Dropbox Question

[rammer549]

Does dropbox use the mac os x keychain for anything? I have tried asking dropbox support but they just referred me to FAQ, which doesn't say. I am using mac os x mountain lion and latest version of dropbox. I don't see any entries in my keychain for dropbox. The app seems to be working fine, just want to clarify about keychain...seems to be a touchy subject since dropbox support won't respond.

[Weaselboy]

I run Dropbox also and like you, I have no entries for the Dropbox app in my Keychain... so I'm going to say they don't use the keychain for PW storage.

Edit with what I think is the real answer:

After looking in the Dropbox forums a little more, I found a couple tidbits that I think point the way.

From the last post in this thread:

For versions 1.2 and higher (current forum builds), Dropbox uses the Keychain on the Mac to verify your identity and provide an additional layer of security. You may get a popup about Keychain, and you should "always allow" Dropbox to use the Keychain.

Then here in the old release notes for version 1.2:

Security enhancements, an attacker will not be able to steal your computer's account credentials just by copying configuration files to another machine.

So what it looks like is they are not using the Keychain to store the password, they are just having the local Dropbox password storage file (it appears to be in ~/.dropbox/hostkeys) look for the presence of your authorized Keychain before allowing access. So if you moved the hostkeys file to another machine, it would not work.

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by rammer549

Does dropbox use the mac os x keychain for anything? I have tried asking dropbox support but they just referred me to FAQ, which doesn't say. I am using mac os x mountain lion and latest version of dropbox. I don't see any entries in my keychain for dropbox. The app seems to be working fine, just want to clarify about keychain...seems to be a touchy subject since dropbox support won't respond.

Dropbox - Why does Dropbox require Mac Keychain access?

Dropbox requires access to your Mac's Keychain to help verify your account and to provide another layer of security over your Dropbox application settings.

By using your Mac's Keychain, Dropbox is able to take advantage of the security features the Mac's Keychain provides. To grant Keychain access to Dropbox, simply press Allow or Always Allow (recommended for seamless access) when prompted to do so from Mac OS X.

Clicking Deny will result in a "Couldn't start Dropbox" error message. For security reasons, Dropbox will not start without access to your Keychain.