ConcealSYS Viewer

Nobody likes having to remember dozens of complicated passwords. Google has even proposed to replace passwords with a high-tech magic ring that would authenticate users automatically. ConcealSYS Viewer (1,548 rupees direct, about $28) takes a completely unique approach to password management, one that has more in common with the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring of the 1930's than with modern technology.

The company touts ConcealSYS's patent pending "digital steganography" technology, designed to let users view secret text like passwords and PINs securely. What that means is, the user can look up a password without the risk that someone else might see it. I'm convinced that this is indeed the only product using this kind of technology; I can't imagine anyone else wanting to copy it.

What It Doesn't Do
If you're accustomed to using a full-featured password manager like LastPass 2.0 or Dashlane 1.1, you'll find ConcealSYS a bit hard to fathom. It doesn't integrate with your browser. It doesn't capture login credentials. It doesn't automatically log in for you. You won't find an option to fill personal data on Web forms. Like mSecure Password Manager, ConcealSYS is more a database for your secrets than an active password manager.

The product comes pre-configured with a username of "concealsys" and a master password of "D123456789." You'll want to change the password right away; I couldn't find any way to change the username.

The new master password must be entirely alphanumeric, with no distinction between upper- and lower-case letters. No character can appear more than once in the password. Maximum password length is 36 characters, which would use every letter and digit exactly once. There's no specific minimum length, but the master password must be one character longer than the longest secret text you want to store. The reason for these limitations will become clear later.

Odd User Interface
Once you log in with the master password, ConcealSYS presents a blank workspace and a simple menu. From the menu you can open various forms to do such things as change the master password, create a new account, or add secret text to an account. Note, though, that if a form is already open you can't open another without closing the first one. This odd arrangement reminds me of very early Windows versions.

When you do edit or change information, clicking Save doesn't close the entry form. You must first click Save and then click Cancel. Again, it's just a bit odd.

Before you can save a password or other secret text, you have to create the corresponding account. ConcealSYS comes with three account types pre-configured: E-mail, Bank, and Socialnetworking. It also predefines accounts for a few common sites, among them Google, Yahoo, and Facebook. You can add as many accounts and account types as you like.

Once you've created the account, you can add the corresponding secret text, but there's no direct link to this second step. You have to close the account creation window, open the Add Secret Text form, choose the account type, and choose the account you just created. There's also an option to identify whether the secret text is a password or a PIN.

To finish the process, you'll enter a unique identifier (for example, the email account name) and the desired secret text. If your text is too long, ConcealSYS won't accept it. In that case, you'll have to enter a new master password and start again. On the plus side, you're free to change the master password at any time.

Digital Steganography
To view a password or other secret text, you start by selecting the account and entering the unique identifier. If you somehow forget the unique identifier, you're out of luck, as there's no list of available identifiers. Clicking Display Password brings up the Secret Text Viewer... and now the fun begins.

The Secret Text Viewer is a matrix of 36 cells, labeled with the letters from A to Z and the digits from 0 to 9. Each cell also contains a second seemingly-random character. To decode the password, you start by looking in the box corresponding to the first character of your master password. The other character in that box is the first character of the secret text. Now look in the box corresponding to the second character of the master password; that gives you the next character of the secret.

How do you know when to stop? Look in the box corresponding to the last character of the master. The other character in this box is the character from the master that matches the last character of the stored secret. Confused yet? The final image in the slideshow illustrates the decoding process.

The whole point of this process is to keep a bystander from shoulder-surfing your secrets, but if you stick with the default master password of D123456789 it may not work. For example, suppose your password is "baloney." A snoop will see the letters "aloney" across the bottom row, and might well guess the actual password.

You need a master password that's memorable without creating a visible pattern, like 142857369YES. Of course, a password like that makes the decoding process tougher. I find it hard to imagine any but a dedicated few actually using this product.

No Problem
ConcealSYS Viewer is a solution to a non-problem. Modern password managers like co-Editors' Choice LastPass 2.0 or Dashlane 1.1 fill in your credentials automatically without ever revealing them to a snoop. Even better, these two products are free, so you won't have to shell out your hard-earned rupees for a password management solution.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/rWfP76RvoWs/0,2817,2416915,00.asp

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