Mega (service) - Wikipedia

Cloud storage and file hosting service This article is about the file hosting service. For other uses, see Mega (disambiguation).

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2024)

MEGA
Original author	Kim Dotcom
Developer	MEGA Cloud Services Limited
Initial release	19 January 2013; 13 years ago (2013-01-19)
Written in	PHP, C++, JavaScript, Java, Objective-C
Operating system	Microsoft Windows macOS Linux Android iOS Windows Phone Browser extension
Available in	18 languages[1]
List of languagesEnglish, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Indonesian, Thai, Italian, Vietnamese.
Type	Cloud storage VPN Video conferencing File hosting service Remote backup service
License	MEGA Limited Code Review Licence (source-available freeware)
Website	mega.iomega.nz
Repository	github.com/meganz

Mega (stylised as MEGA) is a file hosting service offered by Mega Cloud Services Limited, a company based in Auckland, New Zealand, and owned by Hong Kong-based Cloud Tech Services Limited.[2][3] The service is offered through web-based apps. MEGA mobile apps are also available for Android and iOS.

The website and service was launched on 19 January 2013, by Kim Dotcom, who had founded the now-defunct service Megaupload, which was seized by the United States government in 2012. However, in 2015 Kim Dotcom had distanced himself from the service and stated that the New Zealand government had seized the shares of a Chinese investor and has control of the site. Mega Limited responded that the authorities have not interfered with its operations.[4]

History

[edit]

MEGA was launched by Kim Dotcom in 2013 as a cloud service and successor to Megaupload.[5][6] On 4 July 2013, the MEGA Android application was released on the Google Play marketplace.[7] Four days later, on 8 July 2013, the MEGA software development kit (SDK) and affiliate program was released.[8]

In February 2013, MEGA announced it would be expanding into e-mail, chat, voice, video, and mobile.[9] In December 2014, MEGA said it would "soon" launch a browser-based chat service.[9] In mid-January 2015, MEGA launched MEG Chat in beta,[10][11] marketed as a web-based, encrypted alternative to applications like Skype and FaceTime.[10][11]

Files hosted on MEGA are end-to-end encrypted. As a result, the company cannot decrypt or view the content, and cannot be responsible for the contents of uploaded files.[12] In the first few weeks after the MEGA launch, various security problems were found that researchers said an attacker could use to gain access to a logged-in user's files.[13][14][15]

On 4 September 2013, Kim Dotcom stepped down as Director of MEGA so he could pursue his political ambitions with the Internet Party.[16] In a later interview with The Washington Post on 7 September, Kim Dotcom announced MEGA was getting 20,000 signups for the service every day.[17] Furthermore, in 2013 MEGA was receiving about 100 DMCA takedowns per day.[18]

On 26 November 2013, the official MEGA iOS application was released on the App Store marketplace.[19] On 20 January 2014, the official MEGAsync application was released for Windows[20] and on 6 September 2014, the official MEGAsync application was released for Linux.[21]

In January 2016, MEGA announced that the service has 35 million registered users that have uploaded 12 billion files.[22] Later in 2016, MEGA Ltd. released the source code to their client-side software under the Mega Limited Code Review License, a source-available software license, on GitHub.[23] This allows independent verification of the correctness and integrity of the implementation of MEGA's cryptographic model and service reliability.

On 5 September 2018, it was reported that the extension on the Chrome Web Store was compromised by the addition of code designed to steal website credentials and cryptocurrency.[24][25][26]

In 2021, MEGA added a domain name to include Mega.io and Mega.nz.[27]

See also

[edit]

• Comparison of file hosting services
• Comparison of file synchronization software
• Comparison of online backup services

References

[edit]

1. ^ "Mega". Mega LTD. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
2. ^ MEGA Limited Archived 10 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine in the New Zealand Companies Office Companies Register.
3. ^ Stevenson, Rebecca. "Mega, the encryption company that wants to be everything". businessdesk.co.nz. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
4. ^ Duckett, Chris. "Mega denies claims by Kim Dotcom of NZ government control of company". ZDNet. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
5. ^ Manhire, Toby (20 January 2013). "Mega spectacle at launch of Kim Dotcom's new file-sharing site". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
6. ^ Stevenson, Rebecca (28 September 2020). "Mega, the encryption company that wants to be everything". businessdesk.co.nz. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021. Mega, the new company, was launched in 2013. And this time around the company wouldn't pay for popular uploads – depending on being a more traditional cloud storage service ... Mega's tagline is: 'the privacy company.'
7. ^ "MEGA". mega.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
8. ^ "MEGA launches SDK and Affiliate program". Official blog. 8 July 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
9. ^ a b Protalinski, Emil (28 December 2014). "Kim Dotcom's Mega to launch browser-based encrypted video call and chat service 'soon'". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
10. ^ a b Mathews, Lee (22 January 2015). "Kim Dotcom launches MegaChat, the video chat service even Snowden trusts". Geek.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
11. ^ a b Condliffe, Jamie (22 January 2015). "Mega Just Launched End-to-End Encrypted Audio and Video Chat". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
12. ^ Graeber, Charles (28 March 2013). "Megaupload Is Dead. Long Live Mega! | Threat Level". Wired. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
13. ^ "SpiderOak's Analysis and Recommendations for the Crypto in Kim Dotcom's Mega, Part One". Spideroak.com. 23 January 2013. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
14. ^ "A word on cryptography". Mega.co.nz. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
15. ^ "Mega's first week - a retrospective". Mega.co.nz. 26 January 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
16. ^ "Worried about Kim Dotcoms tweet concerning MEGA? - MEGA". 23 April 2016. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
17. ^ "Kim Dotcom is still wanted by the FBI. But that isn't slowing him down". The Washington Post. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
18. ^ "Keynote at OSDC 2013". Internet Ganesha. 7 November 2013. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
19. ^ "MEGA". mega.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
20. ^ "MEGA". mega.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
21. ^ "MEGA". mega.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
22. ^ "MEGA turns 3!". 20 January 2016. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
23. ^ "Mega Limited". GitHub. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
24. ^ Kan, Michael (5 September 2018). "Mega.nz Chrome Extension Hacked to Steal Logins". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
25. ^ Cimpanu, Catalin (4 September 2018). "MEGA.nz Chrome extension caught stealing passwords, cryptocurrency private keys". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
26. ^ Nguyen, Chuong. "Hacked Chrome extension disguised as legitimate version steals logins". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
27. ^ "Additional Domain for MEGA: mega.io". 18 January 2021. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.

External links

[edit]

• Official website

v t e File-hosting services
Active	Backblaze Baidu Wangpan Box Cryptee CloudMe DocuWare Dropbox GameFront Google Drive IBM Connections iCloud Drive Infomaniak kDrive Jumpshare Kiteworks Livedrive MediaFire Mega Nextcloud Microsoft OneDrive pCloud Proton Drive Resilio Sync Seafile ShareFile SpiderOak SugarSync Syncthing Tencent Weiyun TitanFile Tresorit Smash WeTransfer Yandex Disk
Inactive	Amazon Drive Drop.io FileServe Firefox Send Hotfile Humyo i-drive iDisk LIBOX Library.nu Megaupload Norton Zone Peer Impact Pogoplug RapidShare SteekR Twango Ubuntu One Wuala Xdrive Yahoo! Briefcase ZumoDrive
Category Comparison of file hosting services