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INESC TEC creates safest photo app on the market

INESC TEC creates safest photo app on the market

Safecloud photos was launched on HASLab’s Open Day, on 8 September

The safest photo app on the market is Portuguese and has been developed by researchers from INESC TEC’s High Assurance Software Laboratory (HASLab). SafeCloud Photos was launched on HASLab’s Open Day, on 8 September, can now be downloaded on Play Store (for Android) and on App Store (for iOS).

  

Why is SafeCloud Photos the safest app on the market?

Because for each photo saved by the user, the app produces two or more pieces of information and scatters them through different online storage services, protecting the data even if any of those services is compromised.

The key differentiating factor of the SafeCloud Photos is the way it saves photos on the cloud.

We normally save our photos on different services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or others, but this process is not safe. We are not only handing our photos to companies over which we have no control, but we also know that governmental surveillance programs can access those photos, as Edward Snowden revealed in 2013.

  

“Each photo is partitioned in multiple administrative domains that are unlikely to collude, so that sensitive data can be protected by design.  This information can only be accessed using our own devices, because only that way can we access all pieces of information simultaneously. Right now there is no solution on the market that offers the same level of security as SafeCloud Photos”, explains Francisco Maia, researcher at HASLab and one of the app’s developers.

According to the researcher, even though the app’s main focus is privacy, the photo app can be very complete as it offers added privacy without having to relinquish any of the features offered by other apps on the market.

  

This app has been developed as part of European project SafeCloud, led by INESC TEC, which has received €3M from the European Commission to fight the violation of private data in cloud services.

App launched as part of HASLab’s Open Day

The SafeCloud Photos app was launched as part of HASLab’s Open Day, which took place at INESC TEC on 8 September.

The Open Day began at 09:30 am with a message from the Chairman of INESC TEC’s Board of Directors, José Manuel Mendonça, and a presentation of HASLab by Manuel Barbosa, one of the lab’s engineers and lecturer at the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto.

  

“Software Quality” was the main topic of the 11.00am debate, which featured five leading companies in the software field – OutSystems, Critical Manufacturing, Feedzai, Primavera and I2S.

For José Nuno Oliveira, researcher at HASLab and professor at the University of Minho who moderated the discussion, the software quality problem is, like so many others, a problem of education.

  

“Even though professions that require solid background in mathematics remain well positioned in employment lists, we must agree that mathematics is going through a rough period in the West. This makes it difficult to understand the thesis that software is governed by mathematical laws and that (as I say in my classes) it is no more than 'mathematics in motion'. Unfortunately, solving this problem is difficult because very few institutions teach mathematical modelling in software design. Therefore, we can conclude that the problem of programming quality is, like so many others, a problem of education. Industry and universities need to work together to face this problem, as it happened 50 years ago”, explains the researcher.

  

The “2016 HASLab Open Day” also featured an exhibition of posters authored by researchers and students working in high assurance software.

After the SafeCloud Photos app was launched by researchers Francisco Maia and João Paulo, Alcino Cunha, also coordinator at HASLab, closed the session.

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC, UP-FEUP, UP-FCUP and U. Minho.