In today’s digital era, more and more companies are collecting an unprecedented amount of sensitive data regarding their customers’ personal information, including their names and addresses, as well as their browsing habits, banking information and online purchase history. This sudden and aggressive rise of data collection is a direct result of the digital revolution that has transformed the way businesses interact with their customers. While collecting user data is valuable for improving customer experience and tailoring advertising for consumers worldwide, doing so also raises serious concerns about how data is used, who has access to it, and how well it is protected. It’s no secret that in today’s world, most services not only collect, but also share and sell its users’ personal data to multiple companies and organizations worldwide. For example, PayPal has revealed that it shares its collected user data (including name, address, phone number, date of birth, IP address, bank account information, and recent purchases) with hundreds of entities around the world. Therefore, it is more important than ever before to protect your personal data online. Enter Cloaked, who recently launched its Cloaked app, a privacy app and web-based platform that gives people control of their personal data by enabling users to create unlimited, secure virtual identities, including working phone numbers, emails, usernames and passwords for their existing online accounts, all in real time.
From online shopping and dating to interacting with financial services and healthcare providers, the Cloaked App helps consumers to take control of their personal data and how they share it, while also reshaping how industries access, use, and think about collected user data at a global scale.
WHO IS CLOAKED?
Cloaked is a consumer-first privacy and security company based in New York, United States that’s focused on providing consumers worldwide with an efficient, safe, reliable, and easy-to-use everyday privacy solution that allows them to protect their personal privacy effortlessly.
Founded by brothers Arjun and Abhijay Bhatnagar, Cloaked is dedicated to enabling individuals to take control of their personal data in real time with unlimited and secure unique virtual identities. By using the company’s recently launched Cloaked privacy app and web-based solution, individuals can choose when, where and with whom they share personal data from their browser extension or mobile device.
Cloaked is Arjun and Abhijay’s second startup together. The brothers built and sold their first startup — Hey! HeadsUp — in 2016. Just four years after selling their first startup company, Cloaked is the result of more than a decade spent building together and the realization that privacy has to start with enabling the individual to be in control of their own information. Arjun is a three time tech startup founder and is currently the director of a nonprofit and was a partner in RallyCry Ventures. Abhijay worked for MITRE, and as their youngest ever engineer, worked on building a universal healthcare record.
To date, the company has raised $34 million in funding and is backed by Lux Capital, Human Capital, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Index Ventures, Jeff Weiner from Next Play Ventures, All Turtles, Khosla Ventures, Michael Ovitz, and the Chainsmokers’ Mantis Fund.
Just recently, Gadget Gram’s own Editor-In-Chief, David Novak had the pleasure to interview Cloaked’s Co-founder and CEO, Arjun Bhatnagar, who mentioned that “With user data being available almost everywhere on the internet and with other online users having easy access to that data, this can sometimes lead to stalking, scams, as well as spam, fraud, and several other issues that can negatively impact one’s life. Based on that concern, we’ve created a comprehensive product that creates a virtual version of you everywhere you go, which we call a unique identity, consisting of an email, a phone number, and soon even a credit card, all of which are particularly unique to each online service that you’re using and registered in, whether that’s a platform like Amazon, Uber, etc., or even if that simply involves receiving an email from a realtor that you’ve been talking to when going through a home buying journey or trying to look for an apartment.”
Arjun explained that: “The idea behind Cloaked is that each virtual identity created through it is a unique piece of data that’s related to every online service and/or platform you use in order to help make your life a bit more organized. So ultimately, even if there’s a breach, and your data is compromised and potentially stolen, you can still be in control of your personal data and privacy, as you can simply turn it off and manage how the data corresponding to that unique identity works. Essentially, Cloaked works like a password manager where you can save all your virtually generated user data in one place, so you don’t have to remember any of it.”
Arjun also proudly mentioned that: “The first and most important principle of the Cloaked App is that each user owns their data. This is because all the user data that’s used and generated within the app is encrypted on a client-side through end-to-end encryption with a zero-knowledge architecture, meaning the company itself can never access it. Therefore, even if any user data was to be stolen or comprised, it wouldn’t affect its corresponding users. Cloaked has also taken it a step further with the Cloaked App, which our competitors have not done, where whenever a user signs up for a new account in the Cloaked App, a brand-new database is created for every single user. The concept behind this approach is that each user actually owns their data, as the company doesn’t have direct access to it. On top of that, since all user data is zero-knowledge encrypted, even if somehow any of that data was going to be stolen, the people behind that act would not only have to hack the company itself, but also hack each user individually just to be able to acquire said data.”
Arjun finished by noting that: “The Cloaked App runs on the background as you’re browsing online, so whenever you’re presented with a text field for an email, password, or phone number, the app automatically creates all of that data for you as a virtual identity, no matter if you’re on an internet browser or on mobile”.
WHAT IS THE CLOAKED APP?
The Cloaked app is essentially a consumer-privacy app and web-based safety platform that gives people control of their personal data in order to protect their privacy by enabling users to create unlimited, secure virtual identities, including working phone numbers, emails, usernames and passwords for their existing online accounts, all in real time.
Cloaked’s all-in-one privacy solution combines identity masking via instant phone number and email creation, plus user credential and management tools, with organization resources all available in one place. With it, online users can seamlessly personalize their virtual identities and consequently eliminate the potential of privacy exposure, including spam calls or text messages, all without being forced to choose between participating in day-to-day, online living and personal data protection.
In other words, the Cloaked app allows its users to transform all of their existing accounts into secure virtual identities with just one click.
Some of the Cloaked app’s most notable functionalities include:
- Real-time, unlimited phone number and email creation with two-way routing so identities are never revealed.
- Personalization features that allow individuals to turn identities on or off, elect to auto-forward communication to existing email or phone numbers and more.
- A personal, encrypted database and end-to-end encryption across the platform, including zero-knowledge architecture, to ensure maximum security for Cloaked users.
- A built-in password manager, making it seamless to save and access information across web and mobile devices.
Furthermore, the app also features end-to-end encryption with a zero-knowledge architecture to provide automatic credential updates, thus enabling consumers to cloak all of their existing passwords instantly, while also making all of their personal data completely self-owned.
Lastly, Cloaked has also released another innovative new feature for its Cloaked app, called AutoCloak, which enables individuals to automatically change their credentials at once, regardless of where personal data may exist or what services or products they’ve signed up for previously. This new feature also systematically updates all of a user’s different usernames and passwords in case they’ve become compromised through a merchant breach, thus easing the stress of identity theft while also immediately increasing the security of that user’s personal data.
PRICING & AVAILABILITY
The Cloaked app is currently available as a Chrome extension, and is also available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store respectively for iOS and Android devices.
The service normally costs $15 per month or $180 per year, but it is currently discounted to just $10 per month (saves you $5) or $96 per year (saves you $84) as a limited-time offer. Subscribing to the service gives users the ability to create unlimited identities within the Cloaked app. You can sign up to it via Cloaked’s official pricing page.
The company is also offering new users a free 14-day trial for testing out the Cloaked app and its many privacy and security features for online safety.
FUTURE PLANS?
Cloaked is the first privacy platform to be both ISO27001 and ISO27701 certified for its overall management of information security and privacy practices.
With a continued focus on its users’ security and the goal of further extending the privacy features offered by its Cloaked app, the company is soon planning to release a new functionality called Cloaked Pay, which will allow users to generate Cloaked cards in order to securely perform online payments without giving away the information that’s associated with their real cards. In short, Cloaked Pay will allow privacy protection of card numbers and unlock user card controls to prevent privacy exposure, fraud, and data breach potential.
Arjun also mentioned that Cloaked is launching another new feature as part of its service offering called “Identity Theft Protection. The program provides Cloaked subscribers with up to one million dollars in insurance coverage in case of identity theft, as well as 24/7 expert team support.
If you’re interested in learning more about Cloaked or the Cloaked app, simply visit Cloaked’s official website.
