Introduction

by Alco Blom

If you are anything like me, you've probably got a growing number user IDs, passwords, registration keys, PINs, serial numbers, and the like, stored in various places on your Mac or scribbled on miscellaneous pieces of paper around your home or office. When you stop and think about it, you probably have more of these pesky bits of information scattered about than you realize.

The proliferation of the Internet is exacerbating this situation. Increasing numbers of commercially-oriented sites, such as the NY Times, require some form of registration even simply to view content. Other transaction-oriented sites, such as Amazon.com, or personalized sites, such as My Yahoo, require passwords for personal services. Many sites now use cookies to track users, but if your cookies files get deleted or corrupted, you'll have to re-enter your usernames and passwords.

I decided to write a software program to manage passwords and the like; it is called Web Confidential. It uses an intuitive, easy-to-use cardfile metaphor which will enable even novice users to get up to speed in no time. Power users will find a large number of options to enable them to configure Web Confidential to meet their specific needs. I think you will be especially impressed by the tight integration Web Confidential offers with your favorite Internet applications, such as Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Fetch and Anarchie. I've taken full advantage of the Mac OS's outstanding facilities, such as Interapplication Communication and Shared Menus, to make Web Confidential work seamlessly with these programs.

Last but not least, Web Confidential permits you to encrypt your password files, protecting this sensitive information from prying eyes, using the state-of-the-art "Blowfish" algorithm [1]. The Blowfish algorithm was published four years ago, and has been proven extremely resilient to cracking. No known successful cryptanalysis against Blowfish exists.

Web Confidential supports keys of up to 448 bits in length.

Note: Palm and Windows versions of Web Confidential are also available. Please check the Home Page for details.

[1] - Applied Cryptography, Bruce Schneier, 1996. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
(see also http://www.counterpane.com/blowfish.html)