1 Password
Security
Software Utility
by
Bill
Newby
Many web sites you visit want you
to register your email and and a password. I, like
most of you, use a single password or a few on the
sites I visit. I have tended to keep it simple and
easy to remember. With times as they are and money
getting tighter, the crooks will start looking for
new ways to get your money. Having a simple password
will allow someone with some hacking skill to get
into your account and, if you used the same password
in all your accounts, they could have access to all
your accounts. There are spyware programs in use
today that can watch your keystrokes and capture
your info as you enter the data, which includes
passwords and credit card information.
Agile Web Solutions,
Inc. (http://1password.com/?version=2.6.1-6560)
has a solution: 1Password.
This small piece of software (approx 30mb installed)
works with your keychain to provide you with a separate,
secure password for each and every site you visit and
gives you access to these passwords with only one "super"
password. This works in most browsers. I tested it and
found it worked with each of the following browsers:
Safari, Firefox, Omniweb, Camino, and Flock. I could not
get it to show in Opera 9.5B, iCab 4.0. and Seamonkey
1.1.9. I don't have DEVONagent, but it is reported to
work. There may be other browsers that you use and you
will have to check these yourself.
If you have a Palm, iPhone or iPod Touch, you can Sync
your passwords from your Mac to the handheld. All you
have to do is click the iPhone in the tool bar of
1Password, enter the main password, click Sync Bookmarks,
then go to iTunes and sync your iPhone or iPod Touch. At
that point, 1Password should appear in the bookmarks.
These instructions
were written using Leopard, and the steps may vary
depending on the Mac OS used.
If you already
have a password set for a site and you are using
1Password for the first time, enter the user name and
password for the site, then select the 1P icon next to
the address bar. When the drop down menu appears, select
Save Form... and the next time it will be there so you
can select Restore.
If you are going to a new site where you don't have a
user name and password already, then 1password will do it
for you.
1Password will generate for you a very secure password.
When you are at a website with your browser, select the
1P by the address bar and a drop down window will allow
you to select Strong Password Generator.
Select Strong Password
Generator. The software will already have filled in the
name of the site and a name for the password you will
generate. You can select the length of the password with
a slider. You can select Pronounceable, Digest or Random.
Next you can select Use Hyphen, Use Digits, and No
Separator. It will show the password it created as you
select these options.
Protection against
Phishing: This feature alone is well worth the cost of
the program. You get emails all the time that say they
are from from ebay or PayPal. They might say something is
wrong with your account, and you need to contact them by
clicking a link to correct the problem. If you are using
1Password, when you click the link and it asks for your
name and password, you click 1Password and it will tell
you that you don't have a password for this website. This
will tell you right away that this is not a real site,
but a phishing site. You just delete the email and go on
with your life knowing you did not give away your
password and user ID.
You can also store your credit card info, and 1Password
will enter it when required. Password sniffers cannot
watch your keystrokes while doing this. You open the
1Password application and under File menu, select New
Wallet Item. It will provide you a list of choices,
including Credit Card, to select. Fill in the info, and
it will then be available under the 1P icon in your
browser.
1Password will allow you to have multi sign-ins for the
same site. Example: my wife and I each have a checking
account at one site. 1Password will provide a drop down
showing both account log-ins, and you just select the one
you want.
If you travel and use other computers than your own,
Agile has a couple solutions. With the 1Password
application running, just click on the File Menu and
select Print, only select PDF at the bottom left of the
print window, then select Save as PDF. When the next
window opens give the file a name, and then click
Security Options and check Require password to open
document and give it a password. (I gave mine the same
master password i use in my computer). Save this file to
the desktop, put it on your flash drive, and put the
drive in your pocket. When you need a password, it is on
the flash drive .pdf file. You can also access the
my1Password website and utilize your encrypted passwords
from any computer you may be using.
The 1Password files are stored in
User/Library/Keychains/1Password.keychains. You can sync
between two computers using dot Mac or you can just copy
the file and place it into the 2nd computer.
You can go to http://1password.com/
and see a very well done
Quicktime Movie demo of the application. You will also
notice the English accent of the narrator. The company
is based in Toronto, Canada.
The site http://1password.com/?version=2.6.1-6560
offers training on all
parts of 1Password as well as forums with many
questions answered. The site is very well done and
easy to navigate with icons for most of the training
and demos.
You may not think you need this type of security but give
the 30 day free trial a checkout, and I think you will
spend the $34.95 to get your registered copy.