We are Listed in the CSA STAR Registry

Laconic Security is proud to announce that we are now listed in the CSA STAR Registry! The STAR Registry is a security self-attestation that provides a level of transparency into company security practices. At Laconic Security, we believe that many security practices should be transparent so that you, the customer, can feel confident we are living up to certain security standards. We also publish our security documents, including: our privacy policy, security policy and safe harbor attestation on our security and privacy page.

Read more about the CAI Questionnaire on the CSA website. If you have any questions about our security practices, please contact us.

Coming Down the Mountain: Great times at VCIR Winter 2013

What’s better than ideal ski conditions on one of Colorado’s favorite mountains? Having that same mountain teeming with savvy venture capitalists, and being able to talk to them at length about the unique aspects of your truly encrypted enterprise cloud file sharing service. That was the vibe -- great skiing and greater synergy -- at VCIR Winter 2013. This was the event’s 30th year, and they gave it the treatment three decades of excellence deserves.

But enough about us for a minute. That conference deserves some serious props. Beaver Creek was phenomenal. Chris Marks from High Country Venture hats off to you! Some of our lasting impressions:

• The entrepreneurial community was very open and extremely supportive

• Investors were refreshingly candid and eager to introduce entrepreneurs to others in their network.

• Company caliber was top shelf. The competition, while always civil, was definitely stiff.

• Entrepreneurs are having a transformative effect on Colorado. We’re getting attention as The Next Valley. And we’re eager to live up to the rep!

Juxtaposed to all those good vibes and optimistic energy, however, we couldn’t get away from what, for us, is the definitive issue in cloud migration security -- industry integrity.

By integrity, we mean an honest acknowledgement by service providers that The Cloud Gap exists. We saw competitors who either ignored it outright, tried to explain down its significance, or were outright inaccurate with respect to their visibility of and access to their client's data. Here’s the sniff test -- if you always have to ask your vendor for THEIR key to YOUR data --  you’re in the cloud gap.

Again, VCIR Winter 2013 was a phenomenal experience. We were still shaking snow out of our hair and people were already contacting us to set up more detailed conversations. We’ve kept a pretty low profile the past 3.5 years as we’ve worked to make our solution bulletproof. We’re convinced, now more than ever, that level of painstaking perfectionism is going to serve us -- and our clients -- extremely well.

General Cloud Gap Confusion and General Tso's Chicken: Reflections on the RSA Conference

Between Fred and Chris, we probably walked a few hundred miles covering the convention center floor at RSAC. The event itself was a blast. For those few days, San Francisco was absolutely the bright center of security industry innovation, the real leading-edge stuff that’s worthy of any catchphrase.

We had great discussions with people representing all facets of the field, and caught up with friends we hadn’t seen in a half-dozen years. Being able to talk about our solution in detail, and generate some buzz about our new software release was like being a free diver coming up for air after a 500-foot decent.

On the floor, we saw plenty of companies in the cloud security space, claiming secure filesharing and collaboration. We gave them a serious shake out, seeing how similar their services might be to ours, and whether or not they had an understanding of or solution to the Cloud Gap. The consistent finding? Nope. That meant they had access to client data, and they still held client keys. Not real security, sez us.

From a business standpoint, it was reassuring that we remain the only Cloud Gap conscious company. From an industry standpoint? We think that’s a bit alarming.

We also chimed in plenty about cloud identity/IDM (identity management in the cloud). It was an understandably hot topic, and we enjoyed bringing something to the conversation.

The only thing that might have been more enlightening and energizing than attending RSAC itself was . . . finding a decent place to flop.

We like to think we’re better known for our cryptographic prowess and encryption innovation, but after that trip, we feel qualified to share a bit of travel advice as well:

Lesson 1

If you book a hotel through a deal-promising website, check the neighborhood before you confirm that reservation. It turns out 6th and Mission is the Number One call-out intersection for San Francisco cops.

Lesson 2

If your hotel host has to lead you “this way through the Oriental restaurant” to get to your room, it doesn’t mean you’re close to great Chinese food. It means your clothes are going to smell like fryer oil for a day or two.

Lesson 3

Make friends with people in the host city, and fast. Worst case? You can beg for a night of couch-surfing, then try again in the morning to find a place where you won’t get rousted by gunfire at 3 a.m., or wake up with an uncontrollable craving for General Tso’s chicken . . . which is not, by any means, the breakfast of champions.

Thanks again, RSAC, and see you next year!

How We're Different

We've been at VCIR Winter 2013 barely a day, and plenty of people have been pressing us on how we're different than the 30+ other file sharing services on the market. It's a conversation we love to have (so if you're here, ask and you know we'll answer). But if you're looking for the essential distinctions, here you go:

• No one can see your data - except you and the people you share with. Why? Because...
• We don't have your decryption key - other cloud sharing and storage providers have your key. 
• We don't use web applications - Here's a test: if you can see your data in a web browser, your provider has your decryption key.
• We secure data client-side - your data is encrypted before it leaves your device. Data is never in plaintext outside of your control. 
• We solve secure collaboration/sharing - you can use us to backup your data, but we primarily gear toward secure collaboration.
• Native, user-friendly interface - you already know how to use Laconic Vaults. 

And now, the million dollar question: which storage solution better suits your needs?

                   

How easy is Vaults to install and use?

Check out the video below and see for yourself.

If the embed doesn't work, you can always use this link.