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Password to start PortableAppsSubmitted by yodjent on March 30, 2009 - 11:35am
There should be a password in order to load PortableApps. ( categories: )
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even if we implimented that
even if we implimented that the security of such a feature would be useless, you need hardware encryption on a flash drive and not software encryption like the one you are suggesting we impliment
you should look into something like ironkey(expensive yes but I'm using it as an example of what hardware encryption usb keys you can get)
I'm sold! Anything that can compute and warm my coffee is total awesome. - OliverK
just curious
how does the password entry work there with the iron key?
do you also need admin rights for entering the password like with the disk2go version I have bought some time ago?
How is the password there transfered to the controller? Is there for the usual operating systems separate software for it or does it use any other usual tings from the operating systems?
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
i agree with the idea because
i agree with the idea because sometimes you don't want to put a password for the whole entire thumb drive so i think its a good idea to make a password for all apps. if anyone messing with stuff it would be safer.
-ben-
If you want to know how to get free things like itouch or mac book(many more...) PM me!
you might be missunderstanding
something here.
Just a password for opening one single exe is not worth bothering. If all your data and all your apps are still full open.
You need encryption at least on the file system level or similar to make the password to have any importance at all.
For example there exists some kind of extension for thunderbird which will simply ask for entering a password each time you open , or ask the launcher in our case, to open the thunderbird.exe. Nice but what do you want protect? The executable of the thunderbird itself or your personal data as mails, account parameters etc? In this password extension all you are doing is protecting the executable itself , this is of no big value as this is the same for all and can be downloaded by everyone.
The personal data are not touched by it at all, all you mails, addresses and other data are still available in plain text to everyone having your stick.
So a utility which will just ask password only for the reason to ask the password, but have absolutely no other function at all is just filling your usb stick so you have less space for serious things.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
How about Folder_Lock that is
How about Folder_Lock that is what i use
yes sure this is ok
but this is not most people are looking for. They want just one password to protect somehow all.
You can use any of the many encryption tools to protect individual folders or files. Even the toucan here will do the job, so will do any recent version of zipping tool like 7zip etc, which contain often AES256 nowadays as example for encryption.
Once the thing should be somehow comfortable as most people want use it, it needs admin rights and drivers to be installed, but then we can use truecrypt which is well known and developed solution.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I have a better Idea
I also posted the following in this thread - http://portableapps.com/node/19347#comment-119605
Just now while reading the OP's post (meaning the post made in the link above), I thought of something I don't think other people thought of before concerning password protection.
I'm not sure if my idea is what faviles meant, but I don't think it has been mentioned before.
What if you all integrate password protection into the app launcher itself? So when you click on "AppName Portable.exe", whether it be a portable app or the platform itself, it will ask the user for a password to run the app. Incorrect password and the app will not run, thereby making the data inaccessible.
The are only two flaws that may exist with my idea. The first concerns licensing issues. Many license of many apps here prohibits up from actually modifying the app; but adding a password-protector to run before the app itself cannot logically be considered a modification of the app. It's just an addition/extension that runs before the app itself, not a mod.
The second is that someone can just copy the contents of the Data folder into another Data folder of the app that is not password protected, thereby allowing access to the data within it.
I'm on the verge of coming up with a way to avoid the latter problem. I have the basic concept in my head, I just need to put it into words. I'll let you all know. The only thing is that I'm not sure if you all will be able to actually do it, as I have no experience of actually creating a portable app.
We Are The Willing Led By The Unknowing Doing The Impossible For The Ungrateful And We Have Been Doing So Much, With So Little, For So Long, That We Are Now Qualified To Do Anything With Nothing
this is exactly not true
>What if you all integrate password protection into the app launcher itself? So when you click on "AppName Portable.exe", whether it be a portable app or the platform itself, it will ask the user for a password to run the app. Incorrect password and the app will not run, thereby making the data inaccessible.<
if you just prevent the launcher from starting the app, all data are accessible for everyone, anytime still. It does not matter wheather you are able to start the launcher or not, or if the launcher is starting the actual app or not.
In most cases you ca start the app directly anyway. It may break sometimes the portability, but will still run.
And the data are still here, avaiable for everyone.
OK, it depends on what data it is, but take Thunderbird. All mails and other things are present in plain text readable for everyone , you can stick the flash into linux, use any text editor of your choice and read all data plain. Not even windows or the actual application is needed for that.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland