An Open Source Secure File Sharing System Upspin by Google !

Google has always been renowned for providing awesome services for its users whether we take the name of its email client that is Gmail or its cloud storage system that is Google Drive. Now Google has come up with something completely different which has the power of changing the way of sharing a file or folder completely. When we make use of cloud storage services like Google Drive or DropBox, here in order to share a particular file we need to make certain configuration and changes to the security of the files before we can share it. This whole process of configuration might prove a little bit tricky for some users out there.In order to get rid of this tricky situation, Google has come up with an Open Source File Sharing System called as "Upspin".

Source: fossbytes.com

• According to Google's Software Engineers, Upspin is not a web service or an app but it is a suite of software components that are intended to run over the network and on the various devices that are connected to it that in complete provides a modern and secure way of storing and sharing files or folders.

• The two most notable feature of this Open Source File Sharing System is its access control and encryption. Access Control will allow the owner of a particular to assign different levels of accessibility to a file, these levels can be read, write, delete and other permissions to the user whom with the file is shared.

• Once a user has been added to Upspin, his/her email address will be used as the main source of sharing files over the web, for example, lets us assume the email address is admin@techincaldose.in and I want to share salary.docx file, then my sharing path will become admin@technicaldose.in/folder_name/salary.docx. Now if the user wants to share the complete directory for the purpose of reading only then he/she will have to provide the reading permission by "read:admin@techincaldose.in".

• Upspin will come up with encryption capability as well and at the both ends on the sender's end and on the receiver's end a private key will be used, in order to decrypt the sent data which will happen automatically.It is implementing the Asymmetric Encryption. 

Also Read: What are Encryption and Decryption.

• Upspin has been presented as an Open Source Project by Google and now it is the responsibility of developers to integrate it into their programs and to make it an efficient and secure way of sharing files. The project source code is available on GitHub.


• The main purpose of this Project is to provide the complete control of files and folders into the hands of users rather than relying on third party service providers like DropBox or Google Drive, now only time will tell how this project gets implemented and what GUI should it come with to make it easy and secure for user to share files over the web.

That's all in this article of mine, I hope that this project gets implemented very soon and we will be able to share our files more easily and securely like never before.