This file sharing app is fast and convenient, but watch the trade-offs

Korean software startup Estmob has a file-transfer app that is fast, easy, and totally free. With no required logins or file size limits, the program can send files from any device, to any device, and on any major platform or web browser – features fitting for its name, Send Anywhere.

Since we featured the app last year, tech reviews have been gushing about its simplicity. It even won Tech in Asia’s inaugural Seoul pitch-off in May, earning the team a trip to Singapore.

Send Anywhere allows super-fast file transfers by bypassing the cloud.

All you need to transfer a file is the app and a six-digit number. After opening the program, a user clicks “send,” picks the files, and tells the receiver a simple numerical key that expires after 10 minutes. The receiver enters the key on his device, and the files transfer peer-to-peer in a snap, no matter their location or network. If they need more time, users can also get a 24-hour public link that briefly puts the file on Send Anywhere’s server, where it can be shared with anyone.

Co-founder and chief strategy officer Kang Su-hyuk tells Tech in Asia that Send Anywhere’s strengths are not only in its simplicity and speed, but also its security. Cloud storage is very vulnerable to hacks and subject to data loss, and even the simplest services require a login, which makes it risky and a headache to use on foreign devices, he says. Send Anywhere doesn’t worry much about data loss – instead, it promises to delete the files within 24 hours.

“Cloud-based services are open to these kind of risks. We believe that if you want to keep your privacy and your private content, people should not upload it to a server,” says Kang. “So maybe Send Anywhere can help you avoid the cloud.”

Despite its nebulous logo, Send Anywhere transfers files p2p, only using its server as a cloud for 24-hour storage and delayed transfers.

This strategy has earned it a fanhood of 1 million monthly active users in over 190 countries and a US$1 million backing from Rakuten. But is this app really that much easier and safer than the cloud?

That might depend on who you ask. One security expert tells Tech in Asia that a diligent hacker could clean out every file being transferred through Send Anywhere in 10 minutes.

He also says he was able to run several attacks on the program in less than that amount of time. After being blocked, all he did was switch browsers using the same IP address, meaning he could indefinitely keep carrying out attacks by opening new browser windows.

“From a very brief look, it is clear that either no one with security expertise has reviewed the product, or else the security people they [have] are completely clueless,” says Aviram Jenik, CEO of Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity firm Beyond Security. “If I was Jennifer Lawrence, I wouldn’t send my pictures through this service.”

Send Anywhere’s desktop app. Transfers can also be made through any Web browser.

Simple vs. secure

Waving the security flag