A Blogger’s Best Friend
This little application is a blogger’s best friend. I might go as far as to name this program “Application of the Year”. This app was one of my best friends long before I started blogging. This little app is free for non-commercial use, but I would highly recommend giving the developer a tip via PayPal. By the way, I have absolutely no affiliate relationships with this guy. I just like his application.
I took a quick count of how many passwords are in my PassKeeper application this morning. The current count is at 277 entries in my copy of PassKeeper and you can see a handful of examples of those entries in the image above. That means that I have 277 different user ID and password combinations that I use for different affiliate, tool, publishing, shopping, banking, forum, email, and hosting web sites. That number also includes servers, routers, switches, firewalls, databases, ISPs, and many other devices and services that come with unique requirements for user authentication.
Do you feel my pain? Even if you are not in the technology field you are likely to have at least a dozen different user IDs and passwords for different things. I have seen people deal with this dilemma in a number of different ways. One of the most disturbing ways to deal with this problem from a security standpoint is to type all of these user IDs and passwords in clear text using a word processing application or a text editor and save it on your hard drive. An even worse practice is to carry a plain text copy around on your USB flash memory drive attached to your key ring. Or maybe you are like one buddy of mine who typed his user IDs and passwords into his email contacts list. Some people type these user IDs and passwords into a memo and then synchronize these clear text memos with their PDA. Then there is the cardinal sin. Print the sheet containing your user IDs and passwords and pin it to the bulletin board right by your computer monitor. A common variation to this is to use sticky notes on the side of the monitor to store passwords.
I have not found a hack for PassKeeper but that does not mean it doesn’t exist. Even if there is a hack for it, a cracker would have to locate the folder where you have the PassKeeper files saved to break in and access your saved passwords. You can add another layer of protection for the data contained in the application. You can store it on a PGP drive that requires a PKI Certificate and password to access. This is what I do with the folder where I have PassKeeper stored. I do back up my PassKeeper data and store it in a very secure place covered with concrete and steel and guarded by a group of US Marines. Well, not exactly, but you get the idea.
Then you might want to check out this application if you are having a hard time managing your passwords. You only have to remember one password to access PassKeeper and then you have access to the entire list of user IDs and passwords that you need to store along with helpful notes about each entry. Check out this blogger’s friend at http://www.passkeeper.com/