Sharing Sensitive Documents With a Third Party

Best practices for sending sensitive files to a third party—and why copy protection is stronger than encryption.

You have a document, video, or audio file with sensitive information and need to send it to someone else. What’s the safest option?

Three common choices come to mind: email, Dropbox, or a USB flash drive.

Sending an email is like sending a postcard. It’s open to interception, and anyone determined enough can read it. Most of the time nothing happens, but relying on luck with sensitive data is risky. Encryption improves email security, but file size limits (usually around 20MB) make it impractical for large videos or datasets. And once decrypted, the file is free to be copied or shared without restriction.

Dropbox solves the size problem by letting you upload large files and share a download link. However, Dropbox doesn’t encrypt files by default. You can password-protect a compressed archive, but the same weakness applies: once decrypted, the file is wide open to manipulation or unauthorized sharing.

That leads to a critical question: Do you trust the recipient?

If the answer is not absolute, encryption alone isn’t enough. Encryption protects files in transit, but once the recipient enters the password, they can do whatever they want with the content. In legal or professional contexts where proof of integrity matters, copy protection is the stronger option.

It’s important to distinguish the two. Both encryption and copy protection use cryptography, but encryption relies solely on the user’s password. Copy protection, on the other hand, limits what can be done with a file once opened. Files can be viewed but not saved, printed, streamed, or exported—ideal when sharing with someone outside your circle of trust.

USB flash drives are the third option. Again, you could encrypt the files and send them, but that doesn’t solve the trust issue. A better solution is a Copy Secure flash drive manufactured by Nexcopy. These drives are designed specifically for sharing files with recipients you may not fully trust.

Copy Secure drives are hardware write-protected after data is loaded, making them permanently read-only. Files cannot be deleted, reformatted, or tampered with. Encrypted viewer software on the drive works for both Windows and Mac, blocking attempts to save, print, capture, or export the files.

Additional digital rights management features are included. Files can be set with optional passwords, expiration dates, or permissions that allow printing only when necessary. By default, everything loaded is copy-protected. This ensures the recipient can access the data but cannot misuse it.

There’s another advantage: delivery proof. Email and Dropbox leave you without a way to prove that files were delivered. A USB drive can be sent by certified mail, FedEx, or UPS with tracking. Combined with hardware-level protection, this ensures both security and accountability.

In summary: encryption is fine when you trust the recipient, but when you don’t, copy protection provides stronger safeguards. Nexcopy’s Copy Secure drives combine encryption, access control, and proof of delivery—making them the best option for sharing sensitive documents with third parties.

Source: Nexcopy Inc. under USB Copy Protection