Introduction

We've always wanted an online application that would allow us to securely store our passwords.

For years we've used various utilities, including Genius (a Windows PC application written by Coda Hale) to store passwords and have found them invaluable. Coda stopped enhancing the product several years ago, but it has nevertheless continued to serve us well. However, Genius doesn't work well with multiple computers... if you forget to update the password.dat file from one computer to another, things are out-of-date or lost altogether.

A web application would be a great way to implement this, we thought, but putting up a database-backed application was a little too much: we've used Perl and Visual Basic for years, but the frameworks that were developed there always required too much work to get started.

And then along came Ruby on Rails... we figured this would be a good way to learn RoR and do something useful: this web application is the result. We followed basic Agile principles in developing this site, so you won't yet see a lot of spit & polish yet: but the basic functionality that we wanted is there and we are using the site ourselves now.

Demo Account

Sample Data

This is an example of your information on display (only the 3 secured fields are displayed):

This is that same information encrypted in the database:

Privacy Policy

1. We will not use, sell, or give away your information.
2. We will not use, sell, or give away aggregated information from this site.
3. We will use your email address only for communication with you about this site.
4. We will do our best to keep the information on this site secure and free from unauthorized access.

How to Get Started

You'll need a user id and password to use this site. Make the password as secure as possible (minimum of 5 characters; use any character you want such as numbers, letters, special characters). To use the site, do the following:

1. Click on "Signup" and fill-in the form with your information. You will get a confirmation email once this is complete.
2. Once you've signed up, you can click on "Login" to access your account.
3. Click on the "Create New" link to add a new entry. There are fields with an assumed name, but you can use any field for whatever you want.
4. The "Type" ("Entry Type") field allows you to select different kinds of information that you might want to keep secure.
5. The three fields "User ID", "Password", and "URL" are encrypted when stored in the database, for added security.
6. Each user has their data uniquely encrypted... your account password is one element of the encryption, so that only you can retrieve your data.
7. You can edit/delete entries, simply by clicking on the "Edit" or "Delete" links to the right of each entry.
8. Use the "Feedback" page to send us comments, suggestions, bug reports.
9. Enjoy!

Disclaimer

Of course, if you are an insurance provider and wish to offer us coverage at a reasonable price, we'd be glad to offer appropriate warranties.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to the following folks for their help:

• The Ruby on Rails community - thanks for a great framework!
• Richard White and AjaxScaffold - a great UI for maintaing Rails data.
• Pelle Braengaard and EzCrypto - easy to use and secure crypto library.
• RailsPlayground - affordable and very supportive Rails hosting.
• Minimalistic Designs - for their CSS-based web template.
• Our families - for their enduring patience and support.