in an overhead bin on the plane, and it is out of your sight, it might be possible for others to access your backpack during flight. Similarly, your checked-in luggage is vulnerable to interception while it is not under your control. The collective fabric (or bits) of your confidential files are stored in one location only, leaving them vulnerable to unauthorized access and reverse engineering.

In this tutorial we show you how to use Panwrypter to deplete your confidential files across 2 storage sites. One storage site you carry with you on a USB stick, and the other storage site is left on Apple iCloud Drive. The data at each storage site cannot be reverse engineered without the data from the other site, since each site only has a depleted portion of your original files. This makes it challenging for an attacker to recover your files, because the fabric of your files is depleted across two totally different places.

When you reach your destination, simply use Panwrypter to collect the protected volumes back from the USB stick and iCloud Drive, then restore your original files. Panwrypter adapts to the type of security you need based on your situation, and allows you to use your existing storage media and services.

Panwrypter is intended to be flexible and work with your familiar storage habits, while significantly enhancing the security of your documents & files. Your files are protected using a process called bitwise depletion, which allows you to decentralize the fabric of your files, and store them across storage media and services of your choice. This transformation makes it significantly more difficult for any type of unauthorized access to your files, even when they are lost, or neglected in storage over a long period of time.

If you have any feedback, questions, or suggestions, please let us know.

Acknowledgements
Information board at airport by Chuttersnap on Unsplash