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peewee12345

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 21, 2009
62
1
SD CALIF
I like to hide passwords on my computer..
Ought I buy a hide your file app for extra protection, or?
Thank you
 
I've never been convinced by "password manage/saver" apps they just don't seem secure, like anything they could be subject to an attack.

I personally save all my passwords in a password protected excel doc, saved "Cashflow" or something which doesn't scream out saved passwords.
 
I've never been convinced by "password manage/saver" apps they just don't seem secure, like anything they could be subject to an attack.

I personally save all my passwords in a password protected excel doc, saved "Cashflow" or something which doesn't scream out saved passwords.

Good thinking. I can't think of anything more secure than a password protected excel doc.
 
Not sure if serious.

He was being sarcastic. There are programs you can download that remove the passwords from Excel sheets. It's an incredibly insecure way to store information. Putting all your passwords in there makes no more sense than writing them down on a piece of paper and taping it to your wall. I hope the poster who made the suggestion was also being sarcastic, but on that I'm less certain...
 
Any advantage of using any of the 3rd party apps if it's built into OS X? Also can you have a separate password from Logging in and Keychain?

I've never seen much of an advantage other than the tracking across multiple devices with offerings like 1password, and even that it changing with Mavericks / iOS7. Keychain has strong encryption (still haven't seen mention of it being cracked), secure notes, a password suggestion tool, etc.

The login password / keychain password sync is enabled by default but can be turned off in Keychain Access > Preferences > First Aid by deselecting synchronize login keychain with account, see attachment for reference. You can then change the keychain password to something stronger. Alternately you can leave the login keychain alone and create a new keychain, with a different password, to store sensitive info.
 

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Any advantage of using any of the 3rd party apps if it's built into OS X?

The after market options do offer some extra features, primarily the ability to sync passwords across devices, but if you just need something to generate and save passwords, Keychain works just fine.

OS X Mavericks will bring password sync to Keychain if that is important to you.

Also can you have a separate password from Logging in and Keychain?

Yes, you can. Just go to Keychain prefs and tell it not to sync the login PW with Keychain, then change the Keychain PW to something different.
 
Really?

We're relying less and less on our born-in super computers with the advancement of over priced notebook computers and apps. Which super computer is this you might ask? Good luck to everyone.
 
1Password is very secure. They even tell you that if you lose your master password they cannot break it for you.

I used to be able to remember my passwords, but with having to change them for security and needing to do more secure passwords I switched to 1Password. It will create passwords for you that are quite good.
 
I like to hide passwords on my computer..
Ought I buy a hide your file app for extra protection, or?
Thank you

A free option is to create a password-protected disk image on your Mac, and store your passwords there (I do so in a password-protected Excel file within the drive :p):

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1578?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

The important thing is not to store the password in your keychain. keep it separate and away from your Mac.

The only problem with this is if you lose your password, or lose your Mac. Losing either will mean you lose your passwords for good. There's no built-in redundancy like 3rd party apps/remote servers offer.
 
We're relying less and less on our born-in super computers with the advancement of over priced notebook computers and apps. Which super computer is this you might ask? Good luck to everyone.

True, but really in this day & age is it reasonable to expect everyone to remember every one of their passwords when security is preached so heavily?

"Use a unique 12 character password, with alpha, numeral and special characters where allowed, for every one of your (probably) 20+ logins and be sure to change them every few weeks"

Possible, yes. Reasonable without creating a huge headache, no. I'm of the mindset that, if guarded properly, password keeper applications help strengthen people's passwords since they don't have to remember several different nonsensical strings of characters.
 
1Password. There's no way I could remember 20+ secure passwords. Using a password manager with a very long/secure master password, for me at least, is much more secure than me trying to come up with 20+ less secure passwords that I'm capable of remembering.

The 1Password makers have a couple of good articles, on their website, about picking a master password and how lots of "secure" passwords we come up with aren't secure at all and are easily cracked. We're just not nearly as random/creative/unique as we like to think we are.
 
He was being sarcastic. There are programs you can download that remove the passwords from Excel sheets. It's an incredibly insecure way to store information. Putting all your passwords in there makes no more sense than writing them down on a piece of paper and taping it to your wall. I hope the poster who made the suggestion was also being sarcastic, but on that I'm less certain...

Uh I think the paper on the wall solution is much more secure - at least the average cyber criminal that breaks into your machine won't be able to get the passwords.

Of course it might be different if you live in a dorm or have "friends" that like messing with each others facebook accounts.
 
1Password. There's no way I could remember 20+ secure passwords. Using a password manager with a very long/secure master password, for me at least, is much more secure than me trying to come up with 20+ less secure passwords that I'm capable of remembering.

The 1Password makers have a couple of good articles, on their website, about picking a master password and how lots of "secure" passwords we come up with aren't secure at all and are easily cracked. We're just not nearly as random/creative/unique as we like to think we are.

xkcd has a comic about it too: http://xkcd.com/936/
 
True, but really in this day & age is it reasonable to expect everyone to remember every one of their passwords when security is preached so heavily?

"Use a unique 12 character password, with alpha, numeral and special characters where allowed, for every one of your (probably) 20+ logins and be sure to change them every few weeks"

Possible, yes. Reasonable without creating a huge headache, no. I'm of the mindset that, if guarded properly, password keeper applications help strengthen people's passwords since they don't have to remember several different nonsensical strings of characters.

Use the same password but in different configurations/arrangement of caps and numbers. Remember how we all used to learn the multiplication tables and periodic table in like the 3rd grade? Do that with your mind in regards to passwords.

PLSU: The thing is, the more you use it the more it sticks inside you. Right? It should, or something is wrong or 'yall too distracted.

Hope this helped!
 
I have 375 different records in 1Password. My 1Password is VERY complex... yet I have learned to type it quite fast. My fingers just fly automatically.

A typical record would be something like:

Password: fmck6UqkCJrNEfE!xw_3DtgV

Security Questions:
  • Mothers maiden name: 3qBc'8dIbVgz
  • Favorite pet: i60y|zcPjiRL
  • First elementary school:GzJ=C7Pzz8dw
  • Date of birth - some made up date... different every time.

The value of a good password program is the automation of using the passwords. Who wants to go digging through some vault, manually trying to find the right entry, cut/paste it into a field, etc. A program like 1Password does this automatically in normal use... and keeps everything locked up and secure.

My understanding is that 1Password does not actually have any encryption code in it at all. Instead, it relies on the encryption APIs provided by the operating system. what 1Password (or equivalent) does... is make it easy to use.

Personally... I think anyone who does not use auto-generated, complex and unique single-use passwords is flipp'n nuts. Deciding on which program to use is a matter of convenience.

/Jim
 
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