eSecureSend

Author: eSecureSend

How Google Fiber Reshaped Where Startups Do Business

The Triangle has become one of the strongest entrepreneurial tech hubs in the United States offering quality of life and a lower cost of living that Silicon Valley cannot compete with. Along with that has come a bevy of innovation and small companies able to compete on a global scale. It has also brought about a growth rate that some say will add an additional 1 million people to the Triangle by the end of 2018, which has both the locals and the infrastructure struggling to keep up with the demands.

Akin to our overburdened, jammed highways during rush hours, local company Dmorph Inc. found the infrastructure of the existing information superhighway couldn’t keep up with their growth. In July 2017, Dmorph Inc. moved their physical office location from the American Undergound in Durham to office space in neighboring Morrisville based exclusively on the availability of faster, more robust internet of Google Fiber. A new twist on the old adage: location, location, location.

This is a prime example of technology reshaping the way companies do business and in this case the way a tech company physically does business. Dmorph’s golden child and primary product is eSecureSend. eSecureSend is a large data transfer service that is bucking the 40 year norm of companies relying on unreliable FTP and curtailing the expensive, time consuming and environmentally harmful practice of shipping hard drives.

For the lay person, the large portion of large data transfer service referenced here is data that is 1000x past the max capacity of a free Dropbox account. This is a service for entities that are sending terabytes of data as a routine operating practice. It takes a lot to make those beautiful 4k movies and shows you’re enjoying. Primary customers include media entities, government entities and even medical entities. All of which means the data needs securely transferred at the speed of business.

While the invent and physical logistics of Google Fiber has come with some challenges, many of which have been reported in the Triangle, the product itself is solid. Like most startups, Dmorph started out by utilizing AWS and Google Cloud. Then came the point of business where the best financial and strategic move was to get off the cloud and come down to business owned servers. This point of a tech company’s growth is almost a modern day milestone for tech business success.

At this juncture the reduced costs paired with increased transfer speeds offered by Fiber restructured Dmorph’s balance sheet to where they could invest in the hardware needed to create their own servers. It trickles down to their customer base by allowing them to be more flexible in their pricing model without sacrificing service or security.

Dmorph had been presented the options to partner with a data center, however they would have continually faced data and/or bandwidth caps that would limit the performance of their accelerated file transfer service.

As company spokesperson Yasmeen Kashef put it, “We have big dreams to make file transfer secure, reliable and effective. Having access to high-speed internet, like Google Fiber is just the first step. And because Google Fiber exists, all the other telecoms are building their high-speed internet services too. We look forward to ever increasing high-speed internet.

“The other plus is that it’s helped us get together as a team more often. With our Durham office, half of our team members would have to drive about 40 minutes. Now that we’re in Morrisville, it’s a 15min drive for everyone. Even in the age of technology and at a tech firm, more face-to-face collaboration is a bonus.”

At the end of the day human interaction and location, location, location still reign supreme in business.

Record Breaking File Transfer

Today, eSecureSend is excited to announce that we’ve surprised even ourselves with a lightning fast, uninterrupted, and secure transfer of an enormous 616GB file at speeds of up to 800MB/s, taking only 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 57 seconds!

 

When it comes to transferring large files online, there are several factors that determine your upload and download speeds. Even if your office is equipped with a state-of-the-art, fiber optic connection, your client’s business might run on residential wifi. If the file you’re sending is hundreds of GBs like this one, you could be waiting for a while.

 

But there is one factor you actually have a choice in: how you transfer those files.

 

FTP, for better or worse, is the industry standard. But since it is built on tech developed in 1971, it’s worse more often than not. With slow speeds and connection interruptions, you have to split up larger files and babysit transfers to ensure anything even went through. FTP is also very vulnerable — as evidenced by the recent ransomeware attack on one of Netflix’s production houses.

 

Cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, even their premium versions, will throttle speeds and limit file size — at times down to 20GBs. File transfer services like Aspera or Signiant only provide a discrete chunk of their bandwidth that their customers have to figure out how to divvy up.

 

eSecureSend is proud to offer a better solution: easy, reliable, and secure transfer built with today’s business in mind. No interruptions, no throttling, no security worries, and no need to split the file.

 

That same 616GB file took 11 days to upload over residential wifi with a 5MB/s upload speed — not a connection you’d want for a business dealing in large files. But even over connections like this — be it hotel wifi while you’re traveling or the home networks of your clients — eSecureSend’s auto-download and auto-resume functionalities make sure the transfer is safely completed as fast as it can.

 

You have choice in file transfer service. Connect with eSecureSend today and see how we can simplify and accelerate your file transfer logistics. Don’t spend another second babysitting your FTP!

The Real Questions to Assess Cost Versus Benefit When Adopting New Technology

A 2013 study conducted by MIT Sloan Management conclude that now, more than ever, companies have 2 choices, “adopt new technologies effectively or face competitive obsolescence.” Ouch. Of the 1559 executives and managers they interviewed, 78% said, “achieving digital transformation will become critical to their organizations within the next two years.” Are you one of the 78%?

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Understanding Internet Privacy In The Digital Age

With Congress’ repeal of the FCC’s new internet privacy regulations — so new, in fact, they hadn’t even been put into use — the conversation about the data market has returned to the national spotlight. Unfortunately, despite how it directly affects every person who uses the internet, nearly no one understands any of it. What is ‘privacy’ in the digital age? How should we talk about it?

The digital world and the traces we leave therein have little in common with our ideas about privacy in the physical world. Hiding your screen from prying eyes doesn’t do much to prevent data collection. Counter intuitively, using your home network for sensitive online activity instead of public networks might even be less private. It turns out what happens behind closed doors — and happens routinely behind the same closed door — is actually easier to collect.

What’s the better way of conceptualizing all of it, then? And how might consumers be more conscious of the consequences of their choices?

First, consider the actors at stake. Companies like Facebook and Google, called “edge providers,” have been able to collect data, use it for advertising, or sell it for ad purposes for some time now — but the data they collect is restricted to your activity on their sites and through their ad network. Simply put (perhaps too simply), Google only knows what you do on Google.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs), like AT&T or Comcast, have a much more intimate view of your activity as anything you do on the internet necessarily goes through them — medical information, financial information, and all sorts of other sensitive stuff one might do in the private light of their laptop. But the restrictions ISPs face in using that data have been more stringent. In arguing for the repeal of the FCC’s regulations, ISPs say it’s unfair they can’t engage with the big data market like edge providers can.

The usual metaphor characterizes ISPs as the ‘roads’ one uses to visit the ‘stores’ of edge providers. But if we are to understand digital privacy in terms of the physical world, perhaps a more useful way of thinking about it might be this: ISPs are our personal assistants, our messengers. Our stand-ins. The ones we send out to pick up our prescriptions. The ones we trust with our PINs. The ones that know where we live. It may sound alarmist, but it is important to remember that these ‘roads’ know an awful lot about us.

There are still regulations in place preventing the connection of collected data with any particular person. Also, being voracious consumers of the internet, we often connect through many different ISPs on a given day: wifi at home, 4G on our commutes, public networks at coffee shops, restaurants, airports, et cetera. As such, our activity is often segmented and collected piecemeal — unless we always keep our sensitive information behind the same closed door.

Male freelancer works on laptop computer sitting at a coffee shop looking worried

Should we despair? How does the least tech-savvy among us retain their privacy? The details will always require technical knowledge and time to sort through, but there are options for the rest of us. Consider how you navigate the internet and where you do it. If you can stand a bit slower of a connection, resources like Tor are invaluable in helping disguise your online activity. Use HTTPS instead of HTTP when you can — it’s a newer and safer protocol that encrypts the data you share with any given edge provider. So, while the fact that you spent 5 hours on Facebook is clearly available to your ISP, using HTTPS at least masks the particulars of your stalking.

While we often have no choice in ISPs, we can opt to use more conscientious edge providers. Take note of the privacy and data collection policies of the companies you patronize. If you have sensitive data to transfer, don’t just throw it up on Google Drive — research more secure ways of sharing your files. If you need to search the internet privately, consider different search engines. While sifting through EULAs can be exhausting and confusing, a little thought goes a long way. Just know you can’t expect closing the blinds to do much good.

Tips On How Americans Can Protect Their Private Data Irrespective Of Changing Political Rules

Well, it happened.  As of April 3rd, 2017 the FCC Internet Privacy Rule intended to protect consumers from their personal information being sold was repealed when President Donald Trump signed off on the repeal that had passed both Senate and Congress.

For a complete list of the 265 state representatives who voted for the repeal, as well as the amount of money they received from telecommunications companies as donations click HERE.

This was met with severe ire and backlash from the American people, because consumers rightfully value their privacy.  Actor Misha Collins began raising funds with the ambitious goal of buying every representative’s browser history for the tune of $500,000,000. Cards Against Humanity designer Mark Temkin stated he would purchase the browsing histories himself with no need to crowdfund the effort.  Both have garnered a lot of attention and thus far 4 crowd funding efforts have raised more than $200,000.  With the President’s ink still drying on the repeal, it will be interesting to see the follow through on this.

It doesn’t take a lot of news these days to become shocked, downhearted, frustrated, angry and/or completely bamboozled.  This is all on top of the March 28th, 2017 news that the US Congress voted to repeal the Obama Era FCC Internet Privacy Rule. This repeal passed by the Senate on March 23rd, 2017. Did you catch that with so much going on in the news?

What does the repeal of the FCC Internet Privacy Rule mean?

The repeal would make it legal for internet providers to sell your browsing history without your permission.  This same FCC Internet Privacy Rule the House of Representatives voted to repeal also required internet providers (think Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon) to protect your data from hackers and inform you of any breaches.

It’s important to differentiate between internet providers, search engines and websites.  The best metaphor out there is that internet providers are like roadways and search engines and websites are akin to stores along those highways.  You have to take the road to go to the store.  So even though Google is, well Google, they too depend on the roadways of internet service providers.

Let’s back up to the initial FCC Internet Privacy Rule, which was passed just back on October 27, 2016 – not that long ago.  The biggest thing to remember is that this rule NEVER went into effect.  It passed in October of last year, well before the shock of November 8th, and was set to go into effect early this year, however it never actually did.  Meaning our privacy has always been up for sale.

The new rule would have required internet providers to get your explicit permission before they shared information like your browsing history, location, app usage and even the content of your emails. Social security numbers, financial information, medical information and any information pertaining to children would also be secured by this FCC Privacy Rule.  Any information outside of those categories could still be shared by internet providers unless the consumer actively opts out.

Providers would be required to inform consumers of any information that they are collecting and update them of any changes. None of that had been protected until the privacy act was passed.  That means that internet providers have been able to share and sell of that information all along.

These rules also include the vague requirement that internet providers “take reasonable measures” to secure consumers’ sensitive data.  While reasonable measures remained unspecified, it was specified that if there was a breach, the providers have 30 days to notify the consumer.

The rules were going to be put into place to prevent internet providers from forcing consumers to opt into agreements where they share their information and prevent the providers from withholding service from consumers who refuse to opt in.  However, the rule did seem a bit like they providers could still charge more for their services for a refusal to opt in and didn’t provide any clear governance in the matter.  Sound a little bit like preventing mafia behavior?

The FCC plan of action was to review any instances of what could basically be termed ‘privacy fees’ on a case by case basis.  With a reported 88.5% of Americans, or 286,942,362 people, using the internet in 2016, a case by case basis seems a bit unrealistic.

Even without consumer permission, internet providers under this ruling would have been able to share information ‘anonymously.’  This ruling allowed internet providers to share consumer information without consumer permission so long as the information is made anonymous by the provider “so that it can’t be reasonably linked to a specific individual or device.”  The theory behind this is that your data could still be sold, but not linked to your device.

Another key point of interest is that this all happened due to something called the Congressional  Review Act.  The Congressional Review Act allows congress to strike down any recently passed rules by federal agencies to block FCC action.  A big concern with repealing the act, as opposed to improving it for the sake of the consumer not the corporations, is that it prevents a comparable/improved act from being implemented in the future.  Striking privacy acts out of the realm of possibility in the future. Another lesson in the political science crash course America is cumulatively taking at the school of hard knocks.

To say that the bill left a lot to be desired is an understatement, however what’s more concerning is that none of this was in place at all to begin with and consumers have been going about their online business.  All of which means, at this time it’s up to the American consumer to actively protect their privacy.

Protect your private data

Paul Linebaugh, Head of Digital Infrastructure Systems at eSecureSend.com, a secure, large data transfer firm in Durham, North Carolina gives expert insight on how the American consumer can protect their privacy.

  • Browse websites with secured connections.  Use URLs with “https://” at the beginning and look for the lock symbol on your web browser.  If you are typing in a URL by hand, start with the “https://” and bookmark URLs with it also.
  • If you use public access (like a coffee shop) then use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to secure your traffic so other patrons can’t sniff it or redirect it.  You’ll need a VPN server setup to connect to.
  • Use a password manager to create/edit/manager your passwords.
  • Configure applications to use a secure connection when possible.  Email clients would be one of the most popular that needs to use a secured connection.  For most apps you don’t really have the control to do it, the developers need to do it. This means actively looking at each of your apps to see the privacy settings and security information.
  • In addition to using a secured connection with email, you can also use Pretty Good Privacy Encryption Program. That’s seriously what it’s called, but don’t underestimate the value of a PGP, such as GnuPG to sign and encrypt emails to others.  This can be tricky, but not impossible, because the people you send the emails to also need to configure it on their end.
  • If you can, use two-factor authentication. That would be good, especially for critical or high-value accounts.  PayPal, banking accounts, and gaming accounts would be some types of accounts that could be high-value to bad people.
  • Make your email account(s) as secure as you can.  Use a long password and an encrypted connection for access.  If someone can get into your email account then they can get into a lot of your other accounts by resetting your password on those accounts and intercepting the email.
  • Encrypt your hard drives – this isn’t really an online thing, but can be related since your online passwords are probably on your laptop/desktop somewhere.
  • If you use an open wireless network or a wireless network with a known passphrase (default usually) then after you are done remove that connection from your list of known networks.  There are tools out there that allow people to pretend to be those wireless networks and reroute your traffic.
  • Don’t install anything unless it is from a known source.  Go directly to the website that hosts the program that you want to install and download it.
  • For the sites that ask for things like “mothers maiden name”, consider making something up, keep track of it, and if another site asks for the same thing make something else up.  If one site is compromised that has that information then a bad person can use it to get into your account on other sites if they have the same questions with your same answers.

The Takeaway

All of that may seem like a lot to take in on top of the fact 265 people voted to represent the American people just sold us out to corporate donors. The internet is an incredible tool that has completely transformed the way we work and live.  Make it work for you by using the above privacy measures and send an email, via a secure route option of course, to your representative letting them know how you feel and reminding them when the next upcoming election is.

The better file transfer solution for a television news station

Recently, one of our potential clients (a local TV station) approached us with the challenge of improving their file transfer workflow. They wanted to receive news footage in a timely and efficient manner. After a discovery meeting, we found out that they were relying heavily on FTP through a cellular network. These two are a deadly mix. FTP is not resilient to intermittent data connections and cellular networks are loaded with intermittent data connections.

Transferring files between 150MB to 500MB while driving around in a news truck over FTP is less than ideal. We all know the common issues with FTP transfers. Instead of rehashing, let’s just say it doesn’t work. And cellular coverage is not everywhere, as much as telephone companies like to claim.

In this client’s case, thirty minutes before the content goes live, editors are calling reporters saying that the videos they sent were corrupted or incomplete and needed to be resent. Reporters who are in the middle of working on the next story have to stop what they’re doing and resend the file. Both reporters and editors are stressed because with 5 minutes to go, neither side knows if the files will be transferred successfully.

With or without the content, the show must go on. If the file transfer fails, the work that the reporters put in doesn’t even make it to the live broadcast. This was the daily reality for our client.

Our client finds the ‘relief’ with eSecureSend

When a reporter starts a file transfer, it should just work. It should also work fast. By leveraging the reliability and speed of BitTorrent architecture (see who else is using BitTorrent), eSecureSend creates an enclosed and highly-secured ecosystem for resilient, high-speed file transfer.

Our client no longer has editors calling reporters to restart file transfers. With auto-resume features, eSecureSend is resilient to intermittent internet connections. The file transfer just keeps going until it is done. When it finishes the transfer both reporters and editors get an email notification. They no longer live in suspense!

Whether sending media content a few miles away or across the globe, a reliable online file transfer platform is an essential utility for any station. TV stations that rely on eSecureSend to reduce inefficiencies in their media workflow meet deadlines while providing the great quality programming that a station’s audience demands.

Towards a Reliable File Transfer Solution for TV Stations

Modern TV stations need a reliable way to send huge files quickly. High definition footage plus tight deadlines and fast production workflows means there is no time left over to wait for video files to be transferred from one location to another. Online file transfers are currently dominated by FTP. The architecture behind this file transfer methodology is notoriously unreliable and error-prone, especially for massive media files.

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Speed of eSecureSend file transfers is limited to bandwidth available

With any online file transfer service, your internet speed is what limits the rate of a file transfer. To determine what speeds you have, run a speed test on SpeedTest.net.

Sending a file is limited to your upload speed and receiving a file is limited to your download speed.

To estimate the amount of time for your file transfer, you’ll need to know the size of the file and the speed of your bandwidth. Once you have those two numbers, plug it into this online calculator. Of course, this is an over-simplification of the whole process but it will you give you the minimum amount of time that it will take.

Keep in mind that there are multiple factors that can also affect your speed:

  • Whether you’re hardwired to the internet via Ethernet or on Wifi
  • Distance from the router if you’re one Wifi
  • Capacity of the Ethernet cord and port
  • Traffic from other users that are on the same internet
  • Capacity of the connections between a mapped drive, the local drive and the internet

 

We’re happy to talk to you about your setup and anticipate what your transfer speeds might be. Regardless of how fast or slow it might, your file will be transferred. eSS is designed to not let speed stand in its way.