Is it possible to keep the masterkey.cryptomator file offline?

[cm262292]

Hi,

TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt allow for alternate locations for configuration files, so I see no real downside in allowing advanced users to do this.

Yes, it adds a layer of complexity, but this would obviously be for advanced users who want to put in the extra effort to do this. You could even give them a warning.

To answer your questions:

@tobihagemann

• How do I know which masterkey file belongs to which vault? Yes, you could solve it with an identifier or something like that but that’s not currently defined in the vault format. Yet another change.

You could implement this, but it’s not necessary, imho. The user could simply rename the masterkeys to something that helps them keep things organized. This should be the user’s responsibility.

If you want to add an identifier sometime down the road, that sounds like a good idea. But it’s not necessary in order to achieve the basic functionality.

@tobihagemann

• How do I make sure that I have access on my mobile devices? You would probably need lengthy instructions on how to import the masterkey file from your Desktop computer to your mobile device (and vice versa). Yet another change.

Users can either import a copy of the masterkey file using native functions of the operating system, or copy and paste the text contents of the masterkey file into a text field.

I don’t believe either of these options would require lengthy instructions.

@tobihagemann

• How do I make sure that there are backups of the masterkey file? What if your computer/laptop breaks and the masterkey file is getting lost, even though your encrypted data is still in the cloud. That means they become useless? This is a hell of a big problem that can’t be just ignored, you have to think about usability as well.

This is the user’s responsibility. Give them a warning to make sure they understand the consequences.

All in all, I think this would be a good feature to implement for people like me who want to keep the masterkey offline, and you could keep the implementation simple.

No, it’s not “one line of code”. But adding code to allow for a different path/filename for the masterkey shouldn’t be difficult, neither should adding code to allow users to import a masterkey or paste its contents into the mobile app.

Thanks