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data security

AXEL Go Receives Update with “Secure Fetch” Feature

AXEL developers never stop coming up with ways to improve our privacy-focused file-sharing platform. Sometimes, we wonder when they have time to sleep! They must dream of computer code.

Snooze schedules aside, they’ve outdone themselves with the latest addition to AXEL Go. The feature is called Secure Fetch, and it allows anyone to share on our secure network.

Now, AXEL Go users can request files from anybody -even those that do not have AXEL accounts. All they have to do is send a Secure Fetch to the intended recipient. It’s an open link the recipient clicks. They then upload the requested documents and send them back safely and privately.

Finally, you can stop relying on dodgy email attachments and insecure cloud services to get the files you need. We like to think of it as a digital courier service. Except our couriers don’t stop off for a latte on the way to retrieve your confidential materials.

A feature for professionals

Secure Fetch is an excellent way for professionals to receive documents from clients and colleagues. The ease of use, the flexibility to send anyone a request, and the secure nature of the underlying file-transfer program make it the best choice. Everyone can take advantage of the three remarkable technologies that make AXEL Go an industry leader in data protection.

First, AXEL Go utilizes a decentralized network of servers throughout the world. We call these servers Masternodes, and they use the IPFS protocol to enact peer-to-peer file transfers. The IPFS has significant advantages over traditional HTTP, such as better performance, persistent availability, higher data integrity levels, and decreased likelihood of duplicate content.

The second technological pillar of AXEL Go is blockchain. Known for its inherent security and transparency, blockchain was an obvious inclusion to our platform. Our blockchain produces the AXEL Tokens needed to fuel shares throughout the network. Timestamps are added to each block so that transactions are stored immutably by date. This allows for simple verification of all transfers while keeping files private. It’s the best of both worlds.

The third component of our secure network is optional encryption. When sharing, the sender can password protect the files with AES-256 bit encryption. It is a robust encryption algorithm that safeguards your documents from unwanted viewers.

Using all three in conjunction makes AXEL Go the best way to send files securely and confidentially. Secure Fetch is a bridge that allows non-tech-savvy individuals to gain the benefits of AXEL Go without signing up for an account. We recommend all AXEL Go users to make good use of this revolutionary new feature.

Try it now

AXEL Go is available on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. If you’re interested in sharing and storing securely wherever, whenever, try it out today. Sign up for our free, full-featured Basic account and receive 2GB of private storage with enough AXEL tokens to fuel thousands of shares.

Why Data Breaches are so Damaging and how the Law has Failed Consumers

Very few times in history have a group of people sat down with the purpose of writing a set of new laws to improve society. Instead, what usually happens is that laws are written to solve specific problems. This leads to a litany of laws piling up over the decades. While it could always be debated how effective a particular law might be at accomplishing its goal, the rapid pace of technological advancement over the past 20 years – especially as compared to the pace of the lawmaking process – has introduced new challenges as laws become quickly outdated, sometimes even by the time they take effect.

The results of this are acutely apparent in the cross-section between the fields of cybersecurity and consumer protection, namely data breaches.

The magnanimity of consumer protection laws in the United States were written for a society concerned with immediate product safety and compensation for resulting injuries, not for the nebulous and incalculable injuries that may be sustained by potential millions when private records are exposed.

Why are data breaches so damaging?

The unique problem of data breaches stems from the fact that the breach of privacy carries in of itself no specific harm. Instead, it is the later misuse of information that has been breached that may lead to ensuing harm. However, with data breaches occurring on a near-daily basis, the causality of specific financial or reputational damage is nigh impossible to link to a single breach causally; with our laws written around the concept of calculable damages being the source of justified remuneration, we are left constantly and increasingly victimized but unable to seek just compensation.

Some would argue that even more problematic is the irreparable nature of many of the most severe data breaches. Once a name and social security number are leaked, that identity is permanently and irreversibly at risk for being used fraudulently. While one could always apply for a new social security number, the Social Security Administration is extremely reluctant to issue new identities, and while that is a debate for another time, it goes to show just how difficult it can be to recover from a breach. Victims are permanently marred and at increased risk for future injuries resulting from a single breach, no matter how much time has passed.

Because of the damage resulting from a data breach being so far removed temporally and causally from the actual breach itself, adequate compensation is rarely won, if it is even sought. Was it the Equifax breach, the MoviePass breach, or one of the innumerable other breaches this year that resulted in your identity being stolen and used to take out fraudulent loans a decade from now?

Moreover, even if you should find that it was MoviePass’ negligence that leads to your identity being stolen, what compensation can you seek from a company that has been defunct for years? Our laws were not written to address these issues adequately. Our legal system often does not ponder questions of uncertainty and possibility, and that’s the perfect summary of what victims face in the aftermath of a breach; uncertainty and possibilities.

For all the uncertainty victims face, the solutions going forward as a country are equally opaque.

It would be easy to write some draconian law to punish companies for exposing private data, but as is often the case, that could have unintended consequences, such as pushing data overseas where even looser security and weaker privacy laws may exacerbate the problem. Instead, it’s going to take a significant shift in our collective-consciousness over how data is handled.

Laws written for managing telecommunications and transmissions in that era are being used to handle complex cybersecurity and data privacy cases.

This can’t come just from one party though; companies need to seriously consider what data they need to collect, and what information needs to be retained on a long-term basis. Consumers have to take ownership of their data and demand a higher quality of service from corporations and governments over how their data is collected and used.

As a whole, we must recognize the value of data, and the dangers we expose ourselves to by collecting it (and why it might even be best to not collect data at all in many circumstances).

Just like holding valuables such as gold and art entails a security risk, so too does data. If people started treating data like the digital gold it really is, maybe then we could all come together to work out a solution.

But until then, I’ll be keeping my data to myself.