Expert: Brian Benosky - 7/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am concerned about cyber-crooks hacking into our computer and grabbing our list of passwords and usernames to access our bank accounts. Such a list is on our hard drive. Would their plans be foiled if we altered our list of passwords so that they were useless? For example suppose our password is "book" and we edited it on our list of passwords so that it appears to be "cook." The correct password is still "book" but when the thief tries to use "cook" he gets nowhere. Would the thief be able to run through the possibilities until he reached "book?" Or would the cyber-thief even want to spend his time attempting this? By the way, we use a Macintosh at home. Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi David

You should never store your passwords in an unprotected text file.  Either encrypt the text file (or any other sensitive file or folder) with an app such as Locker:
http://www.vojousoftware.com/locker/index.html
Or, use a locked password manager.  I use PasswordSafe to create, store, and secure all my passwords.  You just need to remember one password to open the program.  It is also platform-independent so it can run on PC, Mac, or Linux.
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/
Let me know if you have any further questions.  Cheers!

Brian


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:  I use Mac system 9.2 - anything available for that?

ANSWER: Hi David

I believe that PasswordSafe will run on 9.2.x.  Try using one of the files here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/files/

Brian

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry, just one more quick follow-up. Can a computer hacker retrieve a document even after I have deleted it, in other words, does the doc remain somewhere on the hard drive even after I have deleted it? I was thinking of storing passwords on a hard copy somewhere in our house and deleting the computer document that contains the passwords. Thanks!

Answer
Hi David

The hacker would need to have physical access to your computer in order to retrieve deleted files.  Any file that gets deleted becomes space for the hard drive to write over, but that process may not occur immediately depending on how often you use the computer.  There could still be traces of the file for weeks after deletion.  If you wish, you can securely wipe a file using third-party software.  I am only aware of one for OS 9, Shredit, but I'm sure there are others.
http://shredit.mireth-technology-corp.qarchive.org/

Brian