Blanking/Disguising data in screen display

jrhetts

I am a registered user of 1Password for Mac and iOS.

I will be teaching a course on creating and managing strong passwords at my local college. I plan to demonstrate managing passwords using 1Password, as this is what I use and am familiar with.

I do not want to reveal my actual personal usernames or passwords, so I am wondering if there is a technique for 'blanking out'/disguising the entry and data-display boxes within the program, so I could enter my passwords and they would temporarily display as dots or some other secure symbol? I would of course need to revert to normal display after the course so I can continue my normal personal use.

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1Password Version: 1Password4
Extension Version: 4.3.1
OS Version: OSX 10.10.3
Sync Type: Dropbox

Drew_AG

Hi @jrhetts,

That's great that you'll be teaching a course on password management and demonstrating with 1Password! We love to hear about things like that. :)

So, there are a couple options as far as not displaying your personal data. The first is to make sure the Conceal Passwords option is enabled (in the View menu of the main 1Password app). However, that only conceals password fields, so your usernames and other data would still be shown.

A better option would probably be to create a demo vault, which will provide you with sample data that can be used to showcase 1Password. In the main app, choose 1Password > New Demo Vault from the menu bar. By using a demo vault, you won't need to reveal any of your own, personal data. The only drawback is that the sample data would not actually work to sign into websites.

If you want to have a vault with working Login samples, you could add a new secondary vault and add your own sample Logins that you create on websites (or you could add your own sample Logins to the Demo vault).

I hope that helps, but if you have more questions, please let us know. :)

jrhetts

Thanks Drew
I already normally use 'conceal passwords', but it has the limitation you mention of leaving other personal information fields viewable.
And, I had thought of using a second Vault, but this leaves me in the position of having to wave my hands and say "well, if this were for real you would have seen the websites actually open." Not very convincing, is it?

I was hoping for a more complete solution. Is there another approach, even if it might be more complicated?
Going out on a limb: given the publicity for you, might your code writers be able to create a copy of the basic app that would not reveal any personal data?
John

Drew_AG

Hi @jrhetts,

I had thought of using a second Vault, but this leaves me in the position of having to wave my hands and say "well, if this were for real you would have seen the websites actually open."

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Login items in secondary vaults will work the same way as they do in a Primary vault. That is to say, you can double-click a Login item in the main 1Password app to have it open the URL and fill the username & password fields, or you can do the same thing by selecting a Login item from 1Password mini (or the browser extension). It won't matter which vault the Login item is in.

Or are you referring to the sample items in the Demo vault, which won't actually work to sign into a website? If so, the website will still open, and the username and password fields will still be filled in and submitted - although the website will give an error about the username/password being incorrect, of course. You can also enter any information you want into the username & password fields of a website, and 1Password should prompt you to save a new Login item (even if you entered fake data for demonstration purposes).

If you want to be able to successfully sign into a website with a Login item, but don't want to have your actual username shown to your class, then as I mentioned previously, you can create your own sample Logins for websites - and by that, I mean create a real account on a real website, one that you use just for a demonstration.

Building on that suggestion, you could also create a new Mac user account on your Mac and setup 1Password on that account, which would allow you to have a Primary vault that doesn't contain any of your own, personal items. You can save your own sample/test Login items there.

Going out on a limb: given the publicity for you, might your code writers be able to create a copy of the basic app that would not reveal any personal data?

Well, that's really what the Demo vault is for - a way to demonstrate 1Password without revealing any of your own, personal data. We do occasionally receive requests from customers to conceal some other details in 1Password, such as credit card numbers or bank account numbers, but I don't recall having seen a request to conceal all information before. I can let our developers know you'd like to be able to do that, but I can't make any promises about if/when a feature like that would be added.

I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you about that, but I do hope my other suggestions will be helpful for you!

jrhetts

Drew
Again, thanks for considering my request. Perhaps the best compromise here, as I conjectured ahead of time, will be for me to register one or two new "dummy", website accounts. I really don't want to demonstrate a process that in the end fails to work. In my world, that just is not a good demonstration.

Drew_AG

You're very welcome! If you have more questions or need anything else, please let us know - we're always happy to help!