Tresorit Send for File Sharing

Well not exactly a software per se, I have found Tresorit Send very useful in sending large files or attachments to clients or friends in a simple and secure manner.

While there are some limitations to this service (will go into more detail later in the post), for my use case, I find that it works very well as a delivery method of JPGs to my end-clients.

What is Tresorit Send?

Tresorit Send is a free service provided by Tresorit, itself a online cloud storage service, for secure file sharing by using end-to-end encryption methods.

While no account registration is required to use the service, you are required to provide an e-mail address for the admin link to be sent to you when you upload the files.

How It Works

When uploading a file onto the Tresorit Send’s server via their website or browser plugin, the files are encrypted on the fly locally, with the decryption key being embedded as part of the URL generated after the file has been securely uploaded.

After you pass the generated URL (the download link) to your client or friend, the files are then decrypted on-the-fly as it downloads from the Tresorit Send’s server.

The links can have an additional layer of security by adding a password during the link generation process.

An admin link is also emailed to you when your file has uploaded, which will allow you to check on the download status (such as number of downloads), as well as revoke the link at any time.

To learn more in detail about their technology and their methods, you can refer to their FAQ here.

Restrictions and Limitations

While Tresorit Send is a free standalone service, it does have some restrictions and limitations to it:

• Maximum file size of uploaded files is 5GB
• Maximum of 100 files can be uploaded at a time
• Shared files can only be downloaded 10 times
• Links will only be available for 7 days
• Admin links can only view number of downloads, and not the IP address of the users who downloaded it

While the maximum number of files can be overcome if you zip up your files before uploading, other restrictions and limitations would require you to subscribe to their cloud storage services and use the link share button for more control over the sharing features.

Things to Take Note Of

Here are some things that you would like to take note of if you intend to use this service for file sharing:

• Admin links do not include the generated file download link in it for security purposes (since it includes the decryption key and Tresorit has a zero-knowledge policy regarding it), so if you lose the download link you have to upload again to regenerate a new link.
• Links generated via Tresorit Send are all unique, and as such every download link generated will show that the sender’s email address is unverified. You can verify your email by clicking on the admin link at least once; but you have to do it for every link you generate due to its security policy.
• On-the-fly encryption and decryption can be quite resource intensive especially for larger file uploads and downloads, so it may seem that the files are uploading or downloading very slowly when using a device with lower specifications.