Is Cyclonis Password Manager a Password Encryption Tool?

With the growing online security requirements, quite a few corporate and individual users turn to password encryption in order to protect their sensitive information. Normally, passwords that are stored within a certain system are already encrypted on that system, but it is still possible to encrypt them further with a password encryption tool. We will use this blog post to tell you more about the concept of password encryption, and then we will tell you how it works with Cyclonis Password Manager. We will end our entry listing the benefits of using Cyclonis.

What Is Encryption?

Let's start with the encryption concept itself. You can probably tell that it involves changing information in a way that it cannot be accessed anymore unless you know how to. According to Webopedia, encryption is a “translation of data into a secret code.” So if a file got encrypted, the information within it has been scrambled according to a certain algorithm, and so it is impossible to read it just like any other file in plain text. To “unlock” the encrypted file, you need a key or a password that would help you decrypt it.

Encryption is a very common method that is employed to strengthen cyber security. Likewise, it can also be misused by cyber criminals to threaten users into giving away their money. The current ransomware pandemic also comes along with encryption, where criminals hold victim's files hostage asking to pay for the decryption tool. So just like almost any tool, encryption can be used for both positive and negative purposes.

What Is Password Encryption?

Some security experts say that the exact term is not password encryption but password “hashing.” However, the act of storing user passwords safely can be called both, encrypting and hashing, depending on the method you choose.

So what are the differences between password encryption and password hashing? First, hashing is a one-way function, while symmetric encryption is a reversible operation. Michael Coates at DARK Reading pointed out that encryption is designed to “allow anyone with access to the encryption key to decrypt and obtain the original input value.” Hashing, on the other hand, does not allow reverting the value to its original form that easy. As a result, hashing is mostly used within data systems, and it does not require the user's intervention. Encryption, on the other hand, might be chosen by the user themselves, especially if they use a password encryption tool.

How Does Password Encryption Work With Cyclonis Password Manager?

Cyclonis Password Manager can be considered a password encryption tool because it provides you with a password vault that responds only to one key – your master password. Therefore, you have your encrypted data, and you have a token necessary to unlock it.

Let's say you have Cyclonis Password Manager App already and you have several passwords stored in it. What happens to your passwords when they get saved on Cyclonis? Well, first, your password vault is encrypted using the AES-256 algorithm in GCM mode. AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard, and it was first published in 1998. This encryption algorithm has been adopted by the U.S. government, and it can be encountered anywhere in the world these days.

Along with AES-256, Cyclonis also uses PKCS5_PBKDF2 and HMAC_DRBG to generate encryption that would protect your data. PKCS5_PBKDF2 is a key derivation function that should reduce encrypted keys vulnerability to brute force attacks. Keeping in mind that these days brute force attacks are really dangerous due to powerful CPUs, it is necessary to employ such tools to protect your data. Meanwhile, HMAC_DRBG is a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator that is based on hash-based message authentication code.

As mentioned, the only way to unlock the password vault is to use your master password. Cyclonis has certain requirements for the master password, making it as complex as possible. One important thing to remember when using Cyclonis is that the app does not store the master password anywhere. So it is important that users DO NOT LOSE it. While it is possible to restore it with the help of the support team, it is a very complicated and not necessarily successful process.

Another significant aspect of Cyclonis Password Manager is that the tool offers the two-factor authentication feature. Two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication is a system that ensures a higher level of security for any kind of sensitive data. It is possible to configure Cyclonis in a way each time you access your account through a new device; you will get a temporary one-time-password sent to your email. This way, by entering the temporary code, you would confirm your identity on a new device that the application does not initially recognize. This minimizes the possibility that someone else might use your account on an unfamiliar device. On top of that, you can also set up multi-factor authentication for every login on any device you use.

Why Is It Recommended to Use a Password Encryption Tool?

The answer is simple: For your personal data security. When the password encryption tool is also a password manager, the tool provides you with a certain level of simplicity because you no longer need to remember every single password for all of your accounts. What's more, you can be sure that a password manager will not reuse the same password for multiple accounts because Cyclonis generates strong, unique, individual passwords. And those passwords are protected in your password vault with encryption, you being the only one who has the key (master password) to unlock the vault.

So such an application gives you several advantages. First, you do not need to come up with complex passwords yourself. Second, all your passwords are stored in one place. Third, the storage vault is protected with a strong encryption algorithm, and you can be sure that passwords will not be leaked just like that.

It is perfectly normal if the end-user finds it difficult to grasp the entire encryption concept or they don't know the particulars. The important things it to employ the encryption for your own safety, and you can do it with reliable tools at hand.