1Password – Simple Password Management on a Mac
How to Remember and Protect Passwords on Mac OS X
Oct 10, 2009
Secure computing encompasses a series of important steps including firewalls, regular software updates, backups, and good password management. Password management involves choosing secure passwords that are changed on a regular basis.
Ideally the same password should not be used in more than one location. A password management program like 1Password simplifies this process by storing passwords and generating secure passwords.
With the Internet becoming a fixture in the daily life of many users, secure passwords are more important than ever. Banking, emailing and shopping are just some of the daily online activities that have the potential to expose private information. Since the average Internet user has accounts on many different sites, it's tempting to use from one to three regular passwords that are repeated across sites.
Unfortunately if one of these passwords is compromised, this means that several accounts may be accessible to a hacker. The solution is to use strong passwords that aren’t based on a dictionary word, and have a different password for every account. Remembering all those passwords can be quite difficult and writing them down or saving them in a text document completely defeats the purpose.
Securely Storing Information With 1Password
Password managers are the solution to this problem. 1Password is a program designed to simplify password management for Mac users. It can be used to remember passwords, credit card information, and even bank accounts. The secure password generator can be used to create strong passwords for each account. As its name suggests, users only have to remember one password to access their information.
1Password is a very secure method of protecting passwords. All information is stored locally, either in an OS X keychain or an Agile Keychain, which is a method created by Agile Web specifically for 1Password. Since information is stored locally using AES encryption technology, and can only be unlocked with the user assigned password, user information is well protected.
In addition to storing a variety of logins and passwords, 1Password can be used to securely store other sensitive information. The wallet feature can be used to store credit card and bank account information. The identities feature saves all manner of address information, for example storing work and home addresses separately, and automatically making it available to fill out forms. Any other information can be stored in secure notes that are also encrypted.
Integrating a Secure Password Generator and Web Browsing
Storing passwords is only part of what a password manager does. 1Password comes equipped with a secure password generator. It can be used to create a variable length password that isn’t based on any dictionary word. There are options to set the length of the password, which can consist of upper, and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. There is also an indicator to show the strength of the generated password.
Storing and generating passwords is certainly useful, however most of this information is used to log in to web accounts. There are add-ons available for most of the popular web browsers, allowing for seamless integration and use of stored passwords. The list of supported programs includes: Safari, Firefox, Camino, Flock, OmniWeb, Fluid, iCab, NetNewsWire, DEVONagent and WebKit.
The integration makes it easy to access all the program features from within the browser, coupling the web interface of the program, with the security of storing passwords outside of it. For example, using the Firefox toolbar, Safari button, or context menu, the password generator can be accessed, stored passwords can be entered, and credit card information can be supplied. 1Password will also prompt users to save new passwords as they are entered.
Keeping Passwords Synchronized Across Devices
Recent versions of the program have added a final convenience for users with more than one Mac. To access passwords on the go, an iPhone or a Palm device can be updated automatically from within the program. To sync two Macs, a third party service or program such as Dropbox or Chronosync can be used to synchronize the Agile Keychain across more than one Mac.
Information security has become an important concern for computer users, and Mac users are no exception. A well thought out data protection plan doesn’t have to be difficult to maintain when using password managers, automatic backups and updates. 1Password is an excellent password manager to add to any system.
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