Google, Dropbox and the Open Technology Fund launched an open source initiative called Simply Secure last week.

Simply Secure is a new non-profit organization aimed to improve online security. Its focus is to develop open-source security and privacy tools that are easier to use and available for everyone.

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According to Sara Sinclair Brody, former Google project manager and Simply Secure director, Simply Secure will bring together diverse groups to make security and privacy tools more user-friendly.

The Simply Secure team will work with the open source community to "develop security tools with usability in mind," Brody added.

Dropbox, a file-hosting service, believes that security should not come at the expense of simplicity or design. Users don't have to be a tech expert to "stay protected online."

Dropbox Security Engineer Devdatta Akhawe said their core value at Dropbox is to give users a delightful experience while safeguarding their data. The company is excited to tie-up with Simply Secure to help bring secure, usable tools and applications to the world.

Google also believed that "people should not have to make a trade-off between security and ease of use."

Meredith Whittaker and Ben Laurie of Google said they're glad to support Simply Secure because it helps people "secure their online lives."

Simply Secure will use its funds to sponsor usability studies for existing security and privacy tools like Off-the-Record messaging, Open Whisper Systems, and The Guardian project.

The organization will collaborate with developers, UX experts, researchers, designers and even users to work on making available resources and tools easier for people to understand and use.

Tags Open Technology Fund, online security, Dropbox, Simply Security