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How to Use an IronKey to Manage Passwords

Monty101 | Feb 22, 2010 |

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Do you have hundreds of user names and passwords that you have to remember to access your online banking, credit cards, utility, and other websites? Using the same user name and password for all of these sites is risky. Every day, the newspapers and online news outlets report on compromised data, identity theft, exposure of credit card numbers by online retailers, and of student information stored on college computers. Even the government is not immune. If the government can't keep the hackers out, what hope to the rest of us have?

One of the best things that an individual can do to protect themselves and their data, while online, is to use secure browsing and unique user names and passwords. Then the problem becomes how to manage and access that information without keeping post-it notes under your keyboard or some other equally insecure way of storing sensitive access codes. There are many devices and methods to accomplish this task, from letting the browser store the information (not recommended) to using various devices. Whatever method or device you choose, the most useful and secure methods are portable and encrypted. Portable devices are handy because they can follow you anywhere. Encryption is a must-have. If the data can be read by anyone with physical access, it has no better security than your post-it note.

Adding Passwords to Identity Manager

Step 1:

Put Ironkey in USB slot on the computer.

Step 2:

Type password in white area beside "Password." Click the "Unlock" button.

Step 3:

Select "Mozilla Firefox" from the "Applications" window.

Step 4:

Go to the login area of your webpage.

Step 5:

Type in your username and password. Click "Login" or "OK" on the webpage.

Step 6:

The "New Account" window appears with your username, password, and link already filled in. Click the "Add" button.

To Log in to the Webpage

Step 1:

Open "Identity Manager" from the Ironkey "Control Panel."

Step 2:

Click "Auto" from the "Auto Login" column of your account row. The webpage will open and the Identity Manager will log you in to the website.

Some webpages have additional security, which shows the user name, password, and hints or tokens on separate pages. While the IronKey doesn't handle all of these entries automatically, you can still use it to copy and paste user names and passwords by:

Copy and Paste Password

Step 1:

Open "Identity Manager" from the Ironkey "Control Panel."

Step 2:

Right click on the account you need the information from. Choose "Copy password to clipboard" from the menu.

Copy and Paste User Name

Step 1:

Open "Identity Manager" from the Ironkey "Control Panel."

Step 2:

Right click on the account you need the information from. Choose "Edit Item" from the menu.

Step 3:

Click on the icon that looks like two sheets of paper at the end of the "Username" field to copy the user name. Right click in the user name field on the web page. Choose "Paste" from the menu.