Patent ID: 8320558

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for synchronizing encryption of information, the method comprising: receiving a selection of one or more types of information by a user, wherein the one or more types of information are synchronized across a plurality of computing devices; generating an encryption status information indicating that the one or more types of information selected by the user are to be encrypted; sending the encryption status from a first one of the computing devices to a server, wherein the server distributes the encryption status to each of the other computing devices; receiving changes to information at the first computing device; determining whether the changes correspond to the one or more types of information selected by the user; if the changes correspond to the one or more types of information selected by the user, then performing the steps of: encrypting the changes with a cryptographic key; and sending the encrypted changes from the first computing device to the server, wherein the server distributes the encrypted changes to each of the other computing devices; receiving a selection of a type of passphrase by the user; generating a second encryption status indicating the type of passphrase selected by the user; and sending the second encryption status from the first computing device to the server, wherein the server distributes the second encryption status to each of the other computing devices.