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Dropbox New Plans: Pay If You Want 2FA

40 points| saool | 9 years ago |dropbox.com | reply

45 comments

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[+] smarx|9 years ago|reply
Engineering Manager at Dropbox here. Sorry for the confusion! This is an error on that page, presumably some miscommunication between groups at Dropbox. 2FA continues to be an available feature for all Dropbox users. The only difference between plans is that team plans allow administrators to require 2FA for all members of the team. That page will get updated soon to explain that feature properly.

See https://www.dropbox.com/help/363 for more information.

[+] smarx|9 years ago|reply
Just to close the loop here, we’ve updated the page to include a checkmark for 2FA in the Pro column too. Again, all account types can use 2FA (and we recommend that they do!), and teams can additionally require 2FA for all their members.

See the updated page here: https://www.dropbox.com/plans?trigger=nr.

[+] toomuchtodo|9 years ago|reply
Does that means that API access isn't getting deprecated as well for Individual accounts?

Control-F "API access for data transport”

> Transfer data from your existing solutions with 25,000 included API calls per month. For additional data transport needs, contact our sales team.

Absent for individual accounts.

[+] sparky_|9 years ago|reply
Edit: Seems 2FA is in fact available on all team plans. Please disregard.
[+] sparky_|9 years ago|reply
What incredibly poor planning on their part. Put me down for 10 on "reversal of decision following shaming by security community".
[+] omgitstom|9 years ago|reply
I'm sure Dropbox is going to get a lot of flak for this. 2FA based on the provider that they use may not have been cheap. Authy is $0.09 an auth, if you integrate with Twilio, you get SMS charges that vary on price based on country / provider.

The easiest/cheapest solution is to roll your own TOTP and build an app. This is useful for web, but may be pointless on mobile (if the mobile device is unlocked, then you have access to the TOTP app or SMS).

Business people probably looked at the cost per user and couldn't offer it at a lower rate.

[+] alexkavon|9 years ago|reply
You wouldn't need to roll your own app. Just use the Microsoft Authenticator app or the Google Authenticator app, they're the same thing and don't require a direct connection to the user account. Lots of articles on the net on how to accomplish this kind of thing for $0 in extra services.
[+] 9NRtKyP4|9 years ago|reply
I enabled 2FA on my Pro Dropbox account because they allowed my account to be hacked back in August. Now I have to pay for their security mistakes?
[+] hellofunk|9 years ago|reply
Wow this is shocking. A big step back for user security. Even a paid Pro account for individuals does not include 2FA?!
[+] hellofunk|9 years ago|reply
I just checked and my Pro account for Individuals still shows 2FA "enabled" so this page is confusing.
[+] Mithaldu|9 years ago|reply
And they hide important features in the team tier, but set the team tier to a minimum of 5 users.

E: Wait, WHAT IN THE FUCK?

2FA is in the team tier, so it's a minimum of 50$ to get 2FA.

[+] bmon|9 years ago|reply
This is sad news. While they've had their issues, I've always found dropbox to be one of the more responsible and reliable tech companies. Supplying 2fa for only paid users almost seems like they're taking hostages - "Pay us more or your account will be less secure" doesn't sound like a company whose services I would want to be using. Shame.
[+] robbiet480|9 years ago|reply
Not seeing anything about this. When I clicked the link I got pushed to a re-subscribe page since I previously signed up. Opening in Incognito also doesn't show anything about 2FA.

EDIT: Screenshots provided below now. They already rolled the page back.

[+] kordless|9 years ago|reply
http://imgur.com/a/mO8KQ

The paid "pro" plan has no 2FA. "standard" does, but is a few extra dollars a month.

Beside the poorly named accounts, the idea of paying for security is a good one, but not when it affects the customer experience of securing their own passwords. Security in the infrastructure is an option. Optionally securing my account using 2FA is not.

Dropbox, you are being dorks.

[+] JonRB|9 years ago|reply
They's weird, I just clicked on the link and it was there...
[+] ac29|9 years ago|reply
My free account definitely still has 2FA. Does this mean if I upgraded to "Pro" I'd actually lose that feature?
[+] nickm12|9 years ago|reply
No. See Smarx's comment. Every Dropbox account can have 2FA.
[+] keehun|9 years ago|reply
Is there no more free-tier? I thought pricing pages usually included the free tier in it to demonstrate what money buys.
[+] RickS|9 years ago|reply
Did anyone manage to grab a screenshot? Looks like it's been rolled back. No mention of 2FA anywhere.
[+] bpaluzzi|9 years ago|reply
It's also a 92% increase in price for Business plans, for a decrease in storage. Ridiculous.
[+] juice_bus|9 years ago|reply
I find it odd that not even the Pro plan has 2FA according to the pricing matrix.
[+] schnevets|9 years ago|reply
That's the kicker to me as well. It suggests that Dropbox doesn't appreciate their self-employed customers.

That and showing prices "per month" on the billed annually plan just suggests deceit and greed. All of this confusion for an extra ~$25 per year per user.

[+] alexkavon|9 years ago|reply
Odd they would do this considering all their competitors offer 2FA for free...
[+] antoineleclair|9 years ago|reply
I opened a support ticket to give my opinion, I suggest you all do the same.