Password Manager
The Password Safe pass phrase and password manager can securely contain all passwords used for:
• Online web site access (keep a long complex different password for every online web site)
• Encrypted emails (keep a different unique very strong password for each person)
• All files encrypted on a PC or Windows system
• Any other passwords or credit or debit card PINs (personal identity numbers) that you may not use every day but might need to securely record for use at some time.
In addition many Customers using the QuickCrypto Password Manager also store credit card numbers and CVV (security issue numbers) within QuickCrypto.
They do this because it allows easier online purchasing using credit and debit cards. The Password Safe is opened and the selected credit card is found and the Password Safe features are used to very easily copy the required credit card and other security information into the secure online web site they are purchasing from.
Other Customers also use the Password Safe to contain the many licence or product codes they receive for software products. If reinstallation of downloaded software is needed, all of the product and licence registration codes can be quickly retrieved from the Password Safe.
The Password Manager is designed for passwords, but it is a very secure encrypted database volume and can be used to store any type of brief information in related lists.
It also includes extensive search features that enable all of the category lists to be searched for partial or full matches, find only the first entry or find all matches.
The Password Safe is also fully integrated with QuickCrypto's email and file encryption operation.
The Password Safe can be easily opened to retrieve or store a new (generated long securely random) password that is automatically applied to decrypt or encrypt files or emails when chosen - but also keeps the passwords safely and securely locked away when not in use.
Some or all of the passwords (as required) in the password manager can be exported into secure encrypted archives that can then be carried and used independently from QuickCrypto.
For example some work related passwords could be exported into an archive and this could be copied onto a flash memory stick for use on any PC. The archives are still encrypted and require a password before the password information will be decrypted and displayed.
Keeping passwords safe is even more of a necessity these days. We all collect these for online and offline purposes.
And of course if you want to keep your files, folders and emails encrypted you need to keep track of what Pass Phrases you have used for which item:
Click the image below to increase its size ...
The QuickCrypto Password Safe acts as vault to keep all of your Passwords, PIN numbers and Pass Phrases secure.
In addition it makes logging in to online password protected sites much less of a chore by auto loading your default browser to the correct web page and having easy copy and paste ability to transfer login and password details into the site.
You only have to remember one password to 'remember' them all! Even if your PC or laptop is stolen, or used by other people, no one can get your confidential details.
Passwords and Pass Phrases used to encrypt files or emails with QuickCrypto can be recorded in the Password Safe along with any others needed for other secure web sites or for any other purpose.
The Password Safe also has a built in random password generator - this creates unguessable (but also impossible to remember for most humans!) passwords. However as the Password Safe is recording this password for later use it is an ideal way to create and use extremely complex passwords for your online security.
A 15-character password composed only of random letters and numbers is about 33,000 times stronger than an 8-character password composed of characters from the entire keyboard - but they are very difficult to remember. But QuickCrypto Password Safe generates and remembers these for you!
Of course as one master Password is now protecting many passwords you must make sure that this master password is complex but also easy for you to remember.
PLEASE make a back-up of your Password Safe database (this is still secure - the back-ups are still encrypted). USB flash drives are cheap, so these could be used for backup purposes. If you secure your Password Safe with a Key File, please also make a back-up of this file!
One day you will lose your USB drive with your key file on it - or one day you will have a hard disk crash! You must keep back-ups if you expect to always to be able retrieve data from the password safe. Yes it WILL happen to you!
How do I create a secure Master Password or Pass Phrase?
The most secure pass phrases are long, random and composed of symbols and characters. This isn't convenient for human memory, and if you start writing your Pass Phrases down, it reduces your security a fair bit (it's like leaving the keys to your front door under the flower-pot outside)!
The best compromise we've come across, is to use a mnemonic and 'reduce it' and transform it into a Pass Phrase, based on a pattern you come up with and keep to yourself.
For instance, and we're not advocating you use this actual mnemonic, but take as an example, "Mary had a little lamb, her fleece was white as snow".
We could translate this memory aid into Pass Phrases of:
Mhallhfwwas
Taking the first letter of each word - note the first is a capital letter for 'Mary' - this is important to remember as Quick Crypto Pass Phrases are case sensitive (and space, symbol and number ...)
Or
M h a l l h f w w a s (space in between each letter)
Or
M-h-a-l-l-h-f-w-w-a-s
Or
Mhallhfwwas01012000 (the number being a significant date of yours perhaps)
Or
M1h2a3l4l5h6f7w8w9a10s11
I guess, you'll be getting the idea now, use a mnemonic phrase that you keep to yourself but helps you remember the content, lower or upper case, and order of the characters, then also fix a method (always put a space in between or any other symbol or combination, or add numbers in)
If you forget the Master Pass Phrase, you won't be able to access the Password Safe and all of the Passwords within will remain unreadable!
(c) 2007 - 2010 Quick Crypto, a product from http://www.cybernescence.com/
