Secure messaging service TigerText announced an API integration today with Dropbox that will allow users to send documents securely, with features like a pre-set lifespan and the ability to recall a file attachment at any time. Documents will be encrypted and cannot be downloaded, copied or forwarded.
TigerText president and Co-founder Brad Brooks tells us that the integration has a wide range of targeted users, from “anyone who uses Dropbox” to businesses that need to send secure files. Brooks sees wide-ranging applications of the technology, from transporting confidential legal and medical files (the platform is HIPAA compliant) to facilitating group collaboration in financial services firms to delivering event tickets with an expiration date and recall ability. He says a large agency in Los Angeles approached TigerText because they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on courier services driving around scripts.
“Anyone who has information that they would like to be able to share through messaging but won’t build a platform themselves can now have an extension to communicate in a secure fashion,” Brooks tells us.
He adds that TigerText will introduce the feature to their consumer-side immediately to test it while tweaking any issues on the fly; they will then migrate the collaboration to TigerText’s enterprise-side by the end of the week. Users will be able to access their Dropbox accounts through the TigerText iOS app immediately. The company says the feature will be made available on Android and Blackberry “in the coming weeks.”
This announcement comes months after TigerText released “TT2,” an updated platform with new features like group messaging and message recall.
Brooks and co-founder Jeffrey Evans came up with the idea when they were out to dinner and Evans, who was supposed to be picking up the tab, left early. Brooks told him to text his credit card number, and the two began discussing secure messaging channels. They realized there was an opportunity and began working on a prototype for the consumer side. They realized it could also have a significant impact with enterprise clients, and started focusing on industries, especially healthcare.
“We fully expect that there will be a lot more competitors coming into this space,” Brooks says. “It’s time has come. It’s the confluence of four different trends: bring your own device, the rise of SMS, the rise of mobile and associated tablets and the cloud.”
However, Brooks added that he believes the time TigerText has been in the space, their extensive capital supporting them and their 1.5 million downloads to date gives them a significant advantage.
Update (10:02 PM): Brooks has clarified that it is an API integration with Dropbox, not a formal partnership. (11:14 PM): Changes have been made to the headline and text to reflect this clarification.