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RiftVault 1.0

by Scott McNulty Jul 24th 2008 at 12:00PM

RiftVault, which we covered when it was in a pre-release state, is now a full 1.0 release. $39.95 will get you this snazzy app which stores your important information the way it should be stored: using encryption. RiftVault is designed to hold credit card information, passwords, banking info, and even files that you want secured (using the very clever 'Safe Deposit Box' feature).

Everything that RiftVault stores for you is encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption. When you open an item it is unencrypted and cached for fast access only to be flushed from RAM when you close the item. Check out our gallery to get a glimpse of what this app has to offer.

RiftVault is available now for $39.95 and there is a free 30 day demo.

RiftVault 1.0

  • 30 day trial
  • Setting your RiftVault password
  • Time Machine suggestion
  • Prefrences
  • Main window


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RiftVault, which we covered when it was in a pre-release state, is now a full 1.0 release. $39.95 will get you this snazzy app which stores...
 

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homan2

Thanks for the article, it was much more interesting than I expected it to be. Great software too - I just wish it didn't keep asking me to save a new password for all my engadget/tuaw comments.

July 26 2008 at 12:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
NightOne

As security and cryptography guru Bruce Schneier writes: the "easiest way to break a cryptographic product is almost never by breaking the algorithm".

See the first few paragraphs of his essay here:

http://www.schneier.com/essay-028.html

Attacks come in the form of social engineering, over the shoulder looking, thefts, etc. When the news was plastered by all the reports of lost corporate data and account information on their customers, it wasn't happening as a result of an encryption algorithm being broken.

Thanks

Carl S.
Chief Evangelist
Agile Web Solutions
http://1password.com/
http://switchersblog.com/

July 25 2008 at 10:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sodapop

How is this better than a password protected Excel or Open Office spreadsheet?

July 24 2008 at 4:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to sodapop's comment
Daphne

It's much better than mere password protection. There are reasonably easy ways to hack into a file that has only a password. Once you _bypass_ the password layer (without guessing the password), all the data is there for anyone to view in plain sight.

Encryption adds much more security because the data is scrambled and looks like gibberish (it's encrypted). So you cannot just bypass the password - you'd have to guess it for real. Assuming that the user has set up a password that's hard to guess, there is no way in.

July 24 2008 at 4:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Daphne

OK, the help clear some confusion:

* 1Password uses Keychain, which in turn uses TDES. So, it is what Apple provides, and 1password ties into it. This is a surprisingly old algorithm for Apple to be using in Leopard... (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_DES)

* RiftVault uses AES. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard)Which is the standard used by the NSA, the US government, etc. It is the gold standard, more secure than TDES.

* Also: AES is approximately six times faster than TDES.

* It also offers File (and folder) encryption. As far as I know, it's the only application for Macs that can do this. It's a great feature and a lot of e people are missing it!

* RiftVault might look "pretty" but is a serious app under the covers.

* Personally, I used to use SplashID on my Palm/Mac till now. But now I am migrating to RiftVault because it's the best solution I have found. (SplashID uses Blowfish encryption - not very secure compared to AES.)

July 24 2008 at 3:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Daphne's comment
Zimmie

I think that's the first time I've seen triple DES called TDES. Most people write it as 3DES.

3DES is still secure enough for the foreseeable future. It still takes a week on specialized hardware to crack a single DES key. The reason AES is becoming more widely used isn't so much because it provides better security as it is because it provides that security with fewer processor cycles. Further, it's easier to implement in dedicated silicon, so small devices can have a cheap, low-power ASIC to handle the crypto.

As for this being the first app to allow file and folder encryption, take a look at Disk Utility some time. With it, you can make encrypted disk images. Just be sure to have at least a 19 character password for 128-bit AES or a 37 character password for 256-bit so your password can have enough entropy to make the key length meaningful.

July 24 2008 at 6:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zimmie

Actually, correction. 3DES is secure enough for the overwhelming majority of uses because it still takes disproportionately more effort to crack it than the information is normally worth. It is not secure enough for some things.

July 24 2008 at 6:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Angel

Tried this before. Won't try this again. It's useless!

July 24 2008 at 2:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Perceval McElhearn

I think Intego's FileGuard is better. http://www.intego.com/fileguard/

July 24 2008 at 1:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Perceval McElhearn's comment
Fritz Laurel

I just looked at the screenshots of FileGuard and immediately closed the window. U-u-u-ugly.

I appreciate developers developing stuff, but that's one app I will never be using.

July 24 2008 at 8:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
CaptSaltyJack

Doesn't 1Password store all my info with AES encryption?

July 24 2008 at 12:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Robert

Am I missing something?

Is there anything this program does that 1Password does not do?

I do like the look of it, but it doesn't seem to "do" anything with the information you store, unlike 1Password which populates webpages with passwords, identities, credit card info, etc.

Full disclosure: I use 1password, paid for a license, but am not affiliated with the company in any way.

July 24 2008 at 12:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Robert's comment
Big John

That's what I was coming here for. I'm starting to use 1password just today actually, and I'm confused. I don't see the advantage of this program.

July 24 2008 at 1:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

Why use that (expensive) application when the built-in Keychain does all that for FREE ??

July 24 2008 at 12:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Mark's comment
Fritz Laurel

Well, for one, Keychain isn't secure. For two, have you ever tried to manage more than a few items in Keychain Access? It's pure madness. Not to mention the interface for KA sucks big time.

July 24 2008 at 8:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
escargot

This is really overdoing the "delicious"-ness. It looks like it's sacrificing usability for eye candy (and I really dislike the theme). There are other tools out there that are less graphics-heavy and more practical.

July 24 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to escargot's comment
Patte

Amen.

I for instance love Secretbook from i-Graph. It was everthing i look for:
- fast copy/paste function
- highly customizable
- fast fast fast.

July 24 2008 at 8:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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