App: The Vault - Security Made Easy
Developer: BestApps BV
Genres: Productivity, Utilities

==[ Want to give The Vault a try for free? The Vault for iOS is a free download! ]==

▸ Hear what other users have to say: bit.ly/TheVaultReviews

▸ bit.ly/TheVault-Features

Do you...
... have trouble remembering tens or hundreds of online passwords?
... write passwords down somewhere, even though you know this is not the safest thing to do?
... use the same ("cleverly" modified) password in multiple places, instead of using properly randomized passwords that offer the best security?
... sometimes wish you had a photo of a creditcard, passport or other document handy?
... want to securely store lots of other confidential information, photos, animated GIFs, office documents, you name it?
... want all this to be secure, but still very simple to use?

Then ◆The Vault◆ is for you!

The Vault provides straightforward, easy to use, secure storage for all your documents and other data, such as passwords, login credentials and any other confidential information. It can securely store any number of documents, screenshots or photos along with your confidential information.

* 256-bit AES encryption *
While storage and access is simple, The Vault uses rock-solid, industry standard encryption.
[technical details below]


◆ ◆ ◆  WHY IS IT BETTER ? ◆ ◆ ◆ 

▸ See all features: bit.ly/TheVault-Features

▸ The Vault is very simple to use, yet it employs industry-standard encryption to keep your data safe.
(Some other payed apps do too, but some apps advertised as "secure" really do not, and for example save your data using a simple base-64 encoding: your information looks scrambled, but is as readable as plain text when you know how).

▸ The Vault can securely store photos and pictures; for example a scan of your passport, a photo of your credit card, or just the serial numbers of some equipment you own. Anything.

▸ The Vault can securely store *any* office or other document.

▸ The Vault can securely store - and play - animated GIFs.

▸ Securely storing photos and documents is as easy as drag-and-dropping them on an open Note.

▸ Proper random password generation

▸ Auto-shields sensitive information

▸ Securely synchronizes with The Vault for iOS! Please note that you need to have the SecureSync feature installed on your iOS devices for them to be able to SecureSync with The Vault for Mac.

▸ Supports Mojave Dark Mode


◆ ◆ ◆  TECHNICAL DETAILS  ◆ ◆ ◆ 

This is the part that matters.
This is the part that is hard to get right.
This is the part that makes the difference between actual security and insecurity.

Claiming “military-grade” (or “industry standard”) encryption is meaningless.
Even claiming “256-bit AES encryption”, in itself is not very meaningful.

Example: 
Claiming “military-grade” encryption and subsequently simply hashing a master passcode - e.g. using SHA, MD5, or, god forbid, nothing at all (!) - is NOT good. 
What ís good is to use a proper key derivation algorithm such as PBKDF2, scrypt or bcrypt.

Another example: 
AES is better than ancient algorithms such as Blowfish, Twofish or 3DES. 
But even for AES: an app that does not combine encryption with authentication... is doing it wrong. Currently there is some consensus that the best construct is to first encrypt a message and then calculate a message-authentication code, instead of the other way around.

These things matter.

◆ ◆ ◆
The Vault uses PBKDF2 key derivation with an HMAC-SHA512 PRF, and HMAC-SHA256 Encrypt-then-MAC authenticated 256-bit AES encryption, using CommonCrypto functionality only. All cipher and MAC worker keys, as well as all salts and IVs, are purely random data. Keys and IVs are never reused. Each singular piece of data is encrypted with a unique random encryption key, and authenticated with a unique random HMAC key.
Your Master Passcode is never stored; and neither are the derived cipher keys.
◆ ◆ ◆


THE ONLY THING ●YOU● HAVE TO DO?
Choose a long master passcode. Make it long, and make it random!
Read more about why and how inside the app.

Release notes:
4.6
▸ Prepares your Vault for the upcoming Encryption Protocol upgrade

▸▸▸ For a complete feature list, see: bit.ly/TheVault-Features

4.0 - 4.5.3
=========
+ Handle change of Dropbox folder location
+ Handle bullets separated by empty lines
+ MacOS Ventura compatibility

FEATURE
▸ Smart Search! Search for multiple terms simultaneously, by separating terms with a space. Or search a specific Folder by entering part of the Folder name, followed by a space, followed by one or more terms you'd like to find in that Folder
▸ Duplicate Notes with or w/o HotContent
+ Double-click a SecureBackup bundle to restore it.

FEATURE
▸ Safari Extension! Press Ctrl-CMD-T while browsing a website to immediately open the corresponding Note in your Vault - For example to look up your username and password
▸ Bulleted lists now support Roman Numerals
▸ CMD-Click to finalize a ToDo list item on a Note
+ Password recipes with 'add dashes' option enabled now exclude dashes from password itself

3.0 - 3.9.9
=========
FEATURE
▸ "Fast Favourites" : add keyboard shortcuts for your most often used passwords and usernames (or any other content)
▸ Within-Folder search with live-toggling between search grouping
▸ Automatically create a multi-line ToDo list from selected text
▸ Search includes Folders in the list of search results
▸ InterNote Links! Add meaningful connections between your Notes
▸ Darkmode support in Mojave

GENERAL
+ You can now drag a SecurePhoto or -Document directly from the Note to your Desktop to export an unencrypted copy of that file
+ Shift-Tab now outdents bulleted lists (and Tab indents)
+ Directly restore from a SecureBackup when reinstalling the app
+ Improves copy-pasting of rich text and ToDo lists
+ HotContent now recognizes pathnames and let's you open any folder straight from the app
+ When searching, use CMD-G to continue your search WITHIN the full text of the Note, directly from the main searchfield
+ Select from multiple known email addresses when creating usernames

SECURITY
+ Improved detection of sleep state. When your computer sleeps - The Vault destroys the decryption key fragments, so that upon return, authentication is necessary before your data can be decrypted
+ Per user-request: make TouchID access optional

2.0 - 2.7.4
========
FEATURE
▸ QuickNote !
Because sometimes you just want to QUICKLY jot down a thought, a number, an email address, anything
Right click the menubar icon and select 'QuickNote' or press the HotKey combination... and start typing
- Nothing else
- No login
- No additional steps
HotKey -> start typing. It’s that simple!

-> QuickNote automatically syncs between your Macs and iOS devices

▸ Automatic Bulleted Lists !
Just start typing and the app will automatically format your list and track indentation; intelligently

GENERAL
+ CMD-N now creates a new Note in the active Folder, instead of the default Folder
+ Support for hanging indents (use CTRL+Return) in bulleted lists

REDESIGN
+ Subtle redesign: a cleaner overall look and more task-focussed views

FEATURE
▸ Add a set of explanatory/demonstration Notes
▸ Add Preferences setting for Universal Clipboard support
▸ Add support for Right-to-Left languages
▸ Add keyboard shortcuts for "Float window on top" and "Keep window open"
▸ Add "Most Recently Edited" folder to The Vault for Mac !
▸ Alternative webbrowser for HotContent URL
▸ Auto-hides credit card CVC codes
▸ Auto-select Note title when creating a Note

SECURITY
+ Add "Just Clear Clipboard now" option as alternative to "Auto-Deny Clipboard Access forever" when sharing data
+ Improves app Auto-Deny / Clear Clip flow for apps that repeatedly request SecureCopy-Paste data

GENERAL
+ Improves HotContent parsing of answers to online security questions ("A:", "Answer:")
+ Improves automated window sizing to sensibly fit the contents of your Notes
+ Restore SecureBackup Bundles directly from The Vault for Mac
+ Optionally reveal only the last 4 digits of a hidden credit card number