Mega (online service)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Globe icon of the infobox
MEGA
Website logo
"The Privacy Company"
File hosting
languages German, 43 more
operator Mega Limited
editorial staff Kim Dotcom (former), Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato, Tony Lentino (former)
user approx. 180 million (as of May 2020)
Registration Yes
On-line January 19, 2013 (currently online)
https://mega.nz/

MEGA ( Recursive acronym for Mega Encrypted Global Access ) is a 2013 founded File Hosting - service . Uploaded files can be made available (“shared”) to other users, even those who are not logged in. Kim Dotcom founded the service and held a senior position until August 2013. Since then, the company has increasingly distanced itself from Schmitz. It is considered a successor to Megaupload .

The company has 71 permanent employees and around 180 million registered users.

history

First logo 2013.

Mega is operated by Auckland , New Zealand- based Mega Limited , which in 2013 was 89.31% owned by Schmitz's wife Mona. By 2015, however, larger quantities of the company's shares were sold. The CEO since February 7, 2013 is Vikram Kumar, former CEO of the InternetNZ organization , which is committed to protecting the Internet in New Zealand.

Mega went online on January 19, 2013 at 6:48 p.m. Central European Time, exactly one year after the New Zealand police raid on Kim Schmitz's property in New Zealand , as a result of which Mega's previous service Megaupload went offline and all servers and the data on it was confiscated worldwide.

Originally the website was supposed to use the domain name "me.ga", but the Prime Minister of Gabon refused to authorize the Internet domain.

Since February 16, 2013, Mega has been accepting the currency Bitcoin via the reseller BitVoucher , thus enabling anonymous payment.

On July 4th, which was Android - app published because the service could not be used in the web browser of Android. The iOS app was released on November 27th, which among other things enables the purchase of Mega Pro via in-app purchase.

On August 9, 2013, Kim Schmitz announced that Mega would publish its own secure e-mail service in 2014. This is intended to offer users the option of sending and receiving encrypted emails without being monitored by the NSA.

MEGA has been offering an encrypted video chat since September 2014, initially in a beta version . As of January 2017, the beta phase was left. The chat function can also be used to make audio or video calls and invite other participants for group chats.

In March 2014, in connection with the announcement that it wanted to be registered on the New Zealand stock exchange, MEGA announced that 7 million registered users would access the service. According to the company's own information, the number of users increased to over 15 million by February 2015, to around 40 million by April 2016 and to 50 million registered users by August 2016. In December 2016, MEGA greeted its 62 million registered users with a Christmas greeting.

On July 30, 2015, Kim Schmitz publicly distanced himself from Mega in a question and answer session on Slashdot . He said the company "suffered from a hostile takeover by a Chinese investor who is being investigated for fraud in China," and that he doesn't believe "your data is still safe with Mega."

properties

Mega uses a freemium business model in which the basic service with 15 GB of storage is offered free of charge. Additional services such as more memory or more bandwidth are chargeable.

In addition to being used in the browser, Mega can also be used for automatic synchronization and data backup of any folder with the free MEGAsync software .

Encryption

All files are encrypted using the AES-128 algorithm before uploading . The mega-servers only contain encrypted files that cannot be accessed without the encryption password. Since this is not sent to the mega-servers, files cannot be checked for copyright infringements and would therefore be protected from hackers or other users without the password. When the files are downloaded, they are decrypted again locally in the web browser .

Since January 21, 2016, the source code of many MEGA services (such as web clients or smartphone apps) can be checked for security gaps via Github.

Storage space

  • The following is offered free of charge:
    • 15 GB storage space, in addition you can earn up to 35 GB storage space free of charge by participating in the bonus program - for a certain period of time. After that, the 15 GB limit applies again or a premium package is purchased. (Bandwidth varies)
  • Paying users are offered:
    • 400 GB storage space (12 TB available bandwidth annually / 1 TB available bandwidth monthly)
    • 2 TB storage space (48 TB available bandwidth annually / 2 TB available bandwidth monthly)
    • 8 TB storage space (96 TB available bandwidth annually / 8 TB available bandwidth monthly)
    • 16 TB storage space (192 TB available bandwidth annually / 16 TB available bandwidth monthly)

criticism

Encryption

There has been criticism that the infrastructure of the service by dynamically loaded from the website JavaScript - code was vulnerable. This is checked for authenticity and integrity through the use of a MAC algorithm ( CBC-MAC ) that is considered unsafe . Mega responded to the criticism with a bonus program for found errors in the encryption, according to which the finder receives up to € 10,000.

Transfer of data

According to the terms and conditions, "communication logs, traffic data, site usage and other information related to us supplying the services" and "personal information in uploaded data" (“Any personal information included in data uploaded to our system”). These can be sold to “authorized resellers and service providers”. The encryption does not lead to the anonymity of the user.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c About MEGA - The Privacy Company. In: mega.nz. Mega Limited, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Worried about Kim Dotcom's tweet concerning MEGA? In: www.mega.nz. Retrieved July 9, 2016 .
  3. ^ Mega Limited in the New Zealand Companies Office directory .
  4. ↑ Mega signs 500,000 members on first day, Dotcom claims. In: nbr.co.nz. Retrieved February 9, 2016 .
  5. ↑ MEGA. In: mega.co.nz. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Mega attack: Kim Dotcom starts Megaupload successor - Digital - Süddeutsche.de. In: sueddeutsche.de. Accessed December 14, 2013 (German).
  7. ↑ Kim Dotcom starts Mega - SPIEGEL ONLINE. In: spiegel.de. Accessed December 14, 2013 (German).
  8. ↑ Dotcom goes for NZ web address - Story - Technology - 3 News. (No longer available online.) In: 3news.co.nz. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013 ; accessed on December 14, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.3news.co.nz
  9. ↑ Mega now accepts Bitcoin as payment, also hints at e-mail, chat, voice expansion - SlashGear. In: slashgear.com. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  10. ↑ MEGA. In: mega.co.nz. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Mega Announces Secure Email Service - Newsslash.com. In: newsslash.com. Accessed December 14, 2013 (German).
  12. ↑ Mega: Cloud service with integrated messenger. In: computerbild.de. Retrieved January 8, 2017 (German).
  13. ↑ MEGA announces plans to be listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. In: mega.nz. Retrieved January 28, 2015 .
  14. ↑ MEGA Changes Payment Systems. In: mega.nz. Retrieved July 17, 2015 .
  15. ↑ MEGA has 50 million registered users! In: mega.nz. Retrieved January 8, 2017 .
  16. ↑ We wish our 62 million registered users happy holidays and a successful 2017! In: Facebook.com. Retrieved January 8, 2017 .
  17. ↑ http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/07/27/200204/interviews-kim-dotcom-answers-your-questions
  18. ↑ http://www.golem.de/news/kim-dotcom-daten-auf-mega-sind-nicht-mehr-sicherheit-1507-115519.html
  19. ↑ a b What are Achievements? In: mega.nz. Mega Limited, January 31, 2020, accessed March 8, 2020 .
  20. ↑ MEGA. In: mega.co.nz. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  21. ↑ MEGAsync. In: mega.co.nz. Retrieved June 2, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Mega: Dotcom comments on security concerns - News - CHIP. (No longer available online.) In: chip.de. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013 ; accessed on December 14, 2013 (German). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chip.de
  23. ↑ Mega arrives: Hands-on with Kim Dotcom's new cloud storage site - Ars Technica. In: arstechnica.com. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  24. ↑ MEGA source code transparency. In: mega.nz. Retrieved July 9, 2016 .
  25. ↑ How do you regulate transfer quota utilization? In: mega.nz. Mega Limited, October 31, 2017, accessed March 8, 2020 .
  26. ↑ MEGA account upgrade. Mega Limited, accessed June 30, 2017 .
  27. ↑ Mega's first crypto faux pas - heise online. In: heise.de. Accessed December 14, 2013 (German).
  28. ↑ MEGA. In: mega.co.nz. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  29. ↑ MEGA. In: mega.co.nz. Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
  30. ↑ File sharing: Mega starts with a lot of noise, but few functions - ZEIT ONLINE. In: zeit.de. Accessed December 14, 2013 (German).