In the Mission Impossible films, a message self-destructs in five seconds. Snapchat has turned that concept into a viral hit with 80 million active users.
Now, Singapore startup Digify is creating a Snapchat for documents, specifically, images, PDFs, and Microsoft Office files. In theory, it allows users to send secret documents to recipients without worrying that they will make unauthorized copies.
Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino would find it useful, after his script for upcoming movie The Hateful Eight leaked to the press. He ended up suing Gawker Media and modified his script, wasting time, money, and energy.
Digify’s usefulness extends beyond the entertainment industry. Technology companies could send blueprints to outsourced development firms and prevent the designs from being seen by competitors. Marketing agencies could pass pitches to potential clients without worrying that they would give the idea to firms that would do it more cheaply. Meanwhile, contractors could send specifications to bidders and ensure that only the winner would have a permanent copy.
But aside from the ephemeral nature of the file transmission, the comparison between Digify and Snapchat ends. While Snapchat is, well, a chat app, Digify is primarily a secure way to send and view documents. It has Dropbox integration, making it suitable for professionals who get work done on their mobile devices.
“The core of our technology is document streaming. Think of us it as a YouTube for documents,” explains Augustine Lim, co-founder and CEO of Digify. This means that unlike Snapchat, which stores photos from the sender on the receiver’s phone, Digify only stores a file on its server from the time it is sent to the moment it self-destructs.
Short of stealing the sender’s phone, this feature prevents the receiver from downloading and distributing a copy of the file since it is viewable only using the app.
It matters for another reason: when a file is deleted on your smartphone or computer, it becomes hidden rather than erased. This means that it is retrievable with expensive forensics software unless the storage space is overridden by another file. Digify avoids this challenge by storing the file only on its servers.
That’s not the only safeguard Digify has. The mobile app alerts a file sender whenever a viewer tries a screen capture, then immediately removes access to the file. The desktop version goes even further: it disables screen capture whenever the document is being viewed. All versions of Digify also have the ability to stop image capture through remote viewing tools like Apple Airplay or Droid @ Screen.
In the backend, the startup protects all user files using AES–256 encryption, and claims that engineers have no access to the encryption key (which decrypts the files) and the file content. Lim could not elaborate on where it stores the key.
Of course, there’s no such thing as foolproof security, and Digify’s measures can be overcome. A file receiver could snap pictures of the document before the timer runs out. The startup is exploring ways to prevent that, such as adding watermarks containing the receiver’s email to act as a “psychological” barrier to prevent photo taking.
But while the measure could prevent documents from going public as it would expose the leaker, watermarking probably won’t be as effective in stopping a financial document from ending up on the desk of the user’s competitor.
Wackier ways to overcome Digify’s defenses exist, such as getting someone with exceptionally good memory or fast handwriting to make notes. Then again, Digify isn’t aiming for foolproof security, and it’ll add more preventive measures in the future.
“Our aim is to build a product that will help give senders more comfort with sharing sensitive content by providing them ownership and control, even after the files are sent. Our platform benefits recipients too, as they will receive more information,” says Lim.
Is the barrier high enough?
Digify is still a work in progress, despite having a lot of cool technology underneath. Available on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac (private beta), it is free to use. The startup will add a premium version soon, after it decides what functionality to include.
It may be a few iterations away from becoming a killer app. The tricky part about technology is that user adoption will be slow if its usefulness does not far surpass the cost of adopting it. In other words, Digify’s mobile app is built on top of Dropbox, but users may not have enough incentive to sign up with Digify if all it takes to copy a document is to snap a picture.
Square faces the same dilemma by building its technology on top of credit cards as opposed to developing a replacement for credit cards. Tech writer Ben Thompson explains:
When the benefit is greater than the pain of establishing a new network, a new technology can breakthrough. However, if the benefit is only incremental, then the status quo is likely to prevail.
In Digify’s case, the process of onboarding new users isn’t exactly smooth. If I send a file to non-users, they would receive an email asking them to download the app. After installing the software, they would need to sign up and verify their email accounts before they can view the file. That’s a long process.
So, in order for Digify to become ubiquitous, it may need to do two things. First, it needs to figure out ways to make its apps more secure. Second, it has to make onboarding simpler, perhaps by adding Facebook or LinkedIn authentication or removing the need to sign in. Send Anywhere, another file sharing app, has introduced a novel way to authenticate users: it sends the receiver a six-digit PIN and a QR code which they must input or scan to view the document. Perhaps Digify can adopt a similar setup.
The company has some time to figure it out. It has raised S$589,000 (US$475,000) from Red Dot Ventures, and roughly another US$500,000 from TECS, a Singapore government grant. It is seeking more investors.
For Lim, working on Digify is a big risk. He left a cushy job in government service to start his company, which initially began as an enterprise software company that developed essentially a less scalable version of Digify for clients. The company made decent revenue quickly, but Lim wound down that business to work on a more global product.
“The road ahead is more uncertain with a new completely product and a freemium business model. On balance, we decided for it as we thought it served an unaddressed need, is more differentiated, and can scale to a larger number of users across different geographies,” says Lim.
“I’m at a stage of my life where if I don’t do this now, I will regret.”
See: This startup lets you share files safely and anonymously, and it’s easier than Dropbox
Digify, a Snapchat for documents, is a unique attempt at secure file sharing
