NordLocker is a file

encryption software Encryption software is software that uses cryptography to prevent unauthorized access to digital information. Cryptography is used to protect digital information on computers as well as the digital information that is sent to other computers over t ...

integrated with end-to-end encrypted

cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, said to be on "the cloud". The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations), and the physical environment is t ...

. It is available on

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

. NordLocker is developed by Nord Security, a company behind the

NordVPN NordVPN is a VPN service provided by company Nordsec Ltd with applications for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Android TV. Manual setup is available for wireless routers, NAS devices, and other platforms. NordVPN is develope ...

virtual private network A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...

, and is based in the UK and the Netherlands. NordLocker uses a

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...

business model, where users are offered a free account with unlimited local file encryption and a set amount of cloud storage with sync and

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...

features. More cloud storage is available via a paid subscription.

History

In May 2019, NordVPN announced the upcoming launch of NordLocker, “an app with a zero-knowledge encryption process”. Although the initial

estimated time of arrival The estimated time of arrival (ETA) is the time when a ship, vehicle, aircraft, cargo, emergency service, or person is expected to arrive at a certain place. Overview One of the more common uses of the phrase is in public transportation where the ...

was summer 2019, the actual launch took place in November. The app was launched as a local file encryption tool with secure sharing. Users were able to encrypt up to 5 GB of data for free or pay for unlimited encryption. In March 2020, NordLocker announced newly implemented cloud sharing integrations with

Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...

and

Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addi ...

. In August 2020, NordLocker launched a cloud storage add-on, a feature allowing users to back up their data and synchronize it across multiple devices.

Features

NordLocker is an encryption software with cloud integration. The software uses so called "lockers" - encrypted folders to encrypt and store user files. Users can create an unlimited number of lockers, drop files in to encrypt them, and transfer lockers separately. The app uses client-side encryption to secure files on the user's device first. It's a zero-knowledge encryption system, where the developers have no data about users' files. After the encryption process, the user can decide whether to store data locally or sync it via NordLocker’s cloud. NordLocker syncs files via a private cloud, so they can be accessed from any computer with the NordLocker app installed. The program uses AES-256 and 4096-bit RSA encryption algorithms as well as

Argon2 Argon2 is a key derivation function that was selected as the winner of the 2015 Password Hashing Competition. It was designed by Alex Biryukov, Daniel Dinu, and Dmitry Khovratovich from the University of Luxembourg. The reference implementation ...

and ECC (with XChaCha20,

EdDSA In public-key cryptography, Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) is a digital signature scheme using a variant of Schnorr signature based on twisted Edwards curves. It is designed to be faster than existing digital signature scheme ...

, and

Poly1305 Poly1305 is a universal hash family designed by Daniel J. Bernstein for use in cryptography. As with any universal hash family, Poly1305 can be used as a one-time message authentication code to authenticate a single message using a key shared ...

). NordLocker uses

Libsodium NaCl (pronounced "salt") is an abbreviation for "Networking and Cryptography library", a public domain "...high-speed software library for network communication, encryption, decryption, signatures, etc". NaCl was created by the mathematician and ...

to generate a random 256-bit key and encrypt lockers. To encrypt that key, the app then uses XChaCha20-Poly1305 and the user’s master password. The local encryption is free as of December 2020 — the service monetizes cloud storage space beyond the 3 GB provided with the free plan.

Hacking contest

In April 2020, NordLocker launched the "NordLocker Bounty campaign", a hacking competition with the top prize of $10,000. To win, a person had to download an encrypted "locker" from the company's site, hack into it, and find the hidden message. Based on the NordLocker’s campaign page, there were over 600 attempts to break the locker but no one has claimed the bounty as of December 2020.

Reception

A June 2020 PCMagazine review noted that NordLocker was easy to use but lacked features like secure file deletion and two-factor authentication. In August 2020, ITPro called NordLocker’s cloud add-on a “critical feature for modern business, especially with the coronavirus outbreak forcing many companies’ workforces to remain remote.” Restore Privacy praised NordLocker for strong end-to-end encryption and the "new, lower price" but mentioned the fact that NordLocker is not open-source. Boxcryptor, another encryption service, has compared NordLocker’s security to their own but noted that NordLocker does not have a mobile application.

References

External links