Published: March 22, 2006
Password Management Software Improves Security Model
New software program strengthens security of password management and at the same time, greatly improves convenience and ease of use.
A next generation internet password manager, offering much-improved security, convenience and ease of use is almost ready for release and needs beta testers.
The software generates a unique secure password for every web site based on your Master Password and allows you automatic "1-click" secure web login.
These days, we all have dozens of web sites to login into, including bank, credit card and other financial accounts, shopping web sites, email service, community and many other online services. Because most of us can't remember so many passwords, we tend to use the same password for different web sites or write passwords on a piece of paper.
"These practices lead to substantial security risks." says Ratmir Timashev, president and CEO of AMUST Software. "1-Password helps a you to dramatically reduce the security exposure associated with Internet passwords. It helps to mitigate the risks from spyware, keyloggers as well as phishing attacks providing stronger security and ultimate convenience".
Unlike other password managers on the market, 1-Password does not employ a password database and does not store your passwords or encrypted passwords anywhere, which results in less risks from spyware and stronger security. Instead, it uses a one-way hash (HMAC-MD5 encryption) of your Master Password and the web site address to generate a unique password for the web site. For example: "Master Password" + "www.citibank.com" = "unique secure password for your Citibank online account". The password is generated "on-the-fly" at the time of your login.
The key benefits of this approach are:
Strong Security - You have different, strong passwords for every web site, yet you only need to remember one Master Password. In addition, your passwords are not stored anywhere and are generated only at the time of login mitigating the risks from spyware that can target the database of passwords that would otherwise reside on your PC. Also, "1-click" automatic login dramatically reduces the risks from keyloggers and phishing attacks as there is no need to type the login and password, and the web site address cannot be faked because the genuine URL is stored.
Convenience - Another innovation introduced by the program is the use of your personal email (such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Google mail) to store and automatically synchronize program data and configuration settings between computers, if you use more than one. As a result, you can securely login to your web sites from home, office or any other computer where 1-Password is installed without the need for manual synchronization. The automatic synchronization offers the ultimate convenience and portability for anyone who uses more than one computer.
In addition, you can generate passwords from any other computer using the 1-Password online service: http://www.amustsoft.com/1-password/online/
Ease of Use - You only need to remember your Master Password. The "1-click" automatic login feature makes login fast and easy. To login to a web site you just point to the appropriate bookmark and yoou are automatically logged in.
The 1-Password program is a browser plug-in, currently only for Microsoft Internet Explorer, but support for Firefox is planned soon.
Two versions of the program are available. The free version allows you to have 10 Web logins and the Pro version allows unlimited logins.
AMUST 1-Password Beta is available right now as free download at: www.amustsoft.com/1-password/download/, with the version 1.0 scheduled for release in Q2, 2006.
More information is available at: www.amustsoft.com/1-password/
AMUST Software, was founded in March 2005 by Ratmir Timashev and Andrei Baronov, the founders of Aelita Software, a provider of systems management solutions to enterprise Windows environments. Aelita Software was acquired by Quest Software in March, 2004.
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