Dropbox opens Sydney office, as company is criticised for lack of information regarding Heartbleed bug

United States online storage business Dropbox has announced it’s opening its first Australian office, with the business opening in Sydney to better support users in this geographical region.

But the announcement of the new move has been overshadowed by reports Dropbox buried an announcement about being affected by the Heartbleed bug in a user forum.

The Australianreports Dropbox executives admitted to only posting a blog post about the vulnerability.

Heartbleed is a web encryption flaw which makes it easier for hackers to steal users’ passwords and personal information.

According to the Dropbox blog post the company has patched all its public-facing systems running OpenSSL and re-keyed and re-issued SSL certificates for all Dropbox domains and services in response to the Heartbleed bug. It also urged users to change their passwords regularly.

Most forum commenters were thankful for the information, but others indicated official communication via email would have been more helpful and some expressed frustration with how long it took Dropbox to post about Heartbleed.

Dropbox’s services are used by major Australian companies such as Macquarie Group, Mirvac and Atlassian and the company said yesterday it believes opening an office in Australia is the right move for the business.

Dropbox’s new Sydney office will be the first for the business in the Australia Pacific region and indicates its intention to attract more local businesses.

 “By opening our first APAC office in Sydney we gain access to Australia’s great pool of talent, and can serve more local users and businesses as we continue to grow,” Dropbox chief executive Dennis Woodside said in a statement.

However, as well as copping criticisms over its handling of the Heartbleed bug, the company has also recently angered some users by appointing Condoleezza Rice to its board of directors.

Dropbox is currently used by more than 275 million people and in over 4 million businesses. Each day more than 1 billion files are saved using Dropbox.

The business currently has offices in San Francisco, Dublin, Austin and New York.

New South Wales deputy premier and minister for trade and investment Andrew Stoner said in a statement Sydney was a “natural home” for Dropbox.

“Sydney is quickly building a reputation as the hub for many of the world’s most advanced and innovative companies, illustrated by the arrival of another top US company like Dropbox,” he said.

“Sydney is a natural home for Dropbox and our talented workforce will play a major part in the expanding Dropbox story as the company continues to build its international presence.”