Balboa, an app built by the security firm PKC Security

What is Balboa App About?

Balboa, an app built by the security firm PKC Security, is a team collaboration app that uses end-to-end, client-side encryption to protect its users file transfers and team communications. Users sign up with their email and password, can invite their team or colleagues, and can immediately begin sending secure, encrypted files and chats to their team members.

Balboa’s end-to-end encryption means that  only you have the keys to your data. We couldn’t read your data even if we wanted to.

Balboa runs directly in the browser, encrypting your data with your password, and does not require complicated software installations or downloading a browser plugin.

Why do we need Balboa App?

If you’ve ever sent an email that contained sensitive information, and wondered whether it was safe to do so (which it is not), you know that communicating sensitive data online is difficult.

Balboa makes sending encrypted files and messages to your team or external colleagues extremely simple.

Balboa provides something called “client-side encryption”, which is an essential component of next-generation cloud services. Current cloud models encrypt data in transit, but the data is accessible on the cloud providers servers. Security breaches are a daily occurrence, client-side encrypted cloud services enable users to obtain the benefits of a cloud service (global accessibility, reliable access, etc.) while remaining protected from the added risk of data breach, third-party data sharing, or “organizational doxing” style hacks.

Who is this Balboa for?

Balboa is designed for teams of 5 or more, and can either be used internally within an enterprise, or externally with colleagues, contractors, or clients. Currently, Balboa is being used by law firms, security service firms, and global non-profit organizations.

Balboa can be used for one month completely free (no credit-card required), and afterwards costs $4/user/month (with a minimum of 5 paid accounts). This makes Balboa extremely affordable to businesses that do not have the capital to invest in expensive, cumbersome security solutions, but which still require reliable security for their clients.

What makes Balboa stand out from Others?

When it comes to team collaboration like Slack and HipChat, Balboa is the only end-to-end encrypted offering out there.

Our end-to-end encryption is performed behind the scenes, and unlike current popular end-to-end encryption schemes like PGP, does not require any security knowledge to work.

Finally, our file upload/download feature is extremely fast, and consistently outperforms Dropbox and other competitors.

What’s Next to Balboa?

Balboa is currently working on Android and iPhone apps, and expects them to release by early 2015.