Have you ever needed to enter a user/pass but didn't have it with you? Do you carry your authentication credentials on a unprotected thumbdrive, or worse, on a piece of paper in your pocket? Would you like a simple way to encrypt some of the files you have? If you answered yes to any of these, this application can help.

Many of us need anywhere/anytime access to our "private" data. More importantly we need to ensure that the access and our data are secure. The goal of this application is to deliver an easy and intuitive tool to provide secure anywhere/anytime access to your data, allowing you to carry sensitive information (account numbers, login credentials, etc.) on your thumbdrive without worrying that your data will be compromised should the thumbdrive be lost. In addition, this application can also encrypt any existing files you may have, keeping them protected as well.

The Personal Data Security (PDS) application was designed to be installed to and and executed from a thumbdrive; a thumbdrive that can be plugged in to any Java enabled computer. As an enhancement, the application was then delivered via JNLP (Java Web Start) to add a few additional features (desktop icon, control via the control panel, etc.) that we have come to expect. Either way, this application will encrypt your data, rendering it useless to anyone without the encryption key. The encryption key protecting your data is kept a keystore, with both the key and keystore being protected by a passphrase. Without that passphrase, the key remains secured and your data cannot be decrypted. If you use this application, a single passphrase can protect all your authentication credentials and any other sensitive digital information you may have.

The goals of this software package are:

* Provide secure access to confidential data from any Java enabled device.
* Support the creation of encrypted text files.
* Ensure that the data in the files cannot be easily compromised.
* Provide a multi-window editor for encrypted text files.
* Have the application, a single JAR file, reside on a thumbdrive.
* Ability to plug your thumbdrive into *ANY* modern computer (especially a public computer) and use the application.
* Provide a fast, platform-independent encryption engine for all file formats.

Requirements:

· Java 2 Standard Edition Runtime Environment

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

Minor cosmetic changes:
· Updated text in some dialogs

· Additional use of PDS logos in dialogs

Added back in support for key greater than 56 bits:
· Have sent 3 correspondences to BIS & NSA; no response

· We're small time, but still wanted to follow the rules

· All dialogs should be modal (implemented in release 019)