Discover how encryption works, how to verify if files are encrypted, and what to do if authorized users experience access issues.
What is Actifile encryption?
Actifile’s encryption protects sensitive data by ensuring that only users who have the Actifile agent running on their device with a valid installation key can access encrypted files. This security measure ensures that even in the event of a data breach, unauthorized individuals cannot interpret or exploit the encrypted data.
Certain applications can be allowlisted, meaning that Actifile will auto-decrypt files as these applications interact with them. For example, you can allowlist an email platform to establish a safe method to share files. Unless an application is allowlisted, external recipients will be treated as unauthorized users, denying them access to the data.
Our Encryption best practices article provides more detailed guidance on implementing this feature.
What happens when a file is encrypted?
When a file is encrypted with Actifile, authorized users experience no interruptions. The agent auto-decrypts files instantaneously, allowing them to open and use the documents. For unauthorized users, however, the file content remains inaccessible or unintelligible.
To verify if documents are encrypted, you can temporarily stop the Actifile services and attempt to open the files. This will simulate the experience of an unauthorized user trying to access your documents.
Step 1. Temporarily deactivate Actifile services.
On Windows:
Open the Task Manager and switch to the Services tab. Locate Actifile services.
First, stop the Actifile Updater service.
Next, stop the Actifile Agent service.
On Mac:
Open the Activity Monitor. Select View > All Processes in the top bar.
Locate the Actifile updater (the process is called updaterd) and click Quit.
Confirm the action.
Do the same for the Actifile agent (the process is called afmond).
Step 2. Try opening an encrypted file.
- .txt files: The file will open, but you’ll see random, unreadable characters.
- Microsoft 365 or PDF files: These will display an error message.
Step 3. Restart the Actifile services via Task Manager/Activity Monitor to restore security.
What if encrypted files don’t open?
Sometimes, users who should have access to encrypted files encounter the same behavior as unauthorized ones (described in the previous section). However, this does not necessarily indicate a ransomware attack.
Two possible explanations are:
- Auto-Decryption Failure: In some cases, auto-decryption may fail, preventing authorized users from opening encrypted files. This results in behavior similar to unauthorized access, where the content is unreadable or errors appear. To resolve this issue, refer to our Decryption Failure Guide.
- Unallowlisted Applications: External recipients will be unable to access the files unless the application used to send them is allowlisted.